Is Norton Overated or Underrated?

Norton was a couple of months shy of his 35th birthday when faced Holmes.

 

Ken Norton is a guy who made a career off of beating Ali once he didn’t do anything else but beat up a shot Jerry Quarry and debatably win a fight with Jimmy Young… that is rumoured from guys of the time to have been “cuffed” notice Young’s reluctance in some parts of the fight… beating Young puts you on the level of Ossie Ocasio I suppose? Right after that he losses a fight to Larry Holmes in fight people BS on and on about as if it was 50-50 all the way, Holmes won very convincingly lol even if you think KN somehow won yet again it’s only possible by small margins and edging the win not exactly a buzz saw like people say eh? As pointed out to me his reputation of being a “nightmare” for boxers is false, he’s an issue for Ali sort of? but yet… in the first fight you had an Ali who was out of shape paling around with Elvis… in the 2nd fight when they both came in, in shape Ali won convincingly IMO… in the third fight Norton probably edged a SHOT Ali a year off of going life or death with Earnie Shavers… if he was that good he wouldn’t have left any doubt against a guy he beat who was showing signs of brain damage. Just 9 months later he’s
conveniently shot against Shavers? lol what Norton was is a contender who stayed in shape caught the champ slipping and was managed very well thereafter… his whole career was spent following Ali around when you take that away he didn’t have much enough to deserve the “ATG” badge everybody wants to pin on his chest, I wish Ali had beaten him the first time and we could’ve seen him fight somebody else.

 

Eddie Futch

 

I grant him that for the first Ali fight, winning the title through beating Young, and in some people's minds beating a fiery prime Holmes. I think those alone prove him in those Hallowed Ranks.

 

I’ve seen his birth year listed as 1945 but a quick search is turning up 1943. There you go.

 

Probably.

Not having that official win without question affects how he is rated. What happened inside the ring is what should count. He lost by KO to Foreman in his prime years. 1 fight in his prime he was stopped against an alltime legendary offensive force.

 

"His whole career was spent following Ali around when you take that away"
WTF?
He went to Venezuela to fight Foreman for the title. He wasn't following Ali around. When he fought Ali in '76 it's because Ali had the title. He was trying to win the heavyweight title.

Then you post
"I wish Ali had beaten him and we could have seen him fight somebody else."

Wish in one hand and s.... in the other and see what fills up first.

"He probably edged a shot Ali"

Ali may have been shot or shopworn but Ken Norton won the fight. Not getting official credit for that achievement impacts his standing/ranking.

This is the best testimony to Norton being underated so far. The fact he won 2 out of 3 vs Muhammad Ali and didn't get official recognition along with the heavyweight championship of the world has greatly affected his ranking and his standing among the other top heavyweights.

 

Underrated when putting him against power punches in fantasy matchups.

Out of the 3 power punchers he known to losing for (Cooney, Shavers, Foreman), only one of those losses was in his prime.


Besides that, he's rated just fine, maybe even overrated by some, and I say that with Norton being my personal favorite fighter OAT.

 

I think he's rated fairly he's one of the best conditioned Heavyweights of all time with a unique style that could trouble some very good skillful boxers in most eras as evident of his performances vs Young, Ali, Holmes, etc.

He has an obvious weakness to big KO punchers but I think it's more the issue that he freezes when he's badly hurt I don't think he's chin is that bad as Ali or Holmes couldn't drop him in 50+ rounds I think his recovery abilities are below average though. But I don't necessarily think he loses to anyone that can punch a bit I think Norton gets a bit unfairly regarded in that aspect. The 3 big punchers that KOed him Foreman, Shavers, Cooney. 2 were when he was past his best and 2 of them are top 10 punchers of all time in Heavyweight division with Cooney not being far off likely amongst top 20.

I'd say he's amongst the top 30 Heavyweights of all time H2H he would be poison for alot of boxers like Usyk, Fury, etc. But would be probably be found wanting against big hitters like Zhang Bakole, etc.