Frazier would have killed him. Too much pressure...plus Norton didn't do well against punchers. (Shavers, Cooney, Foreman, etc) I heard that they never fought because they were such good friends.
Good friends and sparring partners. If a title had been at stake,or if someone offered up enough money when they were contenders,then it still may have come off. I go along with the majority that Joe's pressure would have eventually made Ken uravel. Early rounds would have been quite competitive though,while Norton would hold the centre of the ring. Only post Manilla would I have given Ken a decent shot at this. A VERY decent shot,actually.
I've heard that Norton did well in sparring with Joe. In a real fight, Frazier would get to him within 5 rounds.
Frazier like Ken but he KO'd him a few times in sparring and then took it easy on Ken after...they were friends and Ken was a younger 12 fight guy
Hardly any shame in that though. Younger boxing fans have minimal knowledge of stories of those early Frazier sparring stories. He was a killer in there on some days and just how many guys are going to stand up and compete once Joe stated his smoking? How many guys today could deal with that? 1 guy that came out of it was Jimmy Young and that's a testament to how good the guy really was. He certainly did not have the zip on his punches to hang in there so had to utilize and develop other skills to remain employed as a sparring partner.
Apparently in Kingston,when Joe was preparing for his defense against George Foreman,Norton unusually got the better of Frazier in the sparring sessions.
Agreed,on the whole. Do you reckon that Ken would have had a pretty good chance with the post-Manilla Frazier,though ?
