Ken Norton 1978 vs Leon Spinks 1978, Title Unification, 15 rounds.

Norton by stoppage. Not sure when.

 

Norton still has just enough left at this point IMO ... but give it a year and who knows.

If Leon keeps his head and his team together long enough to fight Norton after Ali I, he’s a live underdog IMO.

 

Norton would definitely be the favorite but I would not be surprised if Leon outworked him for a UD. Outside of the KO loss to Coertzee, Leon was pretty damn good 78' to 81'. Wins over Evangelista, Mercardo, Lopez and of course Ali look pretty good. By 81' he was really starting to struggle with addiction issues and the wheels were coming off fast. Norton was on the slide as well but still dangerous. I thought he beat Ali in their third fight and was very unlucky to not get the decision. Leon vs Norton in 78' would ha e been a good one for sure.

 

Norton probably by SD, but Leon definitely could pull off the upset.

 

Norton by KO in 8

 

Norton would be psyched up to take the title against Leon. Norton early ko.

 

Kenny would have done a real number on him. Leon's style is perfectly suited to exactly what Norton wants.

10x easier fight for Kenny than a mover and jabber like Holmes. there is another bad fight for Leon--78 Holmes.

 

Norton. Leon gets a lot of mileage from beating an over the hill unmotivated Ali.

 

Leon rattles him for a couple rounds, and then Norton lands the overhand right and it's over.

This is what should have happened had things been less corrupt.

 

didn't Norton draw with tex cobb? Leon was much busier than randy. Though ken was a very strong come forward fighter. if leon could take what ken dishes out leon would win by dec.

 

Yep, a not too good of result in there with Cobb. Or the Ledoux fight where he was saved by the bell. But these were after he fought Holmes---old fighters have that ability to rise to the occasion one last time, and that fight was it for Kenny. After that was the Shavers destruction.

As for Leon---he gets the Ali sweepstakes after a draw with Ledoux himself. Then beats Ali---somehow with close scorecards--then, loses the rematch. Next he gets destroyed in a round by Coetzee. So Leon did not need to become the old guy to get taken advantage of facing youth.