Ken Norton - Top 15-20 Heavyweight?

Hey, McCall actually beat Larry Holmes. Norton didn't.

 

This is interesting :huh Please explain.

 

No not nearly

 

Bizarre list. Marciano and Walcott? Ahead of Norton? Prime Charles and Louis maybe, but not Marciano or Walcott. Dempsey and Tunney? Corbett???!!!

 

-1

 

you surprise me even more now.
Marciano and Walcott indeed and of course.
Dempsey yes.
Tunney and Corbett ? i said that some may put them before , i can really understand if not.

 

McCall was never really stopped.
and that despite facing Buster Douglas pre-tyson , may i say peak ?
facing tony tucker who stopped douglas , bruce seldon (not that I respect him much) who stopped tucker , lewis (twice) , akiwande , darroll wilson , juan carlos gomez (twice) - and gomez even used some illegal substance in their first fight , frank bruno , oleg maskaev (not that I respect him much).
as i say : boxrec is online for you.
his second fight with lewis should have been regarded a NC.
Tyson's TKO over Golotta shouldn't , however.

 

sorry but byrd is an atg , at least p4p , and tua is an atg , at least h2h and hw (both h2h and p4p at hw)

 

McCall was a glorified sparring partner. He's a solid professional, world-class strength and great durability, but nothing much as an elite fighter. One of the worst "champions" of all time.

 

glorified since he did better than tyson vs. both lewis and douglas.
and we just know he would have done better also vs. mcbride and williams had he fought them.
but ok , i guess tyson's management were the best ever at choosing sparring partners.

 

Among the worst of the heavyweight alphabet champions, whatever way you look at it.

 

I have always regarded the prime Norton as an all-time top 15 or 20 heavyweight, based on ability. Since the 1990s, when the likes of Lewis, Bowe (at his peak), Holyfield, and the Klitschko brothers emerged, possibly Norton's all-time status has slipped to top 20 or 25. Either way, though, Norton was a genuine near-great.

 

Hes top20 or just outside it, Wlads going to be considered a top15-20 HW and he got ko'd by all the top punches he faced too and they werent as good as Nortons punchers. Patterson got ko'd by all the top punchers he faced too. So Norton isnt alone and he got blasted by arguably no1 and no2 hardest HW punchers of all time, not too much shame in that

 

So he wasn't stopped by a whole lot of people, how does that prove he is any greater than Norton? Neither was Marion Wilson, and he faced a greater list of punchers than Oliver McCall, should he now be inducted to the hall of fame?

Why should McCall's second fight with Lewis be regarded as a no contest? Because he broke down in the ring and didn't want to fight? Golota too broke down and didn't want to fight. What's the difference?

 

I think top 20 is probably fair. Top 15 may be stretching it a bit. The claim to having beaten a still very serviceable Muhammad Ali, along with wins over Young and Quarry help his case a lot.