Ken Norton v Tony Galento

Right, Louis didn't stop Galento ....

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVcgD7VlmT8[/ame] (5:00)

Shavers was far more skilled than Galento .. your analogies are predictably poor.

 

To be totally honest, there is no way on earth that two ton is winning this.

Only foreman and shavers blasted out norton and galento is miles behind them in terms of actual punching power and the ability to land an actual punch.

If anyone is getting stopped here it's the defenceless galento being repeatedly tagged with ken's overhand right.

Or galento's flabby waistline taking the worst body punches of it's career.

Tony isn't finishing this fight and ken's not gonna receive a great deal of credit for this victory (when you have a resume containing ali, young and quarry noone would notice the name galento).

 

i agree with most of your comments, except the part about Galento's body being exposed.... he was actually kind of difficult to hit down there, because he was shorter than a lot of his opponents and lowered his center of gravity considerably.... When I watched some of his fights on youtube, he looked awkward as hell... I havent' seen too many heavyweights who drop down as low or as often as Galento did... In fact, for a large target, he really wasn't that easy to hit flush.

 

No, he doesn't.

 

I'm not questioning his awkwardness, however I believe ken is one of the greatest body punchers in heavyweight history.

I think any boxer as fat as galento has to be vulnerable when tagged to the body.

If any heavyweight is gonna land those body shots, ken is as good a pick as any.

 

My problem with that scenario is Norton is going to be vulnerable to dirty infighting and powerful left hooks if he's going to Galento's body.

To be fair, if Galento from the Baer fights shows up with glass in his face from a bar fight and fatter than usual..after say eating a life threatening amount of hotdogs as a bet. Than I think Norton would have a chance to make that Tony quit.

 

I don't think he'll be massively vulnerable to any attack from two ton.

The only way ken loses is if he overlooks the fat ****.

 

Is that the fight where he backed up Max freakin Baer?

Even Louis didn't try to do that until he was well softened up.

 

For some context, Ettore was 58-10-1 at this time. Only the deadly punching Louis and Retzlaff had ever stopped him. He'd just split a pair with John Henry Lewis (getting off the deck twice to go the championship distance in the MD rematch defeat), and would go on to decision 29-2-0 future Louis title challenger Dorazio. But Tony really beats the crap out of Al here.

Norton didn't back up very well, and if boxing off the ropes would find that Galento was no shot and easily expended Jerry Quarry, or anemic punching Tex Cobb. Over eight rounds, Two Ton displays impressively consistent power and pressure on Ettore.

Galento may have been the first career long heavyweight in history to get through his first 100 bouts without sustaining a knockdown, and only Louis ever floored him officially, a knockdown Tony uniquely avenged on the Bomber.

Ken was floored around 15 times in his career by nine different opponents (depending on reporting and criteria, including ropes preventing a physical touch down to the floor). He tended to be reactive rather than initiatory, even when blowing out Bobick. (Duane has spoken many times about how he atypically attempted to reverse his own characteristic slow starting by trying to roar out the gate against Ken.)

Punch resistance. Who's more likely to get hurt by the other? Does Norton have the kind of punching power possessed by Louis and the Baer brothers? Even if he did hurt Galento, Tony showed against the Larruper and the Bomber that he was perfectly capable of weathering and surviving those situations.

Will Norton be attempting to compete on the back foot, or against the ropes? He has two good right handed weapons, overhand and uppercut, but he has to first position himself properly to bring the latter up, and Two Ton would likely be under Mandingo's overhand. Otherwise, Ken's hooking with Galento, likely on the inside. Who has the quicker, harder, shorter hook in that situation?

Stamina? The very latest round in which the slow starting Norton ever stopped anybody was in his unimpressive tenth round display against Middleton, otherwise the ninth round over Henry Clark, neither of which saw a knockdown produced. Galento went the ten round distance five straight times in 1929 alone, generated four stoppages in round eight (including Ettore), one in round nine (Otis Thomas-the only knockout the Arkansas Buzz-Saw ever sustained), and the foul infested 14th round mugging of Nova on Tony's rebound from Louis.

Quick starting? Two Ton racked up 15 first round knockouts during his career, while Ken only did that in the Bobick anomaly. Otherwise, early knockdowns were counted against him a number of times.

Disturbing questions are raised by what Galento did to Nova. When Foreman tried thumbing Ali in the eye during Kinshasa, Muhammad proceeded to knock George out (then was recorded by David Frost and others in his dressing room about Foreman's thumbing). But LeDoux proved that Norton couldn't take a thumb to the eye as well as Ali could. That's concerning, because he'd be taking a lot of thumbs (as well as butts, elbows and laces) from New Jersey's favorite pugilistic thug. (Sorry Wepner, Qawi, James Scott, Toy Bulldog, and yes, you too, Ali from Cherry Hill.) Actually, Tony would likely inflict a lit cigar on one of poor Kenny's eyes given the opportunity. Norton was a sportsman, a real gentleman during competition. But with Galento, Black Mandingo prince Ken Norton would be better off emulating white sewer rat Ed Norton.

Cuts would be Ken's best chance here. If his jab was as sharp as it was against JQ, he could use it to go for Tony's eyes, and bringing it up from under would be the best way to try holding Galento at bay in the process. But he won't have the power to ring Tony's bell, while Galento's hook could do the same thing to Norton that the underrated and overlooked Shavers hook did to Ken (to say nothing of what happened with Cooney).

Overlooking Galento's own quick jab would be a mistake. He's been credited sufficiently for being able to surprise opponents with it, doubling up on it effectively when he so chose. He had quick hands and reflexes, and knowledgeable historians know better than to mindlessly judge that book by it's fat cover. This isn't a beauty contest, or modeling display being voted on by dancing judges. It's a fight, and over the championship distance, Ken won't be laughing any more than Nova was, if he doesn't take it much more seriously than he did LeDoux (who decked Ken twice and nearly stopped him with abominable form and much less power).

 

Norton would be intimidated, he isn't taking the fight to 2 Ton.

I do think Ken's only hope is to go out blasting, and pray for a cut or that Galento partied to hard just minutes before the fight. Even than, Galento might sneak a left hook in that would have him glassy eyed.

 

Now this is a man who did his homework. Great post and very spot on.

 

Think it was Buddy Baer when he took the fight with actual glass in his face, still couldn't be knocked out or dropped.

I don't know, not sure what type of a world we live in when we have people arguing Bert Cooper was more durable than Galento. No offense, Magoo.

 

Is that "Smoked" Bert "My head is buzzing" (after two rounds against Foreman) "Flying the Coop"er? After that quick "French Exit" quit job, I've always thought of him as "Bert the Dirt," and NEVER watched another match involving him. (He lost to Mike Weaver when Hercules was older than Betty White. In fact, I believe Mike was older than the mythical Hercules at the time he beat "The Dirt.")