Ken Norton vs Jimmy Young- Scoring

D, I might have, can't remember. I had it 145-144 for Young, but this was one tight fight.

 

Young started well but it was competitive straight through and it appeared to me Norton was stronger, more active through out and Young gasses a bit kinda like he did vs Ali ... it was a very competitive fight.

 

I only saw this fight only competitive in spurts. Norton was the boss more consistently, outlanding, forcing the action. His work wasn't cute or overly clever, which some seem to want to reward more than a steady more accumulative grind, but it was more substantial round by round than anything Young was doing, except for a few rounds.

 

I don't quite have Norton winning that heavily, but I thought Kenny was so much more the aggressor, and overall landed by far the more telling blows. To me it's a bit like Hagler-Leonard, I don't see the guy running and landing pitty pats coming close to winning.

But that's just my opinion.

 

I could have flipped on round 9. I didn't see Young winning the first, but I guess you could make a case.

 

"One of these kids is doin' his own thing".

 

He was and in many rounds he did. But take, Round 1 for example, which already has posters giving it to either fighter. To me, Kenny's on the front foot but looks like he's wading through treacle early on, throwing single shots, not landing anything effective (a really solid jab looks like it was right on the mark) but overall, he's just, well, coming forward without being effective 'at that stage', something that would be repeated for the first 3 or 4 rounds.

I think Young lands the better punches in the 1st (his left/right combo around halfway through that round is definitely the highlight from either fighter) and he finishes the round stronger but it's thisclose overall, a difficult round to score and it could be even, but if I had to give the edge to anyone in that stanza, it'd be Jimmy.

Fair point, a lot of people who scored for Hagler had it the same. The reason I didn't, is that Marv punches weren't so great themselves, Leonard was hardly troubled throughout the fight. So his 'flurries' often came in a round where the round was even and with 30 seconds left he'd up his game and 'steal' a few rounds (but I think they're earned more than stolen myself) but any 'robbery' is overblown.

 

Yeah, that was my feeling as well. Don't remember my exact score, but I gave it to Norton by a few rounds.

 

I'm rewatching the fight. I didn't realize what fast hands Young had.