Ken Norton vs Luis Firpo

Who else would you put in this category?

Willard and Layne jump to mind here.

 

Norton wins 18 out of 20 times. Fripo is over rated, cannot fight, and doesn't quite have the chin he needs. He could hit, that's about it.

 

You could arguably pluck 8-10 more from Joe Louis’s resume.

The most ridiculous I’ve seen might be Carmine Vingo though.

 

The comparisons are invalid.

We know Norton did not have the tools to keep away from huge punchers. Firpo was a huge puncher. As such he has a live chance.

More valid would be the idea that Bert Cooper had a live chance to stop Norton. Cooper a huge puncher and Norton an inability to keep away from power punchers.

In the end it’s all about styles and weaknesses. Norton’s weaknesses were well known back in the 70’s. These are not some revisionist BS as we see a lot of here.

 

Firpo was Rickard's greatest achievement in ballyhoo and promotion and paid-off sportswriters. He was a total fabrication.

To wit: Firpo's alleged KO prowess. Let the simple math do the speaking. Firpo's 26 KO victims compiled a total win list of 530 bouts, including a previously durable but geriatric Willard in his final fight and the hapless but somewhat durable Brennan in his next to final fight. In fact, those two combined for 20% of the 530 wins mentioned above. All included, that give 20.38 wins on average per victim. The same set of fighters accumulated 152 KO losses or 5.9KO's in their respective careers. So, this stout set of Firpo KO victims all-included and skewed by Brennan and Willard (8% of his victims with 20% of the victories and 3.9% of the KO's), had a 29% chance of being KO'd in any given fight.

The stuff of legends that Firpo power. The stuff of legends.

 

Most fighters KO records are heavily padded with tomato cans. Firpos KO power was well understood in his time. This is indisputable.

Firpos performance against Dempsey is remarkable as his left arm was popped back into position the afternoon prior after being dislocated. Never was there a braver hwt to enter the ring as he insisted the bout go on and hurled himself into battle in such condition against boxing’s hardest puncher.

 

In fairness to Dempsey he stopped fighting regularly and wasn't quite the same sharp fighter as he was on the way up. He was enjoying being champ and with his style especially that is not a good thing.
He probably takes out Firpo in 1 round without any drama in 1919

 

What your saying about Norton is correct. He was vunerable to big punchers at the elite level. It's is the quality or lack of quality of Firpo. He takes crude to another level. He makes Ricardo Mayorga look like Floyd Mayweather.

 

Ok so how about Lamar Clark vs norton since apparently Norton crumbles as soon as he gets hit by a hard puncher?

 

Firpo was for real. Forget how bad he looks like, he was very strong, very wild, very durable, very dangerous...and it worked well for him.

I think firpo is a horrible opponent for Norton. He’s a horrible guy for anybody to fight. There is nothing to gain fromfighting him. He was explosive enough to knock you out by accident. And if you do beat him he’s gonna make the fight stink, he’s so awkward.

He’s the last fighter I would want my guy to fight.

You can only knock firpos technique so much because he’s a guy who gets decked 6 times then blasts Dempsey right through the ropes. He also poleaxed Bill Brennan later in a fight. The guy was for real, and thousands of fans thought so. After Dempsey, Luis was the biggest outdoor draw in NewYork. His fights sold out. And the fans knew their boxing in those days. Firpo was monster.

 

Don't rate Firpo at all, terrible boxer, I mean Weinert schooled him and Ken Norton is as underrated as Firpo is overrated, why do you think he was boxing old Willard and old and average Brennan? I have no doubt Larry Middleton crushes Firpo.

 

And the fact he was not a skilled hwt was well understood in his day. This is no new revelation. His physical strength, punching power and courage are unquestionably.

For several years I traveled extensively to SA. In Buenos Aires I stayed at a hotel in the Recoleta section directly across from the cemetery where Firpo is interred. Impressive marble “home” with a life sized statue in front of Firpo.

 

Not disputing your post M D but Weinert was known as a very clever boxer.

 

Purely statistically, Firpo was great at KO'ing guys who had a 30% chance of being KO'd in the first place.

This does not apply to Norton.

 

"Forget about how bad he looks"