Ken Norton

I feel that the all time ranking of a fighter should depend on his overall record during his prime and not on one win or his performance against a particular fighter only. Otherwise, James "Buster" Douglas should be in the top 10 list of anyone.

Ken Norton fought 7 elite fighters - Ali, Foreman, Quarry, Jimmy Young, Holmes, Shavers and Cooney. IMO his performances against them can be accurately summed up in the following way:

Ali - Norton is 1-2 against Ali. Many feel he should be 2-1. Some even say he should be 3-0, which is wholly unrealistic. But if we look behind the figures, what do we see? Norton got an overweight and ill prepared Ali in the first fight. On top of that he got the huge advantage of breaking Ali's jaw in the second round. Still, what did he manage? A hard fought SD win after 12 rounds.
In the second fight, Ali was well prepared. He won the first five rounds easily when he was up and boxing. Norton got into the picture only when Ali got tired and went to the ropes. However, Ali closed strongly but managed to only get a SD win. IMO this fight was a clear UD win for Ali.
In Ali-Norton III, Ali got into fairly good shape for the fight. That is, 'good shape' for what was possible for him at that stage of his career. Truth is, Ali was just about shot by that time. Many people feel that Norton deserved the decision in this fight. My view is that even the most ardent Muhammad Ali fan cannot argue if someone says that this fight should be a UD win for Norton. That said, I would like to point out one thing. The way Ken Norton performed in that fight. Did he put in a commanding performance? Did he assert himself decisively at any stage? No! What he did was to engage in a close fight with Ali which the judges (unfortunetely for Ken) saw as a UD win for Muhammad.
And remember, Norton was supposed to have a tailor-made style for Ali.

Foreman - After putting up a fair display in the first round, Norton simply got blown away by George in the second round. And that is that. No further comment is necessary.

Quarry - The record book says that Norton stopped Jerry in the 5th round. An impressive entry. But the truth is, Jerry was shot by that time and sang his swan song in that fight. So we can safely say this result does not count for much.

Jimmy Young - Norton decisioned Jimmy over 15 rounds. A great win. But the point is that, it was an extremely closely fought affair and the decision could have gone either way. Proves that Norton was not that much better (if at all) than Young.

Holmes - A very hard fought and exciting fight which Kenny unfortunately lost. "Unfortunate" not because he got a raw deal. He actually deserved to lose. Unfortunate, because in spite of putting in such a stellar performance, and that too at the age of 34, he came up short. One of Norton's best performances.

Shavers & Cooney - Ken got blasted away by both of them in round one. Fact is, he had lost his appetite and was faded at the time of these fights, particularly Cooney. These defeats shouldn't be counted.

Other respectable guys whom Norton met and defeated were Jack O'Halloran - W 10, Henry Clark kot 9, Boone Kirkman - retd. 8 (probably a bit faded) and Duane Bobick - ko 1 (good win).

Interestingly, Norton has a 2-1 win-loss record against Jose Luis Garcia. All fights ended via ko. Norton also has a draw against Scott Ledoux towards the end of his career.

Summing up, we can say that Ken Norton's legacy should be judged from his performances in the following fights:

Ali-2 - hard fought decision loss over 12 rounds.
Foreman - crushing 2nd round knockout loss.
Jimmy Young - hard fought decision win over 15 rounds.
Holmes - hard fought decision loss over 15 rounds.

Doesn't look very convincing, I am afraid.

Top 20? Maybe.

Top 30? Quite likely.

Top 50? Certainly.

 

Around 30 -35 I suppose.I think Norton would likely lose to other fighters of his era ,eg ,Lyle, Foster,maybe even Mercado.Earlier guys that would have a decent shot at beating him might be Tommy Gomez,Bob Satterfield,Bob Baker,Nino Valdes.It might appear strange rating Norton so low ,especially as I have Ali at no 1,but every fighter has his bogey man,Ali had Norton,Marciano had Lowery,Dempsey had Meehan.Eddie Futch devised a game plan to beat Ali,,take away his jab,Nortons crab like style with the right foot dragging worked against Ali because Kenny was the aggressor,if you backed him up he was yours.So not an ATG,imo.

 

I certainly think that if he had benefitted from different judging in the Ali fight, it would have helped his standing a bit having beaten Muhammad two out of three. Would it have elevated him significantly higher? I think it depends on the reaction of the fans and experts. It is likely that most would have written it off as Ali becoming of age, and in any case, most seem to feel that Norton won that fight anyway, yet it doesn't seem to have helped his stock to rise.

As for what might have happened to him if he beat Holmes, well Larry was a relatively unknown quantity at that point, so I guess it depends on what Holmes might have done in hindsite. If he had continued to go on and become the great champion that we all know he became, then it would have improved Norton's standing. If losing to Ken had ruined Larry however, then we would likely have dismissed Holmes as being a never was, and the win would hold far less value.

 

I think another OK win that we can ad to Norton's list was the Tex Cobb fight. Yes, it was very close and Ken did not look that impressive, but he was well passed his prime facing a 17-0 contender who had just iced Earnie Shavers.

 

Just watched round 15 the other night and I thought Norton got the better of it or at least a tie

 

Which brings up another question. Who produced the best showing against Ali?

1) Jimmy Young-April 30, 1976

2) Ken Norton-September 28, 1976

3) Earnie Shavers-September 29, 1977

4) Leon Spinks-February 15, 1978

I'll mention at this point that Art Lurie's 143-142 card in favor of Ali over Leon was a splendid example of why the sight impaired should not be hired as boxing judges. At the time, I felt that Lou Tabat's 145-140 for Spinks was an accurate reflection of how Leon produced in that one. A winning margin of four to five points is not exactly a squeaker, and a competent official in place of Lurie would have made that degree of separation unanimous.

Granted Ali was older, but his weight for Leon was reasonable at 224-1/4. Spinks didn't play it safe, worrying about running out of gas late. When Muhammad went into his rope-a-dope, Leon took full advantage, making him pay for it. Carrying out wise old Sam Solomon's instructions, a very smart and aggressive fight plan was executed, not a timid and tentative foray marked with hesitant caution. Leon won with his heart as much as Solomon's strategy.

Did any of Norton's three performances against Ali measure up to Leon's challenge of Muhammad?

 

I think we can safely agree that all three of Norton's efforts against Ali were superior to those of Leon Spinks. Ali was years past his prime against Leon ( who albeit was a 7 fight novice ), and he looked horrible in both of those fights as well as the few that recently preceded them. What's more, is that the Ali-Norton trilogy produced three fights in which both men fought at a reasonably good pace and gave galant efforts. The Spink's fights lacked in the same sort of energy, as Muhammad obviously fought them both on cruise control. Spinks did however give a good effort in the first match as you already commented on.

 

You know what everyone picks on poor old Dracula, but the man had oustanding textbook boxing skills and movement. You cant take that away from him.

 

Dracula's appearance was enough to stun the hell out of a hoarse, and that alone is enough to bring his legacy way down. Neon Leon was about as close to being ******ed as one could get without actually being there. He had potential, but lack of disclipline and the love of the night life ensured that he would never climb to greatness. Frankly, I think that Leon could have benefitted from taking a step back after the Ali fights and steadily built up his record by fighting respectable journeyman and fringe contenders, before once again taking a stab at the elites. Fighting a hard punching Coetzee in only his 10th pro fight was a huge mistake ( easy to say in hindsite though. )