Met Ken Norton

How is he doing? Last time I heard him on TV his speach was pretty slurred?

 

Yeah, that car accident messed up his speech. Maybe (hopefully) it improved.

 

I don't think it was the car accident that messed up his speech.

 

It was the car accident. He nearly died.

 

Yeah, I saw an interview that he did after he ended his career, but before the accident, and his speech was perfectly clear.

 

Norton was, before the accident, very lucid and articulate IMO. He had a good vocabulary, better than most fighters, and seemed intelligent to me. All I know is that after the accident, his speech pattern changed and he seemed to slur his words. He was an intelligent fighter whose specialty was being able to handle Ali, and other guys who couldn't punch. George Foreman, on the other hand, OWNED him, from that all-time classic stare down on through that demolition job he did on him in 2 rounds.

 

When was the car accident?

 

Think the car accident was about 1985-86.

 

Ali was the first one to visit him. That's kind of heart warming.

 

Frank: You also say in your book that you and Ali are good friends today. Is it true that he was one of the first to come and see you in the hospital after your terrible car accident in 1986?

Norton: That’s very true.

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/Ken-Norton-Interview.php

 

Yes I think he said he really disliked Ali, and then the first thing he saw on waking from the accident was Ali doing magic tricks at the side of his bed

 

Apparentely he really put the effort into making a swift recovery so he could get away from Ali's magic tricks and then whup him!

I've always found Norton to be very likeable inside and outside the ring. He was never boring and combined humour with intelligence outside the ring. Had Foreman not been on the scene, I think Norton could have been a good champion for as long as he could hold the title. I suspect Shavers or Lyle would have dethroned him, which would have been interesting, especially considering how fascinating Lyle's life was.

 

Norton gave Ali more problems than Frazier did IMO.

 

I remember Kens accident, they said it was almost a 70 / 30 that he would die.. They had to pick glass fragments out of his crushed skull.. He was verrrry lucky.. I have met Ken a few times in the late 90's when he worked with Floyd Patterson as a greeter at the MGM in Las Vegas.. He was such a smart classy guy.. Testiment to his faith, he was very devout Christian.. I thought he always looked superb , dressed pristine and crisp like a filmstar.. and i never ever heard him speak a cuss word .. ever..