Norton vs frazier 74-76

Frazier did not have an elite win in him after TFOTC.

Frazier would defeat the best version of Ken Norton anytime before that. Without question. It's only the 74-76 issue that even makes it competitive.

 

74 - 76 frazier I actually see losing to Norton by a wide margin. At this point I don't believe Joe could stop Ken and Norton to busy for him. Joe will get his left s going but Norton will take them and fire back. The frazier of a fee years before would have burned through Norton but not this version.

 

I know its only sparring, but it can give u a gauge if they sparred enough. These two did, and ive heard over the years that Frazier was the dominant one when they did. The best Ken Norton ive ever seen v peak Joe Frazier and I would pick Frazier by 8th round ko overwhelming Norton. 74-76 and i'd go with whats been said already above. Norton ud.

 

Is this because you feel Frazier lost some smoke on his lefthook by `74 on? I don't think Norton would handle Joe`s hook too well. I don't think it`s an easy fight but I believe because Kenny didn't have too good a chin that Joe eventually grinds him down. The Fight in Manila showed that Frazier did have an elite win in him. Ali took punches that would have KO`d Norton 5 times throughout that fight.

After Manila? I would pick Kenny Norton. Joe was just a shell of what he had been even the year before.

 

Beautiful story then you realize Frazier was never a one shot knock out artist or even a big puncher against big modern size guys. His best wins (besides Ali) were against guys who were cruiserweight by modern sizes and for the most part he still had to weak these guys down.

Norton had a bad chin? Yeah getting knocked out by guys who were known to be huge punches means he had a bad chin. Brilliant logic. If Shavers, Cooney, or Foreman would of landed those exact same punches against Ali he would of been knocked out stiff.

Any case I doubt Norton would freeze up against Frazier. He didn't have the power of Foreman but I could still see him wearing down Frazier and stopping him late.

 

No chance Norton beats the Frazier that fought Ali in Manilla or before. Horrible style matchup for Norton. Norton tended to loop his shots long and that's suicide vs a trained hooker like Joe. It's a slow beat down ending in a ko from a counter hook in round ten. After Manilla who knows.

 

Joe could certainly still bang at that point no doubt but I think he had lost some of his fire. I just get the feeling that Norton while he would definitely caught a few times, would get through the best of Joe at that point. Joe wasn't punching quite as fast and Norton was the fresher man in there. But still possible a danger fight for him.

 

You do know that Frazier is a cruiserweight by todays standards don't you?? Just like the fighters he fought..Joe Frazier wasn't a big guy even when he was fighting. Your description is terrible..Shavers wasn't good enough with his power to beat a declining ali, also Holmes took the biggest shot shavers ever landed AND GOT UP TO WIN..Cooney was as fragile as they come...And yes Nortons chin wasn't sturdy.. Your back to front on everything. That's what hate does to people, they look thick

 

1974-76 would have been a very big window for Frazier. Past prime at the beginning and shot at the end.


In '74 I reckon Frazier would have had just about enough left to overcome any early deficit and stop Ken late in the fight. Maybe the following year too. After the brutality of Manila,though,I'd favour Ken. Much the fresher fighter at that point.

 

Agreed. One more point to add. Nothing Ali landed on Norton hurt him, but a few punches Ali landed on Frazier stunned him.

Using the same guy, Norton was at least as durable as Frazier and better on defense. Frazier avoided punchers at all stages of his career, except for the Foreman fights.

Liston, Mac Foster, Norton, Shavers, Lyle never meet Frazier in the ring.

I'd pick Norton 75-76 to stop Frazier who had his knees buckled by the likes of Stander and Bugner...and they hardly landed anything hard.

 

Norton and Frazier never met in the ring because they were close friends. Frazier brutalized Norton in sparring sessions.

Norton style is all wrong to do anything vs Frazier.

 

Pardon my lack of knowledge on this one, but I'm curious about the connection between Norton and Frazier. I've been reading for decades that they were close friends, but I don't recall why (if I ever knew). How did their paths cross, being that Joe was from Philly and Ken was from the West Coast? I know boxing is a relatively small industry and pretty much everybody knows everybody, but why was the friendship between Frazier and Norton so strong?

 

Ali got hit clean by Shavers and he went nowhere. Bad example. Yes Kenny Norton had a subpar chin. What is your excuse for his knockout loss to Garcia? Would he have knocked out Ali too? LOL Brillant Logic. Also genius who said Frazier has to KO him with one punch? Do you even watch boxing? If Frazier catches Norton with enough clean hooks he`s gonna go. A simple fact yes even a " modern size heavyweight" do you realize that all the weight lifting in the world wont improve a chin?

Be serious please.

 

He must of missed all those fights.."thick" is a kind way of putting it.