Reality check - Ken Norton

Getting knocked out by Shavers and Foreman, and then by Cooney when very faded is no huge mark against him, I think Norton is a pretty under rated fighter.

Foreman and Shavers are possibly the two biggest punchers EVER. Yet, people still pick anyone who can even crack a little bit to blast out Norton just like these two, really unfair to the guy.

 

Bingo, although we havent seen him survive a monster puncher either

 

Cooney is right up there when it comes to HW top shelf power. The way he whipped those hooks into people was frightening.

He gave Jimmy Young one of the bloodiest, worst HW cuts in decades when he landing power punches and broke Lyle's ribs with a single hook, the same kind of feat that Roy Jones is touted as being a boxing god as doing against Virgil Hill.

Watch the Cooney/Norton fight. Look from how far out Cooney is winging those ****ing hooks. He looks like a baseball player hitting a home run. I can't think of another fighter who has EVER thrown punches so wide and hard on a wide open target, even Mercer's punches on Morrison weren't that wound up.

At the end of it Norton is still conscious, mouth open. "What the **** hit me?". :scaredas:

Compare that to Walcott taking a snooze for several minutes after a single Marciano hook.

To imply Walcott, another decent chinned underrated heavyweight who's for some reason pegged as having a POOR chin... has a better chin in any way shape or form then Norton is idiocy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walcott had a career total 475 rounds. He was stopped six times, knocked down three other times in other fights.

Norton had 315 rounds, he was stopped 4 times. On the canvas two other times in the same round against LeDoux when he was shot to ****.

Both were stopped in one round by massive punchers.

Walcott was a little easier to put on the canvas, in my opinion.

If you didn't decapitate Norton, you weren't stopping him. There really was no middle ground, light and good to very good punchers didn't bother him much. If you had absolute top shelf power and could impose yourself on him, you probably had him.

I will say Norton was never stopped by a 178 pound fighter like Walcott was by Tiger Jack Fox. And Walcott was put down for the count there.

Everyone that stopped Norton was a legitimate, solid/large for that time heavyweight. Cooney and Foreman were both 225, Shaver's was 210.

 

This is a very well considered post,and nails it imo.!
I refer to Chris Pontius post

 

207lbs Norton was kod by188lbs Garcia whom he outweighed by 19 lbs,Norton was in his 17th fight Garcia his 15th.
185lbs Walcott was kod by 184lbs Fox who was having his 125th fight.To Walcott's 29th. SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

 

Your weights for the Fox/Walcott fight, where Walcott was KO'ed, are off.

Also, Garcia was solid at and above 200 pounds, he was a wiry, explosive puncher.

Also, Norton came back and showed that the Garcia fight was a fluke in a through decimation. He actually ate Garcia's best in that fight and he was throwing some bombs in there.

Walcott... well... He actually lost to Fox again a few fights later.

 

I wouldn't call Garcia "solid" at above 200 pounds. Seemed like Norton was able to take advantage of Garcia's rather soft mid-section with a brutal body attack.

A green Walcott lost to a 100-fight veteran, there's no shame in that.

Norton wasn't "glass-jawed" in my opinion. People don't take into account that he only started boxing in his early 20's. For a late starter he did great, perhaps he would have been able to handle the attack of Foreman and Shavers better had he taken up boxing much earlier. He never developed into much more than the awkward but extremely effective pressure fighter that he was.

 

I dont think his chin was as bad as is made out but I do believe Kenny could be intimidated by big, strong guys with a punch. He tended to freeze up against the guys mentioned and almost seemed to expect to be taken out.

A big reason I favor Lyle to beat Norton is because I think Ken would be intimidated by Lyles reputation and Lyle was a sound boxer who despite what some say could bang well enough to get the job done.

As for Wlad, Lewis etc, I really dont think Norton would fire too many shots

 

No he wasn't. His ideal weight was around 185-190. He basically was a natural cruiserweight. Above 200 he was visibly flabby.

But Garcia was considered washed up by then. It was somewhat equivalent to Wlad Klitschko rematching Brewster after he'd lost to Lyakhovich and then had eye surgery. Norton took the fight as a matter of principle and to stay busy, but how much actual credit he deserved for a win at that point is questionable.

 

The Garcia rematch?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjrnhr1XdJQ[/ame]

 

No. My videos can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatA

The Norton-Garcia fight was uploaded by jmc617/baltazarbrothers whose site is:

http://www.boxpres.com/