Ron Lye vs Ken Norton

Both are possibilities

 

Kind of a hard matchup to envision. Sure, Lyle is around the same size as Foreman and both hit hard, but they're actually pretty different. Lyle was more patient, jabbed more, and was more willing to actually box or fight at mid range rather than always needing to seek and destroy his opponents. So no, I don't think it's an easy fight to call and say Lyle wins by early KO since Norton often struggled with big hitters.

Quarry and Young had a relatively easy time out boxing Lyle (although Lyle did make an honest effort and didn't simply swing for the fences). Norton was on par with those two in terms of boxing IQ and unless Lyle lands a really nasty shot to the jaw, I could see Norton managing to also outbox Lyle.

 

60/40 in favor of Norton imo. I'll take the overall better fighter.

 

Think Kenny has the skill to outbox Ronny and avoid his power over 12

 

If Futch is in Norton’s corner I would give him a slight edge, without Eddie, I favor Lyle.

 

This is a belter of a match up and I'm going to end up with splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence.
Norton didn't like bangers and Lyle could be out boxed like Foreman did with his jab before koing him.
I still don't know.

 

Great post GCC, essentially because I agree 100% (kidding), great post at any rate - very well reasoned.

Is Lyle not somewhat of an enigma? I get he that possibly he elected to punch in some fights while opting to box in others.

In his efforts to box, you almost wouldn’t realise what a devastating puncher Lyle could be. Of course we were generously sampled in Ron’s fights vs Foreman and Shavers and also early in Lyle’s career.

He didn’t appear notably so but is it possible Lyle lacked a fair degree of confidence sometimes?

Sometimes he appeared too deferential, fitting in with the rhythm and style of the opponent when he might’ve just as easily stepped it up to land more definitive punches.

I really like Lyle but sometimes he presented as quite erratic - fighting as either a straight boxer or puncher - Imo, Ron could box pretty well but should’ve settled on a more optimal fusion of his boxing skills and formidable punching power.

Perhaps it was a negative that he came into the game at a relatively late age - though he still did very well for himself.

 

From the 70's, I would have wanted to see

-Patterson vs Frazier
-Quarry vs Young
-Norton vs Ellis
-Bonavena vs Cooper
-Liston vs Foreman

I would spend $70 to see any of these fights.

 

Lyle beheads Norton in 7.

 

Frazier
Young
Norton
Bonavena
Foreman

 

A tough one for sure. If Lyle can't nail Ken early then he's going to get outboxed.

 

Lyle was gunning for this match for years and never got it. So was shavers and eventually he got him but was very late by then 1979. They were steering Kenny clear of the hitters after the Foreman debacle.

 

You guys might know this already, but they were actually signed to fight in February of '77. It was supposed to be the chief support to the main event which was supposed to be Muhammad Ali defending against Duane Bobick in Madison Square Garden and the Lyle-Norton fight to take place in Las Vegas as part of a closed circuit telecast. Norton was set to make $500K and Lyle 'more than' $100K. However, Ali insisted he was retired and so they made Norton-Bobick for the Garden and as an appeasement, they made Lyle against Joe Bugner for Vegas with Bugner making $150K and Lyle making $100K. What I recall was that this really pi$$ed Lyle off because he wanted Norton bad. I believe Lyle even sued over this and won the difference in the purses. But that was not what he wanted. He just wanted Norton. And to tell you the truth, I've always thought Norton was made for Lyle. I could see a Lyle KO.