I scored this fight without any bias and even tho deep down I would've wanted Norton to win on my scorecard he didn't. Norton won rounds: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 14 Ali won rounds: 1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 15 Drew rounds: 4 and 12 Even round 4 could've been tipped in Ali's favour looking back so all in all there was no robbery I think Ali won fair and square. Almost everyone in the arena basically had the bout come down to the 15th round which Ken gave away by landing one jab in the first two minutes and a total of two up to the last thirty seconds, he gave the round and fight away. Norton has no one to blame but himself. The (Unofficial punch counts done by various observers is 281 landed by Ali and 199 Norton for the bout).
I always have Ali winning by one round -and not always the last one. Just rewatched this fight recently and one thing struck me: how busy - over 15 rounds - Ali was: a champion pecking away, pecking away, knowing with an opponent like Ken every punch counted. Sure, Norton landed the more telling blows, but every time I started thinking Norton was kicking Ali's ass, Ali would respond with conviction. He was never dominated; he landed a lot of punches; he followed his plan, and it worked. Bottom line: Norton, the eternal bridesmaid, should have been busier -but this was easier said than done.
I scored the fight 8-7 for Norton but many rounds were close no robbery. Only fight I truly believe Ali got gift was Young.
I'm afraid I agree, Long Count. That one Young may have taken by a round -in stinky fashion, though. Poor Young I feel may also have been robbed by a round or so against Norton.
10-5 or 9-6 Norton. Fights 1 and 3 were not that close IMO. Ali did just squeak fight 2, but never really figured out how to deal with Norton.
I still have it 9 - 6 for Norton. Quite a few of the rounds were close,though. Fight 1 - Norton 7 - 4 - 1 Fight 2 - Ali 6 - 5 - 1
I had it 8-7 Norton. One look at Ali's face when it was announced that he was the winner pretty much says it all. He knew he was lucky to get the decision. Prime brought up an interesting observation to get off track momentarily...Suppose Young got the decision against Norton ( I thought he should've), Ali ( again I thought he deserved to) and of course his win against Foreman. Where would his status as a HW be today? How would we rank him?
If he got those deciscions I think he would place somewhere on the back end of the top 20. He would have some tremendous wins but still a lot of losses on the resume.
I've watched this bout many times and always have the result the same as Lederman and Smith, 8-7 Ali with the 15th being the deciding round. Mercante had it 8-6-1 for Ali with the last round taking a draw from Kenny. Norton had no one to blame but himself for losing the decision. (AP had it 9-6 Ali, UPI had it 8-7 Norton).
