Usyk v Norton?

Norton and Usyk are both boxers with kinda unique styles that posed serious problems for some great fighters. These matchups are always hard to analyze because there aren't analogues to draw insights from. Gun to my head I might go Usyk because he's shown that he's always had that pit bull inside when things got tough, and Norton maybe not so much. I think Usyk's chin is also on another level. However, that might not stop Norton from outboxing him. Norton is quite underrated these days.

 

I just watched a bunch of Usyk and Norton highlights back to back. So Norton looks much more like an old school fighter, feet planted and I think he's the heavier puncher of the two punch for punch. His odd stance and good upper body movement made it difficult for guys like Holmes even though they had much the superior speed. So that bodes well for him against Usyk in one aspect at least. Where Usyk differs from Norton's opponents is that he's actively trying to work angles and isn't staying still for any amount of time. He doesn't hit as hard as Norton because his feet, body and head are always in motion. He's therefore likewise much harder to hit himself. This combination of defence and offence is what leads me to believe that he might have an edge over these more orthodox fighters. I lean a little more towards Usyk but I dunno if I'm gonna step into that camp just yet.

 

Norton has more power but Usyk might have the better chin which could put their effective power on par in the final wash up.

I think they can hurt each other. Both have excellent engines but Usyk might had the edge there.

As others have said, a real pick ‘em fight.

Interesting that apparently Norton did starve himself going into fights - he does have some higher weights earlier in his career such as 214 and 216 lbs.

From Ali 1 to Ali 2 Norton saw fit to go from 210 lbs down to 205 lbs.

Thereafter, Norton’s weight steadily moved North after the Foreman fight - seeing Norton easily carrying 218 lbs and going as high as 224 lbs.

 

Very interesting match stylistically. I think this could be a hard one to decide.

 

In over 400 amateur, semi-pro and pro fights against some of the biggest men to ever do it, you can count the times Usyk has been hurt on a hand.

 

Yeah people are getting way ahead of their skis with Norton here. I've spoken my piece about him before, how I was a big fan in real time but he disappointed me so often. His historical assessment with some folks is so high IMO because he was the one man who, for whatever reason, the best heavyweight who ever lived had problems with and never could really figure out, and because he looked so good with his shirt off. The fact that people keep picking him in some of these fantasy matchups amazes me, quite frankly.

 

I have seen him hurt against Chisora, Joshua, Dubois and Fury. In 4 of his 5 heavyeight fights.

 

He beat Jimmy Young, beat Ali and had 3 very even fights with him, and also had an even fight with a prime Holmes whilst being past his best.

So you have Norton going pretty much even with 2 top 5 ATG Heavyweights in Holmes, Ali, and you have Norton beating one of the best defensive Heavyweights of all time in Young.

I don't think Norton is getting overrated at all he proved himself to be at the elite level against some of the finest boxers of all time. And his style would be very problamtic for Usyk in which would surely be a distance fight and a close one at that.

 

How can Kenny win?

 

Norton can be a wild card against even ATG-level, highly skilled boxers.

In my opinion, the fact that he beat Ali and Young and gave prime Holmes the fight of his life tells us Usyk and Fury couldn't be considered locks to beat him. I personally don't see either of them winning, at least a projected first fight against him. Ken's style was just indecipherable for certain boxing stylists, and the two aforementioned wouldn't be any different imo.

 

A lot of people beat Jimmy Young, Ali beat Norton two more times as difficult as it was, Holmes was hurt that night, Foreman pounded Norton into jelly and Joe Frazier would have too if they’d fought.

Again I was a big Norton fan in real time, but I stand by my statement that people here get ahead of their skis with him as far as just how good he was. IMO he’s top 30 all time, maybe top 25 if you squint your eyes. I don’t think he’s touching a lot of the opponents that people here think he’d be competitive with.

This fight? I don’t know how good Usyk really is.

 

This is a good matchup and tough to predict. Would be back and forth. I could see Usyk’s hand speed posing problems and Norton digging damaging body shots in return. Who knows. But I would pay to see it.

 

Utter rubbish. He was never seriously hurt in any of those fights besides the low blow. You were seeing what you expected to see.

 

Norton is often oversimplified in so far as being deemed a stylistic nightmare for his best opponent, Ali.

Norton was a nightmare for a lot of fighters - UNLESS, they had that power that went beyond the threshold of the resilience of his chin - fighters in point primarily being Foreman, Shavers and Cooney.

Conceivably, if they didn’t have the power to tip Ken over, they would’ve been in for a rough night also.

And the interesting thing with Norton was that his chin didn’t incrementally betray him approaching that power threshold.

He took hard shots fine up until that threshold - but beyond that threshold, he fell apart.

I don’t subscribe to Usyk being necessarily weak in the body - suffice to say, a sound body attack will hurt and take from most fighters.

Norton even managed to double Ali right over with a body shot in the Rubber match - Ali, of all people. No one ever turned that trick, not even Frazier - and I suspect a good number of fighters would’ve fallen from that body shot otherwise.

Against Young, Norton wisely focused on the body rather than wasting too much energy and time on Young’s more elusive head.

Close fight but I thought Norton won - remaining true to an intelligent strategy.

Aesthetically, Young’s connections to the head might’ve looked prettier - but, just imo, Norton ultimately scored more points.

Of course Young’s evasive style wasn’t exactly analogous to Usyk’s but I think it perhaps gives some idea as to how Norton might approach Olek and see some successes.

Certainly, as opposed to Young, I think Norton would have more return fire and greater power to contend with against Usyk.

Even if not perfectly set, Usyk can dizzy well chinned fighters landing multiple shots of reasonable force in combination.

Then there is the more set Usyk that we’ve seen in more recent fights - proving that he can punch harder when he is inclined and duly leveraged for it.

 

Very solid post.

I would need to check some footage before I make my mind.