Was Ken Norton old at damn near age 33 against Larry Holmes?

Norton was always rock hard and in a similar vein so was Mike Weaver. Some fighters simply have great physiques no matter how old they get. Hell, Marion Wilson still looks like a bodybuilder at age 60 plus now.

 

Oh, I believe both of them. Norton had great genetics if I'm remembering correctly. If he was roiding and what not he wouldn't of looked the way he did.

 

Actually, it was 35 Norton was pushing. Although he was out of the picture a year later, I do think this was a great showing by Norton, in something of a "last great fight he had left in him" scenario.

 

Yeah, about time someone took some action after all the fudging that went on back then. The Holmes-Norton fight was between the best two heavyweights in the world at that time and the contest was thrilling (unlike the snorefest that followed in Ali-Spinks II). The stripping of Spinks was the result of Ali avoiding a mandatory contest.

Can't blame Leon of course. Then again, he hardly merited a title shot.

 

Agreed.

Kenny had not looked all that good except for the bobick bout > Ali 3. It took him a long time to run down middleton and he looked lethargic against Zanon. But his footwork had dropped off considerably and those punches were all real wide and looping. And he stopped using that effective jab he'd used in the past to set things up. He was definately on the other side of the ladder. > the Holmes bout, he looked real real bad in the rest of his bouts.

 

As already mentioned by MM, Norton was actually around 35 years of age when this fight came off. It was additionally mentioned that he was still in phenomenal physcial shape.

Ken Norton was the concencus best fighter in the world by most people's standards from about late 1976 to 1978. Quite truthfully, he does not look any better to me in 1973 when he defeated Ali, than he did in 1978 against Holmes. Logic would tell us that being much older, as well as being on the verge of a bad downward spiral which would start in 1979 against Shavers, that he should have been leagues better in 73'. I simply don't see it on film however. Additionally, in 1978 Norton was coming off the best run of his career. He had beaten a declining, but still respectable jerry Quarry. He had defeated one of his earlier conquerors in Garcia. He had eeked out a decision over top rater Jimmy Young ( albeit a controversial one ), who was a pain in everyone's ass at the time. He had arguably been robbed of a decision in his rubber match with Ali, ( of course Muhammad was past it ). He iced a 38-0 Dwayne Bobick in a single round.... All in all, I think Norton was a well prepared opponent to be challenging for the title, and outside of a life and death battle against Holmes, would likely have beaten just about any of the division's top raters, including Ali had they fought a 4th time, and of course Leon Spinks. Shavers would likely have always had his number though, but still.

 

The fights against Quarry and Ali was 3 respectively 2 years earlier. He was looking as ripped as always, but he was 10-15 lbs heavier than in 1973 and he looked a bit slower. He probably also tired a bit earlier.

 

And what a great last fight it was in what Holmes still considers his careers hardest fight.

 

35 or 37 against a man who was about 25 is fairly significant.

Furthermore, we know that Norton did not match up well against big punchers (Shavers and Norton) and Cooney certainly fit that bill. In victory, Cooney never went past round 2.

You could argue that Norton would have lost that fight no matter what his age, but maybe not.