What's Your Thoughts on Kenny Norton?

Yea i think he would outbox Fury coming forward. Norton probably takes a clear decision.

I don't think Norton would be intimidated by Tyson Fury's superior physique.

 

What about Garcia KOing Ken? 180-190lbs guy and the fact that after Foreman before the money ran dry he didn’t fight another one.

 

You should hear his commentary in the Cobb vs Shavers fight if that's the fight i'm remembering correctly Norton & Dunphy had some good banter between the two.

 

AJ's chin is definitely serviceable IMO.

 

How good was he? He did beat Ali 2 out of 3 fights , the 3rd was a robbery , hell even Ali knew he'd lost, look at his body language after the fight.
And as George Foreman once said about the Ali Norton trilogy,"In my mind he never really beat Ken Norton"..

 

When I was a little kid, 8,9 ,10 years old, Kenny Norton was my favorite heavyweight. To be honest, I had never seen him fight at that point but I liked him because he beat Ali, and I don't think that I had seen him fight either. I had seen a lot of boxing but very little above welterweight. Still, I have always had a soft spot for Norton.
Norton fought a lot of the top guys of his time and made a good living in the ring and that is worthy of respect. He showed up in shape and tried to win. I don't think that he is a great fighter, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he was pretty good most of the time. He fought a stupid fight against Shavers- it was like he was trying to rope-a-dope him and didn't know how to roll/block/etc...so he got caught.
In my opinion he is only in the HoF because of the cult of personality around Ali. Norton became 'great' because he beat Ali once and fought him close another time, while Ali is great because he beat Norton, who is great because...

 

Highly respect him. He was a complete gentleman in public life and an all around amazing athlete from the time he was a child.

 

A great fighter whom bizarrely fell apart around big punchers.

He beat Ali before the latter won the title twice more, including against Foreman. I don't think that can be underestimated. However it could be argued that his (arguable) win against Holmes was far more impressive.

 

Fair point. Some things to consider:

1) Garcia was slightly bigger and a heavy hitter, although certainly not at Big George's or Ernie's level.
2) Kenny was relatively untested since he had been building his resume fighting mostly journey men. He was still a work in process and his big fights were still years ahead.
3) AFAIK Kenny was not KOd outright. He was KD, but was able to get up an keep fighting, being stopped later: thus it is not like he folded immediately.
4) Last but not least, years later a more experienced and crafty Kenny avenged his loss to Garcia in a real trench war, where he took some serious shots, but endured and ultimately KOd Garcia. Thus IMO that fight proves that Kenny had a decent chin and was able to overcome a slugger and beat him at his own game.

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Well here is the thing the rematch was 5 years too late and it was Garcia’s last fight Garcia was shot so it really doesn’t prove that much about as much as the Quarry fight lol. Jose Luis Garcia was 188-190lbs fighter at his best before he got fat and that’s when he KO’d Ken as a small guy and when they fought Garcia was a tune up for Norton he was brought in as an “opponent” again I think my point stands looking at how his career went he didn’t have a trustable mandible OR confidence to me, his chin wasn’t as bad as his heart… in the gym they’d have Norton spar LHW’s to avoid him becoming disheartened he was a fragile bully according to people who’ve sparred / been around him hence all the self help books, hypnotism, looking at the floor during stare offs etc.

 

That was a weird fight with Shavers as was the case with Bobick he should’ve came out and tried to not give any time or room to fight back Shavers needed space to punch. Was Norton capable of rolling punches? I never saw him do it, he could slip well but I never saw him take anything off a shoulder etc.

 

He was akward giving boxer types like Ali and Holmes fits, but if you had a good punch he could be taken easily. He was handed his world title and then lost on his first defense. Very overrated, not great at all.