Where would you guys rank Ken Norton?

I liked Norton 'cuz Ali's ranting had zero effect on him.

Norton had already heard all that stuff from his Marine D.I. and knew it
was all smoke.

 

Arguably one of the best physical specimens in the history of the heavyweight division, and a very smart fighter to go along with it. His chin let him down on a few occasions, but I'm not resigned to thinking that he was a "chinny" fighter per say. He was really only stopped by the very elite of hard hitters, and at least two of those instances came past his prime. Therefore, I'm not sold on the notion that just any fighter with a decent punch would have stopped him. His ability to handle boxers is better than most, and frankly I think he would have always been a problem for Ali, Holmes, Charles, Tunney, and anyone else who prided themselves as a technician. His wins over Ali, Young, Quarry, Bobick, Kirkman and Cobb make for a nice, but not great resume.. I would say its at least better than average.....

Overall, I'd probably place the guy in the top 30, but not exactly sure whereabouts.

 

top 20

 

4th in the top four of his era...the best heavyweight era of all time. That's not bad. If he had been more in love with the sport, so to speak, and started earlier...He could have been maybe more the Joe Frazier of the era, accomplishment-wise. I hope that made some semblance of sense. I'm close to going to bed.

 

I pretty much agree but was Frazier really any better than Norton? They were good friends and wouldn't fight each other in a prize fight... they had plenty of gym wars though. Sometimes Norton got the best of it, sometimes Frazier.

They both did well vs. Ali. They both fought Ali 3 times and went 1-2 vs. him. Frazier didn't do so well in the 2nd fight with Ali (they fought in '71, '74, and '75). Norton gave Ali fits in all 3 of their fights and a case can be made that he won all 3 fights vs. Ali ('73 x2 and '76).

They were both stopped in 2 vs. Foreman. Frazier fought Foreman twice and was stopped in 5 in the rematch. I think Norotn would have lasted a bit longer in a rematch vs. Foreman as well.

They both fought Jerry Quarry-

Norton KO5 Quarry ('75)
Frazier KO7 ('69) and KO5 Quarry ('74)

Frazier had more HW World Title wins but head to head was he really better than Norton? Norton actually went 0-3 in HW World Title fighst despite being a WBC HW champ. A case can be made that he went 4-0 vs. Ali and Holmes though... he actually went 1-3 vs. these men.

Norton vs. Frazier? It's a toss up IMO.

 

I'd rank Norton between 15-20 on a Heavyweight list.

 

Kenny will always be known as the man that couldnt fight backing up

Personally I thought his chin was fine but with his flatfooted style, didnt match up well with certain types (Shavers, Foreman, Cooney)

Seemd to settle the Ali-Norton trilogy but was robbed.

 

Very good and I feel he is 2-1 vs Ali. The third was a Norton win in my eyes. He rates up there with other greats.

 

Yeah, most people say that he should have won the rubber match. The first two fights were split-decision BTW.

 

Interesting. You just sort of assume Frazier was better but when you put it like that.......

I think most people would give Frazier the edge in a head to head. Could see Norton hanging in there a long time, giving as good as getting, but then just out of nowhere one of Frazier's hooks would finally put him on ***** street. Be a more dragged out more competitive version of Ellis-Frazier.

This is if they fought in 72, 73.

 

I'd have him anywhere from 23-20 at heavyweight. He was directly on the border between very good and great. He was the best of the very good, but the worst of the greats of his era.

 

just below the Klits

 

I've already posted here on this thread, but after taking some time to think about it, as well as reviewing boxrec a bit, I have to say that Ken Norton's run from June of 1974 to June of 1978 was quite admirable. During this time frame he went on a winning streak beating Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, Lorenzo Zannon, Duane Bobick, Boone Kirkman, Pedro Lovell, and also avenged an early loss to Jose Garcia. Additionally, his rubber match with an aging, but still reigning Muhammad Ali was viewed by many as a fight where Ken should have gotten the nod. Lastly, he ended this streak with one of the best competitive losing efforts in heavyweight championship history against a peak Larry Holmes.

In hindsite, it's too bad that Norton didn't call it quits after the Holmes fight, and definetly unfortunate that the plug wasn't pulled following the Shavers debacle. His record would have looked a lot cleaner without a 54 second loss to Cooney, a draw with Scott Ledoux and a controversial split decisions over Tex Cobb. In fact, I think that a lot of criticisms regarding his weaknesses were forumulated in some these later matches that weren't necessary to begin with.