Who agrees that Jimmy Young could have been.......

Well he beat Ali on a fair scorecard. He spent a while as the best he up until the Norton fight.

 

Young deserved the decision over Norton IMO. Politics diictated the judges decision in that fight, again, IMO.

 

I thought so too, but it was a closer fight than the Ali one.

Ali vs Young = robbery

Young VS Norton = controversial

this is how I see it

 

I grew up in the 70's and Young was one of my favorite fighters at that time. Problem with Young was he was safety first and he could not punch. I watched him fight Norton live on tv and as much as I cheered him on he just did not fight aggressively enough to pull out the win. As much as I wanted him to beat Norton that night he did not do so. Now assuming young would have been in the mix if Ali had retired in 76 it would have depended on who he would have fought assuming again that a tournament was held to pick a new champion. Young beats Foreman every day in the week but at the same time believe he loses to Norton in close bouts. Also there is no doubt that George had stamina issues back in those days heat or no heat.

 

Young maybe "couldn't punch", but he sure shook up Norton when ever he committed himself to land that sneaky right of his during Ken's unguarded moments. of course Young wasn;t known for his punching power....that's because he featured elusiveness and defense so well. You have to commit yourself to something in boxing exclusivelyy to attain a level of mastery.

 

Truth was he always did his best not to commit himself. Tough to give high marks to Young because in the end he tried all he could all the time not to be hit at all costs. He was given one or two knockdowns when he fought Ali because under pressure he stuck his head out of the ring between the ropes.

 

Yes, he could have been world champion. And that goes to show how ordinary the mid-1970s HW division really was.
He perhaps should have been awarded the title in 1976 when he fought Ali, and that would have gone down in history as one of the worst title-winning efforts in hW history.

He was an apallingly negative defensive fighter.
A clever boxer - I'm sure a lot of top fighters learned a lot sparring with him. But he wasn't the kind of complete package you expect in a HW champion. He was a spoiler.