Ken Norton Refferences

[XionComrade]

Did Norton ever say who hit him the hardest? Seeing as how he foguht the top three punchers of all time, possibly, I consider Cooney in the top 5.

Does anyone else have him in the top 5 power punchers? Shavers,Foreman,Then Cooney for me.

[salsanchezfan]

Back in the 90's, KO Magazine had a lengthy interview with him. They posed this very question to him, and he was pretty emphatic about it.

He said, "Shavers. No question. At least with Foreman, I was able to get up. When Shavers hit me, I went down and stayed down. Shavers was very powerful, he lifted weights."

While he didn't exactly "get up" against Cooney either, he admits not being in terribly good shape for that fight, and that could weigh in his mind when considering the question.

I had a discussion with a guy on another site where he insists that in Norton's bio, Norton said just as emphatically that Foreman hit the hardest. I haven't read that, so I couldn't say. In the magazine interview, he was quite sure at the time that it was Shavers.

[XionComrade]

Yeah that's the outcome I thought I would get, Shavers had a fricken cruise missi1e for arms!

Cooney was the most brutal though, even prime Norton couldn't have taken Cooney IMO.

[salsanchezfan]

Yeah, I agree about the Cooney-Norton outcomes. You know, though, I really don't see it as being just an issue of punching power, the old "Norton never beat a puncher" thing. It's not quite that simple. It wasn't his opponent's power that caused him to lose, it was always an issue of them making him fight off his back foot. That was the key. He absorbed some huge shots from Holmes in their fight, for example, and hardly took a bakward step. That was because Holmes was dancing the whole night, and allowed Norton to come forward. If you could somehow keep Norton on his back foot, you stood a pretty good chance.

[XionComrade]

Yeah Norton never perfected how to fight someone who could rip your head off with one shot...lol