It was Father’s Day on Sunday.

So it should make perfect sense that I was thinking about Ken Norton and Duane Bobick.

Because if not for them you’re probably not reading this right now.

OK … perhaps we need some context.

I’ll concede that I didn’t know much about Norton or Bobick on May 11, 1977.

Nevertheless, the image of them touching gloves as I sat with my dad in what amounted to a throne – his brown leather living-room chair in our old house on Staley Road in Grand Island – is as vivid to me now as it was to that 8-year-old back then.

Surrounded by roughly the same amount of wood paneling as a “Rockford Files” set, I was glued to that floor-model Zenith, and it seemed the entire world was watching the guys in that ring.

And my world was forever changed.

The fight lasted just 58 seconds and left Dick Enberg and Larry Merchant with some heavyweight time to fill on a live NBC broadcast, but the seed planted with me that night has been nurtured through years of watching, talking about, and attending fights, leaving me what some might consider obsessed.

As my wife and son would attest, If there’s a good match on an obscure cable channel or available on a 2 a.m. live stream, I’m on it; and whenever circumstances allow a trip to a show by plane, train, or automobile – I try to get there.

Turns out I’ve been lucky enough to go to Canada, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, and multiple states to cover fights and interview every gloved hero I’ve ever had, and I had the chance to grab an extra press pass to take my dad to a fight in Niagara Falls – where Joe Mesi stopped Bert Cooper in seven rounds – on what wound up as his final birthday, No. 72, in the summer of 2001.

He died the following February. 

And as anyone who’s lost a parent surely understands, I’ve thought of him at one moment or another each day for the past 22 years. 

Those thoughts get more frequent at various points of the year, particularly around Father’s Day, and as I did my usual weekend traipse across YouTube and stumbled across the Norton-Bobick scrap, the connection was instant.

The abrupt flameout was a career killer for the previously unbeaten Bobick, who beat 10 more nondescript foes but was stopped three times – ultimately fighting for the last time in July 1979. 

Norton, meanwhile, was elevated to champion by the WBC by the end of 1977 but never defended, losing to Larry Holmes in a classic the following June to begin the “Easton Assassin’s” multi-year reign.

Guys like Norton, Holmes and Marvin Hagler were always the old man’s favorite over the Muhammad Alis and Ray Leonards because their presentations as workmanlike athletes were far more in line with his old-school nature than the flash or trash talk. We never missed a chance to see Holmes or Hagler fight on the networks or HBO as they defended respective titles through much of the 1980s.

Dad evolved into an Evander Holyfield fan in the 1990s and the “Real Deal” became our can’t-miss guy on cable and pay-per-view shows, yielding a particularly powerful memory on the late fall night in 1996 when he slapped the taste out of Mike Tyson’s mouth in their main event at the MGM Grand.

The popular record suggests Ron Borges was the only mainstream journalist to pick it in advance (though my fight-day column at the underappreciated Batavia Daily News should get me on the official list, too) but it was an easy call in our living room where I heard the same mantra Dad had long given me about vanquishing bullies – “never throw the first punch, always through the last” – played out in the ring.

An amazing night. And even though the ear-bite rematch gets more airtime when it comes to the Holyfield-Tyson rivalry, it’s the one I instantly recall when I think of those two in the ring.

But it’s more about my dad.      

All the memories remain vivid. And if I think hard enough, I can almost hear him calling across the room asking what time the main event is going to start.

It makes me sad that he never came to Vegas with me or heard me drop in on TV/radio to talk about big events but knowing that he planted the seed that prompted me to love the game makes me appreciate him and watching the Norton-Bobick clip brings me back to the old house in a way nothing else could.

From all the fight-loving sons out there … Happy Father’s Day, Dads.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:  

SATURDAY

IBF junior bantamweight title – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Fernando Martinez (champion/No. 6 Ring) vs. Jade Bornea (No. 1 IBF/Unranked Ring)
Martinez (15-0, 8 KO): Second title defense; Third straight fight in the United States (2-0, 0 KO)
Bornea (18-0, 12 KO): First title fight; Second fight in the United States (1-0, 0 KO)
Fitzbitz says: The Filipino challenger in younger, taller, and longer, and has a gaudy run of KOs. But a closer review shows his foes have been dubious at best. That’ll matter. Martinez by decision (85/15)

WBA super flyweight title – Tokyo, Japan
Joshua Franco (champion/No. 5 Ring) vs. Kazuto Ioka (No. 6 WBA/No. 3 Ring)
Franco (18-1-3, 8 KO): Third title defense; Fought to majority draw with Ioka in December
Ioka (29-2-1, 15 KO): Twenty-fourth title fight (20-2-1); Held titles at 105, 108, 112 and 115 pounds
Fitzbitz says: Ioka’s championship pedigree in the lightest weights has few peers in the modern game and I won’t believe Franco beats him until it happens, officially. That won’t be here. Ioka in 9 (90/10) 

Last week's picks: 1-0 (WIN: Prograis) 
2023 picks record: 20-8 (71.4 percent)  
Overall picks record: 1,270-416 (75.3 percent)  
 
NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.  
  
Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.