How good was Ken Norton?

[GelfSara]

Ken Norton fought during what was arguably the greatest era ever for heavyweights. He`s one of only 2 guys to be Ali during his prime. But he also lost to Ali as well as Frazier, Foreman, Holmes and Ernie Shavers. I believe in a different era, like now, he would be a dominant heavyweight.

Norton was an exceptional boxer with one significant flaw: a fragile chin. Against boxers who were not big punchers he was capable of beating anyone; against boxers who were big punchers it was typically just a matter of time before he was hit and badly hurt.

[Offic.Scorecard]

Ken Norton was a very skilled heavyweight! In the first half of their first fight he was humiliating Ali in the middle of the ring, with only 2 punches, jab & left hook. From the second half up to the end of the trillogy he was beating up Ali on the ropes. In fact to be honest I haven't seen the 3rd fight for years so I may be wrong, but it was surely the case in the first 2 fights. I recently did a breakdown of the 70's version of Ali and these 2 fights were the most important portion of the video. I don't mean to spam the forum with the links of my videos, I never do it, I stay respectful and post them on only one topic in Training & Nutrition section of boxingscene, but I'll post the video here instead of transforming the whole video into words, as it's exactly about Ali & Norton and how Norton would outbox even the 67's version of Ali:

[Luccio]

Norton was an exceptional boxer with one significant flaw: a fragile chin. Against boxers who were not big punchers he was capable of beating anyone; against boxers who were big punchers it was typically just a matter of time before he was hit and badly hurt.

ken norton was worse than dave allen...

[GhostofDempsey]

Norton was good, not great. A better athlete than boxer. Eddie Futch coached him to victory because Futch knew how to beat Ali.

[Luccio]

Norton was good, not great. A better athlete than boxer. Eddie Futch coached him to victory because Futch knew how to beat Ali.

you an expert on that freddie futch guy??

everyone goes on about how good he was but how how many guys did he make from scratch??

cos he gets credit for duran and arguello and i know for a fact he freddie hutch came into the picture later.....

[Offic.Scorecard]

you an expert on that freddie futch guy??

everyone goes on about how good he was but how how many guys did he make from scratch??

cos he gets credit for duran and arguello and i know for a fact he freddie hutch came into the picture later.....

Duran wasn't coached by him, but by Ray Arcel. By the way you can easily see how important Futch was for Norton.
You remember Norton splitting his opponents' jabs by slipping it and countering it with the straight right, than hopping outside, to an angle? (He did it succesfully about 4-5 times against Ali in the first half of their first fight alone. Pacquiao does exactly the same thing. Pacquiao's coach Roach was a pupil of Eddie Futch. So this single example clearly shows you how Roach got it from Futch, because it was a move Futch was drilling into his pupils.

[Luccio]

Duran wasn't coached by him, but by Ray Arcel. By the way you can easily see how important Futch was for Norton.
You remember Norton splitting his opponents' jabs by slipping it and countering it with the straight right, than hopping outside, to an angle? (He did it succesfully about 4-5 times against Ali in the first half of their first fight alone. Pacquiao does exactly the same thing. Pacquiao's coach Roach was a pupil of Eddie Futch. So this single example clearly shows you how Roach got it from Futch, because it was a move Futch was drilling into his pupils.

thanks for the info.

could you show me video examples of this "move"

manny or ken norton....

[The Old LefHook]

Good question, mostly tentative responses.

Norton had a glass jaw. The only era he could have ruled would be a feather-fisted one. And when was that, lads?

He had the tools, body & stamina to give most fighters without a monster punch hell. But a monster punch was putting Kenny right to sleep, count on it.

Punch-wise, he himself owned a brutalizing punch, but not one-punch power unless he got lucky or landed it on weak opponents.

Beyond the obvious flaw, Kenny had a second issue--i.e., he dragged his right leg behind him like a dead limb. His mobility was terrible. He would be a very easy piece of meat for the likes of Cassius Clay in his actual prime. Tunney would have found him easy, too.

A fine athlete. He fought extremely well with what he had--a glass chin and a concrete right leg.

[QueensburyRules]

- -And whooped Ali, ya musta fergot!

[Luccio]

Good question, mostly tentative responses.

Norton had a glass jaw. The only era he could have ruled would be a feather-fisted one. And when was that, lads?

He had the tools, body & stamina to give most fighters without a monster punch hell. But a monster punch was putting Kenny right to sleep, count on it.

Punch-wise, he himself owned a brutalizing punch, but not one-punch power unless he got lucky or landed it on weak opponents.

Beyond the obvious flaw, Kenny had a second issue--i.e., he dragged his right leg behind him like a dead limb. His mobility was terrible. He would be a very easy piece of meat for the likes of Cassius Clay in his actual prime. Tunney would have found him easy, too.

A fine athlete. He fought extremely well with what he had--a glass chin and a concrete right leg.

no version of ali beats him.
thats why ali needed 2 robberies after norton took his soul.

tunney would however stop norton and ali on the same night...