“I’m sure he’s in heaven now with
all the great fighters. I’d like to hear that conversation.” – Ken Norton Jr.
on his father’s passing.
Ken Norton |
Ken
Norton, Sr. died on Wednesday September 18, 2013, one of the great fighters of
the 1970’s and one of the great fighters of all time. Norton got into boxing late, picking it up in
the Marine Corps. He wasn’t a child
prodigy like Ali who won Olympic gold.
He wasn’t raised in gyms in Philadelphia like Frazier or in Houston like
Foreman. I remember seeing an old
interview when Norton said that since he didn’t grow up in boxing, he never got
used to the dawn to dusk training of the other greats and had to will himself
up in the morning to run. But run he
did. And he fought like a force of nature.
He had a cross-armed “crab” defense, and he threw jabs from below, under
the guard of traditional fighters.
Ali
didn’t see the jabs coming. He didn’t
see Norton coming, either. Ali
reportedly hurt his ankle before their first fight in Norton’s adopted town of
San Diego, but according to former Ali business manager Gene Kilroy “Ali said
it’s not going to be that tough.” (See Obituary in Houston Chronicle)
AP photo: Norton v. Ali |
Norton
wasn’t highly regarded by the boxing press, either. He’d reeled of 16
consecutive victories to start his career, all in California. He lost the seventeenth to an experienced
fighter (he later avenged the loss, the mark of all great fighters), then
reeled off 13 more victories before facing Ali, who was in his prime and coming
off his loss to Frazier in their first, epic bout.
Norton
broke Ali’s jaw early. Ali spent the fight
eating the low-slung jab, Norton constantly coming forward. Maybe this got Ali ready for Foreman’s attack
in Zaire. Norton visited Ali in the
hospital. Ali said he didn’t want a
rematch. He got two, and won two
decisions, figuring out Norton’s jab and unorthodox style. The fights were close. Norton thought he won all three. He had a
good argument.
Norton
couldn’t figure out Foreman, who never had trouble with fighters who came at
him. Ernie Shavers, the hardest hitting fighter in history, took Norton out in
one round. But Norton would fight and
beat Jimmy Young and Gerry Quarry, two greats.
Leon Spinks wouldn’t fight him, abdicating the title.
Perhaps
Norton’s greatest fight was against Larry Holmes. It was all action the whole way and one of
the greatest heavyweight fights of all time.
Norton would lose the decision, but it could have been his.
Norton
fought the best of his era, which was the best era of heavyweights of all
time. Though he lost decisions to hall
of famers, and lost by knockout to two of the greatest punchers of all time
(Shavers and Foreman), he fought them hard and showed tremendous courage and skill
throughout his career. He was a great fighter, one of the greatest. He’s in the Hall of Fame, and rightfully so.
No comments:
Post a Comment