Ken Norton was convinced that he won all three
of his fights against Muhammad Ali in the 70s when the Marine veteran
and screen actor was the fourth member of boxing’s finest quartet
of heavyweights.
Norton, who died September 18, 2013 in Arizona
aged 70 after a long illness, sparred hundreds of rounds with Joe
Frazier, met George Foreman for the world title and shared the spoils
2-1 in Ali’s favour in their trilogy of fights, which were decided
by slender margins like the truly great bouts.
The first was
for the North American Boxing Federation title in San Diego in 1973,
which took place just seven weeks after Foreman had won the world
title from Frazier.
It was a routine fight for Ali to keep him
busy before a contest with Foreman could be agreed. However, in the
last round Norton, who in his previous fight had been paid just $300,
continued to push Ali back with big jabs and clubbing shots to the
body. A split decision denied Ali whose jaw was later revealed to
be broken, his belt by one and two rounds. One judge went for Ali,
who had not prepared, by one round.
They were back in the ring
six months later for the same belt and after a repeat of the hostilities
over 12 rounds it was down to another split decision. Ali won by one
and two rounds and once again the contrasting vote was by one round,
this time in Norton’s favour.
Ali had taken the rematch very
seriously and for good reason. “my guy had to win the second fight,”
insisted Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer, who only ever called his boxer
“my guy”.
“If he had lost it would have been all over. Forget
it. We knew that going in.” A defeat would have been the third since
Ali had ended his exile two years earlier and there were many in the
boxing business prepared to gleefully dismiss him.
The following
year it was Norton who somehow got a world title fight with Foreman;
it was an ugly night in Caracas with Norton down three times and beaten
if five minutes. A few months later in 1974 Ali went to Zaire and
knocked out Foreman. “I softened him up,” Norton told me in 2000.
Norton
had to wait two years for his world title fight with Ali, keeping
busy with knockouts and Hollywood films. The third contest was in
August 1976 at Yankee Stadium, New York, and once again Norton walked
through Ali’s feints, punches and moves to build a big early lead;
it was close going into the 15th and final round.
“It was all
down to the last round,” recalled the referee, Arthur Mercante. “I
went to Ali’s corner and Dundee was screaming at him to fight like
hell. I went to Norton’s corner and they were telling him he had the
fight won and to just move.” The advice, as Norton acknowledged, cost
him the title. It was a tight unanimous decision for Ali but had Norton
won the 15th he would have been crowned champion on a split decision.
“Ali and his people tried to call me awkward,” said Norton.
“It makes me sound like I didn’t know what I was doing. I was more
than that and I just had the style, with the jab, to beat Ali. It’s
that simple.” The pair became great friends in retirement.