Ken Norton

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Ken Norton
Heavyweight boxing world champion
boxer
Ken Norton 2008

Ken Norton 2008
Data
Birth Name Kenneth Howard Norton
Weight class Heavyweight
nationality US-american
birthday August 9, 1943
place of birth Jacksonville
Date of death 18th September 2013
style Left delivery
size 1.91 m
Range 2.03 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 50
Victories 42
Knockout victories 33
Defeats 7th
draw 1

Kenneth Howard "Ken" Norton (born August 9, 1943 in Jacksonville , Illinois , † September 18, 2013 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was an American heavyweight boxer and actor .

Career

Norton was a great athlete even at Jacksonville High School . His track and field coach once registered him in a competition for eight different disciplines. Norton won five of them and came second in three. Since then, the "Ken Norton Rule" has been in effect in Illinois, stating that an athlete may only be registered for three competitions.

He started boxing with the United States Marine Corps .

In 1967 he became a professional. With Eddie Futch he had a renowned trainer who also looked after Joe Frazier . Here too he showed good athleticism and stamina, but always had problems with his poor ability to take. In 1970 he was down against Aaron Eastling and later that year he went against the Venezuelan southpaw José Luis Garcia K. o.

On March 31, 1973, he fought Muhammad Ali for the first time . This fight was about the title of the North American Heavyweight Championship. The fight in San Diego wasn't sold out. Norton was seen only as a stopover in Ali's comeback after losing in the first fight against Frazier. Norton broke Ali's lower jaw in one of the first rounds and won in the end with a "split decision", ie a split point decision in which only two of the three referees voted for him.

Six months later (Sept. 10th) the rematch took place in Los Angeles; this time Ali won a spectacular match between two boxers of equal value. This point win was also a “split decision”. Some observers believed that Norton won that fight too.

On March 26, 1974, Norton fought against George Foreman for the world championship in spite of this defeat in Venezuela , the home of his first conqueror Garcia, which had become wealthy due to the rise in oil prices and was knocked out in the second round.

He beat the failed white hope Kirkman and defeated the falling Jerry Quarry and in the rematch Garcia prematurely.

In 1976 he had the opportunity to fight again for the world championship in a third fight against Ali, who had surprisingly beaten Foreman, at Yankee Stadium in New York . In this fight, the judges awarded Ali a unanimous win on points. However, the decision is considered one of the two most controversial results in Ali's title fights (in addition to the decision in the fight against Jimmy Young in the following year; in the build-up phase, Ali's victory against Doug Jones was also controversial). Most boxing journalists and many observers, including opponents of Muhammad Ali, certified Norton to have won the fight.

Norton was considered a "fear opponent" Ali; his boxing style did not suit this because Norton, like Frazier, hit a lot and built up pressure almost continuously. The supposedly bad chin, which Norton was sometimes awarded due to his knockout defeats, could withstand Ali's clout. If the opponent's clout did not impress him, Norton was always fully competitive, which was also shown by the later fight against Larry Holmes .

Subsequently, Norton beat the undefeated "white hope" Duane Bobick in the first round with a hard knockout, which he had also underpinned his reputation as a feared opponent of the whites.

Norton celebrated the second really big win of his career with a narrow points victory against Jimmy Young on November 5, 1977, who had lost in 1976 through a controversial verdict against Ali and was able to defeat George Foreman the following year . The fight made Norton the top heavyweight challenger.

In 1978 Leon Spinks , who had also officially defeated Ali, was supposed to box against Norton, but preferred to fight Ali again. Therefore the WBC association withdrew his title. On March 18, 1978, the WBC made history by naming Norton world champion without a title fight. The association simply declared Norton's fight against Jimmy Young for the title fight.

However, Norton was not to keep the title for long. Already in his first title defense he met the undefeated Larry Holmes . After a brutal fight over 15 rounds, Holmes just won with a "split decision", before the last round the two were tied on all three scoreboards. The fight went down as one of the most spectacular and best boxing title fights in the history of heavyweight boxing. Holmes never gave Norton a rematch.

Norton's career as a world class boxer was over when Earnie Shavers knocked him out in the first round. Against Scott LeDoux he reached a draw, but was twice down, the undefeated Randall Cobb he beat on points.

In 1981 Norton resigned from boxing after he was knocked out hard in the first round against the unbeaten Gerry Cooney , the only white who could defeat him. This win was extremely lucrative for Cooney, who, after Norton's spectacular knockout victories against Quarry and Bobick, seemed to be a contrast and credible hope and thus got millions for a title fight against Larry Holmes . To this day, Norton is unique among all heavyweight champions because he was world champion without having won a single title fight.

Norton began acting in parallel with his sports career. He played the slave Ganymede in the 1975 film Mandingo . He suffered temporary psychological and permanent physical damage in a serious car accident. Norton is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame . Relations with his son Ken Norton Jr. , a football player in the National Football League (NFL), were at times very tense.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ken Norton, heavyweight boxing legend, dies at 70. Former US heavyweight boxing champion Ken Norton, who beat Muhammad Ali, has died at the age of 70, his son says. In: bbc.co.uk. BBC, September 19, 2013, accessed May 31, 2014 : "Norton, who had been in poor health following a series of strokes, died at a care facility in Las Vegas, Nevada."
  2. ↑ Ken Norton Jr. and Sr. Are Close Again , SF Gate, October 12, 1995.
predecessor Office successor
Leon Spinks Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC )
March 18, 1978–9. June 1978 		Larry Holmes
personal data
SURNAME Norton, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Norton, Kenneth Howard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American boxer
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacksonville , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH 18th September 2013
Place of death Las Vegas , Nevada , United States