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Boxing – 1978 – 15 Round WBC Heavyweight Title – Ken Norton VS Larry Holmes

DOG COMMENTARY:

Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978…..as he won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision by winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third….as Holmes’s victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978.

While it might be going a bit far to classify Ken Norton as a “hard-luck fighter”….it is difficult not to see him as such when one considers all the twists and turns of his fateful career…..for in this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphile’s opinion….the term should never apply to a boxer whose record boasts a win over “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali. As I have often said….this was the golden age of boxing (1964 – 1995)….and while it’s not luck of a good sort that sees you competing for the world title at the same time as both Ali and George Foreman…..two heavyweight boxing legends….Norton was not the only big, talented heavyweight faced with that prospect. He would lose to both all-time greats and years later he confessed that the judges’ verdict for Ali in their third battle in 1976 broke his heart and he was never quite the same ever after.

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