Ken Norton Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American professional boxer….who competed from 1967 to 1981….and held the WBC heavyweight title in 1978. He is best known for his trilogy of fights with Muhammad Ali….in which Norton won the first fight by split decision….and lost the latter two fights by split and unanimous decision, respectively. Norton also fought a…
There has never been…..nor will there ever be again…..an athlete to stand in front of a television camera and control the stage quite like Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali…..for in so many ways, he truly was The Greatest…..whether he was responding to an interviewers question…..or reciting his poetry to any “gathered crowd”…..or “trash talking” an opponent in the…
In this 1978 interview of Muhammad Ali by Frank Gifford on ABC’s Wide World of Sports…..Ali assesses the fight between challenger Larry Holmes verses WBC Champ Ken Norton….which was a tough, competitive fight…..when after fourteen rounds…..each of the three judges scored the fight dead even at seven rounds each…..as Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win…
Larry Holmes vs. Muhammad Ali was billed as “The Last Hurrah“….which was a professional boxing match contested on October 2, 1980 in Las Vegas for the WBC and Lineal Heavyweight Championships ….as the fight was estimated to have been watched by a record 2 billion viewers worldwide. Larry Holmes was Ali’s sparring partner for a long time. “He lived with Ali. They boxed hundreds of…
Cassius Clay began taunting and provoking Liston almost immediately after the two agreed to fight….as he purchased a bus….and had it emblazoned with the words “Liston Must Go In Eight”….when on the day of the contract signing, he drove it to Liston’s home in Denver…..and woke up the champion with the press in tow at…
Cassius Clay’s outbursts reached their peak at the pre-fight weigh-in/physical the morning of the event…. when title fight weigh-ins, before this, had been predictable and boring…..but when The Louisville Lip entered the room where the weigh-in would be held wearing a denim jacket with the words “Bear Huntin’” on the back and carrying an African walking…
After the long time HBO Boxing broadcasting team of Barry Tompkins, Sugar Ray Leonard and Larry Merchant broke-up in late 1987 due to the departure of Barry Tompkins….HBO turned the host reigns that Tompkins held over the years to highly experienced ABC sportscaster Jim Lampley….who seamlessly joined Sugar and Larry to bring HBO Boxing events…
Kevin Rooney is an American former boxer and a current boxing trainer…..who was portrayed by Clark Gregg in the 1995 movie Tyson….and by Aaron Eckhart in the 2016 movie Bleed for This….simply because he had trained world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson from the start of his professional career in 1985 until Tyson’s bout with Michael Spinks in 1988. During the period when Rooney was Tyson’s trainer….Tyson had a record…
Trevor Berbick was a Jamaican Canadian heavyweight professional boxer…..who competed from 1976 to 2000….and won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas….then he lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mike Tyson…..and was also the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali…. defeating him in 1981…..when The Greatest was sadly way past his prime. Larry Holmes is an American former professional heavyweight…