Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton I - March 31, 1973 - HIGH QUALITY REMASTERED!

[Mars_ax]

Good find Brock, I believe this is the one where Ali gets his jaw broken by Norton, but to his credit, and even though he loses finishes the fight. I'll watch it when I get time later today.

Yeah its the one that he breaks his jaw--3rd round. Funny thing was ALi had written "KO 3" inside his right glove and told Cosell and Clancy b4 the fight he would KO Norton in 3. Funny thing was he wound up getting his jaw broken in that round or some think it was the 1st round.

Bad Karma coming to get him soon, so soon after getting shellacked by Frazier in March of '71. I remember the cover of Sports Illustrated when I was in 3rd grade---it said "The Mouth is Silent" and had a picture of Ali with his jaw wired shut. Even at age 9 I could detect the sarcastic relief of some of the media at that time.

On another note---Ali had promised Joe Frazier and the press row on his way to the ring in the MSG fight with Frazier that he would literally "crawl across the ring on his hands and knees and bow down to Frazier and tell him he was the greatest IF FRAZIER" could beat him.

Frazier whupped him good and Ali never kept his promise. KNow why

He was too busy being driven to the emergency room of a hospital.

That 3 1/2 year layoff for draft evasion really did a number on Ali, he was never the same, much slower and much easier to hit, look at how much Norton is connecting in that 1st fight.
If George Foreman didn't fight the dumbest fight possible, and hadn't been totally psyched out in 1974, in Zaire, i'm convinced Ali would have gotten destroyed.

BTW, Ali always had problems with Norton, even when his Jaw wasn't broken.

P.S. Frazier watched a replay of his first fight with Ali a few years before he died, and implied that Ali must have been on some dope to have gotten up from that KD in the 15th round.