Ken Norton met Larry Holmes on Friday, June 9, 1978 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. I tuned into the action on ABC on my 11″ black and white TV in my bedroom. I was not a serious boxing fan at the time, and was just about to graduate high school with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. When I noticed the fight was on, I tuned in to out of curiosity as much as anything.
The action was back and forth, and at times it seemed like two Rock-em’ Sock- em’ robots going at it. Both men traded heavy punches, and I grew more interested as each round passed. Something was different about this fight to me, and I went to tell my mother in her bedroom between rounds how much I was enjoying it. After fifteen even rounds, Holmes won a split decision, and was the new WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World. Even though Norton lost, he had nothing to be ashamed of by his performance. That fight lit a spark in me that grew into a flame as the years passed, and I became a full-fledged boxing fan to the core.
After the defeat, Ken took five months off, then knocked out Randy Stephens in three in November. That set up a big bout with Earnie Shavers in Vegas on March 23 on ABC. Disaster struck in the way of a brutal first round knockout loss to Shavers. I caught the action live, and had to wonder if Ken had anything left in the tank at all.
In August he was held to a split decision draw with Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota, and it didn’t give any credence as to why he should continue fighting. He retired after that performance, but as with a lot of fighters, it wasn’t permanent.
Norton returned on November 7, 1980 against Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb in San Antonio. Ken won a split decision to keep his career alive, and set up one more run at the big time, a bout with up coming Gerry Cooney the following May.
I went to a local restaurant bar to catch the action on HBO. When I sat down on my stool, it wasn’t long before I was turning around to go home. Cooney hurt and cornered Norton, and almost killed him with unanswered blows to his head. Fortunately Norton survived, but it ended his career for once and for all.
Ken was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, and died on September 18, 2013. Rest in peace, champ.
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