I have it for Kenny....until Holmes hurts him late on....then I feel it's Larry. Still cannot call it for certainly certain but had I been judging that night I'm sure I'd have given it to Holmes off that late late barrage. If I've got a round like that I'm afraid I've got to score against the guy who was hurt most even if he landed more or won"more" of the round.
Great round where both had good moments, but I would itch toward Norton. More consistent throughout and while he was a bit more hurt, not overwhelmingly so imo. Often read that the judges had it even going in the last round. Wonder how Holmes' career would have played out had he nit received the W???
Norton wins, fights Cooney, loses, Gerrys goes loses to Tysonin 1986 after Holmes loses to Spinks in an eliminator.... Holmes winds up on skid row blaming the Judges of the Norton fight before being rescued by Cooneys FIST foundation.
Yeah, holmes probably doesnt become an atg had he lost against norton, and norton is probably rated much higher historically. . Sometime the smallest things can have enormous impact
I give the round to Holmes.…Norton landed plenty early but Holmes never look hurt at all and was landing punches of his own… He seem aware of what was happening. Holmes win it in the last 30 seconds
Agreed. Larry has no career if he loses to Norton. Not because Larry couldn't win a rematch. Knowing Larry, he'd have taken a loss to Norton really really badly and gone into a funk afterwards.
By 1979, Norton was very shopworn as his nearly disastrous late collapse Vs Scott LeDoux proved. Larry really should have been dealing with him but Holmes had a unique ability to make things hard for himself .
Thats one way to look at it.... Manny Steward used to talk about how a fighter might be "generating a lot of excitement" but while Norton was doing that and more Holmes was perfectly aware all the time of the broader situation and was biding his time to do the greater damage.
