By Eric Thomas: With sadness Boxingnews24.com regrets to announce that former WBC heavyweight champion Ken Norton (42-7-1, 33 KO’s) has reportedly passed away today at the age of 70 in a hospital Arizona. The reports are that Norton died of congestive heart failure. A year ago Norton suffered a stroke and he had been dealing with problems from that.
Norton is well known for his 3 fights against Muhammad Ali. Norton beat Ali in March of 1973 after breaking his jaw and winning by a round split decision. Norton had a controversial 15 round decision loss to Ali in September of 1976 at Yankee Stadium in a fight that Norton appeared to win.
Norton had wins over the likes of Henry Clark, Jerry Quarry, Duane Bobick, Ron Stander, Randall Cobb, and Jimmy Young. Norton also had fights against George Foreman, Gerry Cooney, Earnie Shavers, Larry Holmes, and Scott Ledoux.
Blessed with a lot of power and a body building physique, Norton was a problem for most of the top fighters in the heavyweight division in the 1970s. There were some guys like George Foreman and Shavers that Norton didn’t match up well with, but most of the others he did.
Norton got into boxing while in the United Stated Marine Corps in serving a 4-year hitch from 1963 to 1967. Despite not having any experience before that time, Norton did well and built up and impressive record of 24-2. At the end of his enlistment, Norton turned pro in 1967.
Norton was also involved in acting and played in the movie “Mandingo” in 1975. Norton also got some acting in the Knight Rider series and a number movies. Norton came close to getting the part of Apollo Creed in the Sylvester Stallone move “Rocky,”, but instead the part went to Carl Weathers when Norton chose to pull out. It would have been interesting to see how the movie would have been like with Norton playing the part of Creed. Weathers ended up in 4 of the Rocky movies.
Norton was badly injured in a car accident in 1986 that effected his speech from that point on.
Norton’s son Ken Norton Jr. was a well known football player in the NFL in playing for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. Norton Jr. was a 3-time Pro Bowl player.
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