Ken Norton Vs Frank Bruno

[mr. magoo]

FRANK BRUNO - 6'3", 230 LBS IN PRIME.

Best wins, Oliver McCall, Joe Bugner, James Tillis, Carl Williams, Gerrie Coetzee. Worst loss, 10th round KO to James Smith.

KEN NORTON - 6'3. 215 LBS ( APPROXIMATELY )

Best wins, Muhammad Ali, Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, Duane Bobick, Tex Cobb. Worst loss(s) Luis Garcia and Gerry Cooney.


So who wins this one? Some say that Bruno was not a natural fighter, and often folded when being under intense pressure from a great fighter. Norton however, did not do so well against big punchers, and Frank is no exception here. Additionally, both men were well chizzled specimens in great shape, and showed incredible heart and courage during big fights. Bruno had a great left jab and right cross, while Norton had an excellent talent for penetrating jabbers.

I don't know who wins this one, but I doubt it goes longer than 5 or 6 rounds, with both the winner and loser, taking a fair share of pounding.


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[la-califa]

Battle of excellent jabbers. Norton likes to exchange a little too much. I think Bruno would catch Norton with a big punch and finish the job in about the sixth or seventh round. However, beyond that ,Bruno's suspect stamina comes into play and Norton could sweep the last few rounds down the strech. This bout could easily have two very realistic scenario's.

[mr. magoo]

Battle of excellent jabbers. Norton likes to exchange a little too much. I think Bruno would catch Norton with a big punch and finish the job in about the sixth or seventh round. However, beyond that ,Bruno's suspect stamina comes into play and Norton could sweep the last few rounds down the strech. This bout could easily have two very realistic scenario's.

I agree.

This bout could have easily ended in a single round, or it could have gone the full stretch. Frankly, I think a lot of it would have depended on the psychological status of each man going into the fight.

Bruno's ability to handle adversity is greatly underrated in my opinion. Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall were heavily favored to beat him easily, yet look at what happened. He gave two of those guys tough fights, while beating the third. Frank's heart is very under appreciated.

Norton, was a man who could lose in a single round to a big one hit wonder, yet box some of the greatest fighters to victory. Needless to say, both Norton and Bruno were extremely well conditioned in their primes and could either slug to a stoppage early, or box to a hard fought decision.

I still don't know who would take this one...

[teeto]

You 2 have basically done this thread already! Alll that's left is to make picks now, i'm gunna go with Norton personally, i think some big overhand right might do it

[he grant]

Norton was a much better fighter and would have stopped Bruno late ...

[box1]

Bruno was a tall fighter who punched extremely hard. Norton always had difficulty with those fighters but looked good against boxers. Norton against Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney all look like this fight to me.

[Vantage_West]

^ agree but depends on what bruno turns up. sometimes he wanted to be the boxer using his long jab and his high guard but sometimes he wanted to pulverise the guy.

this was one of the talking points before he fought tyson. would he try and ko the smaller guy or use his experience to use his jab and hieght to outbox and outhustle the younger guy?

i feel he could catch norton cold. have no doubt about it that bruno could ko him in a one shot victory. just can it be done? bruno usually came foreward behind his jab, but norton had one of the greatest counter jab techniques. which made him so effective against boxers and weak against hookers.

my guess is that bruno would stop him early. he wasnt a swarmer but he wasnt the non aggresive type. and after his jab wouldnt get through his rigth hand would start battering down the gates and when norton is rocked bruno wouldnt let him off the hook.


the norton-lewis fight would be much more interesting subject

[Holmes' Jab]

Kenny generally only lost big-style against ATG punchers/finishers: whilst Bruno was a relatively hard hitter, he lacked in that second category, plus when it came to the crunch he lost against any top level fighter he ever faced: Norton is better than most of Bruno's career opponents with a couple of obvious exceptions. Bruno doesn't quite possess the sheer power of a Foreman or Shavers or the finishing ability of a Tyson or Lewis. I'll maintain that Norton gets a pretty raw deal these days: he'd lose to a fair share of truely great bangers, but not this guy. I think whilst Norton will maybe have one or two rocky moments early on, he'd brave it out and sweep the later rounds to take a decision


Norton: UD

[TBooze]

Norton could have real issues surviving the firt 12 minutes or so, but if he does, he goes on to win by late stoppage as Bruno once again blows a lead against quality opposition.

Norton TKO11

[natonic]

Norton could have real issues surviving the firt 12 minutes or so, but if he does, he goes on to win by late stoppage as Bruno once again blows a lead against quality opposition.

Norton TKO11

I pretty much agree with this assessment. I tend to disregard Norton's loss against Cooney because I believe he was a shell of his former self. So that leaves a prime Foreman and Shavers who shelled Norton. I don't think Bruno is in that realm as a puncher. Norton stopped Quarry who was a pretty hard puncher. Was Bruno's right hand better than a prime Holmes? I don't think so. Even if it was, he didn't have the skill to land it as frequently as Holmes did. Norton beat Ali at least once. I think there's too much evidence to suggest Norton would weather the storm and stop Bruno mid to late rounds.

[OBCboxer]

I pretty much agree with this assessment. I tend to disregard Norton's loss against Cooney because I believe he was a shell of his former self. So that leaves a prime Foreman and Shavers who shelled Norton. I don't think Bruno is in that realm as a puncher. Norton stopped Quarry who was a pretty hard puncher. Was Bruno's right hand better than a prime Holmes? I don't think so. Even if it was, he didn't have the skill to land it as frequently as Holmes did. Norton beat Ali at least once. I think there's too much evidence to suggest Norton would weather the storm and stop Bruno mid to late rounds.

I second that.