What If? Ken Norton vs Ron Lyle

[RINGNEWS24]

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It should have happened. It could have happened. Ken Norton and Ron Lyle, two have the best heavyweights of the " Glorious 70's " era could have created quite a stir if they would have met. By 1973 Ron was an upcoming, undefeated prospect while Norton was already a contender due to his win over clever Henry Clark. In February of 1973 Lyle made his Madison Square Garden debut and was taken to school by veteran tough guy Jerry Quarry. One month later Norton shocked the world when he broke Muhammad Ali's jaw and scored a well deserved upset decision.

 

 

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[davemurphy]

Re: What If? Ken Norton vs Ron Lyle

 

Norton had both a blessing and a curse in the form of his cross-armed Archie Moore-like defense. His forte was taking on boxers who jabbed up the middle (Ali, Jimmy Young, and Holmes, even though he lost to him) but Norton always had trouble with heavyhitters (Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney) that threw looping shots with steam on them. Norton also pictured himself as a hard-puncher and wouldn't hold when hurt, he'd just stay in the path of the oncoming shots, thinking he could answer back. Ron Lyle fit the heavyhitter mold (he himself couldn't get by the aforementioned Jimmy Young in two tries and could be outboxed if Norton chose to do so) and at some point I think he hurts Kenny beyond the point where he can recover.