It is with great sadness and regret that the BWAA acknowledges the passing of former heavyweight champion, Ken Norton at age 70.
Norton died Wednesday in Arizona after suffering from health issues related to a stroke he had in 2012. The former champion, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, retired with a record of 42-7-1 with 33 knockouts.
Norton is perhaps best known for his controversial trilogy with Muhammad Ali, whose jaw he broke and he beat via decision in their first fight in 1973. He would go on to lose debatable decisions to “The Greatest” later that year and again in 1976 and is largely credited with having Ali’s “number.”
He also lost to Larry Holmes in 1978 in one of the best heavyweight championship matches of all time.
Of course, Norton additionally has history with our organization, winning the BWAA’s “Fighter of the Year” award in 1977, a year in which he defeated Duane Bobick and Jimmy Young in a WBC eliminator, becoming the first heavyweight champion to ever win the title outside of the ring.
The thoughts and condolences of the BWAA are with Mr. Norton’s family and friends at this time.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
