Boxing Fans

Ken Norton, who had three memorable fights with Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali’s jaw in winning their first bout, then losing twice, and who went on to become the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, died Wednesday in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev. He was 70.

Not sure about that "We"...

But apparently YOU did...

But there was never one like this one. The unbeaten and younger 1968 Olympic champion Foreman, 25, was going against the older 1960 Olympic champion Ali, 32. The elder had been heavyweight champion. Now the younger was.

Would young and strong beat quick and crafty? Could there be any better drama than a fight in which Foreman was a 4-1 favorite and, in strange contradiction to that, millions of fight fans sincerely worried that Foreman might kill Ali?

"I was pretty full of myself," Foreman said Tuesday from his home in Houston. "I had no respect for anyone, and disregard for everything."
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Foreman threw everything but the president's DC-10 at Ali, who was still hale and hearty at the bell ending the fourth round.

"As he turned to go to his corner," Foreman said, "he looked at me. There was a smile, like he was saying, 'I made it.'

"I remembered thinking, 'Oh, oh. He made it.'"

By the sixth round, Ali was still ducking, weaving and bouncing off the ropes.

"At one point, in the sixth," Foreman said, "I hit him with maybe the best shot I ever got off. He kind of leaned on me and whispered in my ear, 'George, is that all you got?'

"I remember thinking, 'Yup, that's about it.'"

Foreman was exhausted, with no plan B.

"I didn't back up," Foreman said. "I didn't know how. I always just came forward."