16x20 Action Photograph of two great Heavyweight
Champions Ken Norton and Larry Holmes that has been signed
by both boxers. This wonderful item comes complete with
our Certificate of Authenticity and photographs of both
signing, so you can be rest assured you are buying a genuine
autograph.
The date was June 9th 1978 when Holmes took
a 15 round split decision over Norton at Caesars Palace
in Las Vegas. The Holmes-Norton title fight ranks up there
with the greatest Heavyweight Championship bouts of all
time. In fact the 15th round is one of the best rounds in
Heavyweight history.
Holmes v Norton £85.00
Ken "The Black Hercules" Norton was a well regarded
heavyweight contender for the title in the 1970s. He was
an ex marine and is well known for his win over Muhammad
Ali although many felt Norton was hard done by in their
two other bouts. In the first bout Norton broke Ali's jaw
in the early rounds and went on to win a Unanimous Decision.
The other two bouts, Norton lost on points. Norton also
fought George Foreman and was stopped in two rounds. Then
he was stopped by hard hitting Earnie Shavers in one round.
Norton nonetheless kept as a top contender. Following Leon
Spinks victory over Muhammad Ali for the world championship
in February, 1978, Spinks elected to fight a return bout
against Ali rather than face Norton. The World Boxing Council,
which had mandated a Spinks-Norton bout for their championship,
withdrew its recognition of Spinks as champion.
On March 18, 1978, the WBC made history by naming Norton
its champion without benefit of a title match. The WBC stated
that they considered Norton's victory over Jimmy Young a
'retroactive championship match'). Norton wouldn't hold
onto the title for very long.
In his first 'defense' of the WBC title, Norton and new
#1 contender Larry Holmes met in what many consider a classic
fight. After 15 brutal rounds, Holmes was awarded the title
via an extremely close split decision.
Watch the Boxing Video of Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton now:
In 1981, Norton retired after getting knocked out in one
round by Gerry Cooney. Retiring at age 33 with an overall
record of 42-7-1, Norton went on to act in motion pictures
until suffering an auto accident which resulted in temporary
brain and permanent physical damage
