World heavyweight title · 1976
Ali, Norton and the 15th round at Yankee Stadium
Three judges gave it to Muhammad Ali by the narrowest margins. Seventeen of 21 sportswriters thought Ken Norton had won. The fight may have been decided in Norton's corner before the last round.
By 1976 Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali had fought twice and won once each. Norton had beaten Ali first; Ali had won the second. The third fight, for Ali's undisputed heavyweight title, was held at Yankee Stadium, and Ali was paid $6 million, the biggest purse in boxing to that point.
The night did not go smoothly outside the ring. A New York police strike was going on, and the chaos around the stadium kept people away from the gate. Millions more watched on closed-circuit television.
A problem Ali never solved
Norton's style gave Ali trouble every time they met. The punch statistics from the third fight show how much. Norton landed 286 of 635 punches; Ali landed 199 of 709. Norton landed 192 power punches to Ali's 128. Ali threw more and landed less.
Going into the 15th round the fight was close enough that it could still go either way. Norton's corner decided otherwise. They told him to play it safe and not give Ali a chance to get lucky in the last three minutes.
Ali did the opposite. He came out for the final round and dominated the first two minutes of it, with the crowd chanting his name. The Fight City, looking back, argued that had Norton thrown caution away and won the round, he would have won a split decision.
The cards
All three judges scored it for Ali, and all three had it close: Arthur Mercante Sr 8–6, Harold Lederman 8–7, Barney Smith 8–7.
Ringside did not agree. Of 21 sportswriters polled, 17 thought Norton had won. Norton said, "I won at least nine or ten rounds. I was robbed."
Ali, with time, came close to agreeing. "Kenny's style is too difficult for me," he said later. "I honestly thought he beat me in Yankee Stadium."
Robbed?
The word has stuck to the fight, but the evidence is more balanced than the word. The Fight City's verdict is fair: "While Norton may have got the better of it by a shade, no blatant larceny took place." It was a hard fight to score, the rounds were close, and in the one that mattered most Ali did more.
That is the real lesson of the night. Norton may have been the better fighter over 45 minutes, but he and his corner treated the last three as something to survive. Ali treated them as something to win.