Ken Norton had beaten Muhammad Ali once and pushed him to a split decision in their rematch. At Yankee Stadium on September 28, 1976, he came closer than ever to taking Ali’s heavyweight championship. The judges gave Ali the final round and a unanimous decision.
Nearly 50 years later, the argument over the other 14 rounds remains. Their rivalry began in 1973, when Norton broke Ali’s jaw and won a split decision in San Diego. Ali took another split decision six months later.
By the third fight, Ali had regained the heavyweight title from George Foreman, and Norton was the leading contender. They knew each other’s habits. Norton also knew his crouch, awkward rhythm, and crossing-arm defense could disrupt Ali’s jab.
On a cold night in the Bronx, Norton pressed forward and landed the cleaner punches for long stretches. Ali moved, talked, and spent time against the ropes, but Norton gave him little of the reckless offense that Foreman had offered two years earlier. There were no knockdowns and no easy rounds to settle the dispute.
Later punch statistics credited Norton with 286 landed punches to Ali’s 199, though totals alone cannot decide how 15 separate rounds should be scored.
The last round became the hinge. Ali fought with greater urgency while Norton boxed cautiously. All three officials awarded the 15th to Ali. Referee Arthur Mercante Sr. scored the fight 8–6–1; judges Harold Lederman and Barney Smith each had Ali ahead 8–7. Those narrow cards gave the champion a unanimous decision and left Norton without the title.
Norton believed he had won nine or ten rounds. In a poll afterward, 17 of 21 sportswriters scored the fight for him. That does not make every close round clear-cut, but it shows why the verdict never became an accepted end to the debate. Ali kept his championship; Norton left with the stronger claim in many spectators’ eyes.
Ali and Norton never fought again. Norton later received the WBC heavyweight title after the belts split, then lost it to Larry Holmes. Their final meeting remains an unusually sharp divide between an official result and a fight’s lasting reputation: Ali won the decision at Yankee Stadium, while Norton made a case that has endured far longer than the crowd’s trip home.
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