Reuters/Phoenix
Ken Norton, the former heavyweight boxing champion who broke Mohamed Ali’s jaw in a 1973 bout, died on Wednesday at an Arizona hospital at age 70, his manager said.
Norton, who died in Bullhead City, near the Arizona-Nevada border, had been suffering from congestive heart failure, said Patrick Tenore, the boxer’s corporate manager and friend.
“His wife called me and said Ken had passed away,” Tenore said. “I saw him a few days ago. His mind was always clear but his speech was impeded since the car accident in Los Angeles.
“He’s been in rehab (for ill health) for almost a year and early this afternoon, he passed away. He was not only a tremendous boxer, but also the most righteous, polite, generous human being.”
Norton, nicknamed ‘The Black Hercules’, took up boxing as a heavyweight when he was serving in the US Marine Corps, and turned professional after his discharge in 1967. A power puncher, he burst on the scene in 1973 when he broke Ali’s jaw during their first fight, claiming the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight title in a split decision over 12 rounds.
Ali’s camp said his jaw broke early in the fight, but Norton later said at a boxing convention in Cancun, Mexico, more than three decades later, that a punch thrown in the 11th round caused the fracture.
Ali narrowly won a split decision in a rematch nearly six months later, and held on to his heavyweight title in a bruising third encounter in 1976.
Norton won a heavyweight title elimination tournament the following year, and was subsequently declared champion by the World Boxing Council. He lost the title in 1978 in an epic 15-round fight with Larry Holmes.
Norton retired from the ring in 1981. He ended his career with a record of 42 wins, seven losses and a draw. He had 33 knockouts.
He took on a second career as an actor, making more than a dozen television and film appearances, including the 1975 movie Mandingo. His son, Ken Norton Jr, played in the National Football League with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.
Norton fought in the 1970s era of magnificent heavyweights—a group that also included Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks and Jimmy Young.
“They called us handsome. Mohamed they called pretty. But the fairest of them all Ken Norton,” Foreman wrote on his Twitter page. “What a loss to all of us.”
Other tributes also quickly poured in for Norton, who was once given the title of “Father of the Year” by the Los Angeles Times in 1977.
“My heart has been heavy since hearing the news earlier today,” boxer Larry Holmes wrote on Twitter. “He was a good man. #RIP #KenNorton.”
