31/07/2025
As captured by from the The Loneliest Sport on what Kenny Norton said about the of not just boxing ๐ฅ but sports in general, Muhammad Ali:
'It was rumored that [Joe] Frazier and I made a pact never to fight each other because we were such good friends. That simply was not true. The reality is that if we had been offered the right amount of money, we would have fought each other. However, after two years of sparring with each other, we knew each other's style so well and had formed a mutual respect for each other's abilities.
All in all, working with Joe was a fantastic experience. My defense got better, my boxing knowledge improved, and most important, my confidence shot up 100 percent. After going to Frazier's camp, everything else was a breeze. It was a boost that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else, and I will always be thankful to him for advancing my career.
Frazier's training camp boosted my confidence by helping me see that I could tangle with the big boys, but it was his first fight with [Muhammad] Ali in Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, that made me want to stay in boxing.
Actually, I was supposed to be on the undercard for that landmark fight, but it was cancelled at the last minute. That was fine by me. I got a great seat! The hype, the excitement and all of the hoopla sent chills up and down my spine, and I finally realized that this was what I had been searching for all my life. A world heavyweight boxing championship fight is what I yearned for.
Ali must be credited for making that fight a historic turning point in sports. He turned the fight into a piece of work that P.T. Barnum would have been proud of. In addition to all of the media attention, he managed to land $2.5 million for both him and Frazier, an astronomical amount of money for a boxing match in those days.
Ali can take full credit for bringing boxing into the big leagues and big money. I would even go so far as to say that Ali brought not just boxing but the whole sports world into the 20th century, as far as salaries are concerned. Luckily for both Ali and Frazier, the fight lived up to all of its expectations and was worth every bit of that $2.5 million.'
- Ken Norton
