This fight is ignored by those who claim that Norton couldn't handle big punchers. Garcia hit Norton with some heavy punches, but Norton didn't back down nor back up. Jerry Quarry knocked out Earnie Shavers and almost knocked out Ron Lyle, yet Norton took all of Quarry's power shots before stopping Jerry in the 5th round. Sans Joe Frazier, Norton is also the greatest body puncher in heavyweight history.
The was the last fight of JL Garcia's career. He finished 30-8-1 (19 KO, 6 KO by). Six of his losses were to heavyweights of note (Norton, Joe Bugner, Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Ernie Terrell, and Joe Alexander.)
JLG had a lot of natural ability, you have to wonder how far he could have gone with proper stewardship? He started as a Middleweight and they bulked him up to meet the Heavyweight class, but not all his additional weight was solid muscle. Had they developed him more slowly and methodically, he might have won his fights against some of his top opponents. He had the signature win over Norton, but most of the other big names on his record were losses.
Norton always was susceptible to guys who could bang...Foreman almost tore his head off 2 years earlier. In this fight, JLG just wasn't strong enough nor punched hard enough to back Kenny up. Can you imagine what Frazier would have done to Norton if they had crossed paths during Joe's prime? They were friends outside the ring and Frazier got his late shot at Ali on the basis of their rivalry without having to fight Kenny. In 1975, I'd give Ken the edge over Joe but 1972 or earlier, Frazier would have destroyed him.
A left hook to the liver is a paralyzing shot. Oscar De LaHoya was boxing reasonably well against Bernard Hopkins before Hopkins nailed him in the liver. The same thing happened here, with Norton and Garcia.
Sería justo ver el primer combate entre Norton vs García, realmente fueron 2 combates de altura, todavía sostengo que José Luis García fué mal manejado,era difícil lograr el título mundial ya que hubo muchos boxeadores de excelencia tales como Casius Clay,George forman,Joe Frazier,Ernie terrel,Joe bugner ,pero,pudo haber Sido más honrrado su rendimiento profesional,insisto que un latino en los peso pesados es una tarea difícil y el negocio favorecía a Clay (Ali ) , pero,Ramiro Machado fué el peor adversario en los logros de nuestro campeón José Luis García quien ocupó el 4to y 5to lugar en la O.M.B y A.M.B respectivamente,después de Ali,foreman y Jimmy ellis aparte de bugner
Es bueno resaltar en la historia de un coloso como lo fué José Luis García , después de 50 años ,en la época más calificada de la historia de los peso pesados y una vez más sobresalió un Venezolano,Ken Norton fué otro más de la industria boxistica de la época , García debió quedarse bajo la dirección de Willie Ketchum y no regresar a manos de Machado ,otro gallo cantaría
Big punchers always gave Kenny problems. Garcia wasn't a big heavyweight but he could bang. He had Norton hurt a few times in this fight and, of course, almost killed him in the first fight. Foreman, Shavers, Cooney et al would demonstrate this later.
