THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 12: MUHAMMAD ALI LOSSES THEN WINS AGAINST KEN NORTON
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 20 Aug 2025
After stopping Jimmy Ellis, Ali fought Jerry Quarry, and had a second fight with Floyd Patterson, and faced Bob Foster in 1972, winning a total of six fights that year. During his two fights in 1973 with Joe Bugner and Ken Norton, he wore a "People's Choice" robe given to him by Elvis Presley.
Norton was enlisted into the United States Marines Corps after leaving school, serving from 1963 to 1967.
Before his fight with Norton, some scribes said Ali was "gloriously overconfident" and did not consider Norton as a threat. On March 31, 1973, Ali entered the ring at the San Diego Sports Arena as a 5-1 favorite against Norton, who was then rated number 6 world contender in a bout televised by ABC's Wide World of Sports.
But during the fight, in the second round according to most press reports, or in the final round according to Norton himself, Ali's jaw was broken by Norton and lost by split decision suffering the second loss of his career. Norton won the NABF heavyweight title.
At The Forum in Inglewood, California, on September 10, 1973, Ali won a close split decision in a rematch with Norton. Norton weighed in at 206 lbs which is 5 pounds lighter than his first match with Ali. There were raging exchanges of blows in this hard-fought battle. For Ali, a loss in fight would mean a serious blow to his claim of being "The Greatest".
Ali danced and jabbed with Norton also on a continuous offensive. Ali had a hard time penetrating Norton's awkward crab-like cross-armed defensive style. The scoring was so close scoring and the split decision in favor of Ali was controversial.
The win led to a rematch with Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 1974. Frazier had previously lost his title to George Foreman. Ali won by unanimous decision and took his revenge against his archrival.
Ali's next opponents were Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, and Joe Bugner. Wepner, a journeyman known as "The Bayonne Bleeder", surprised Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round. Ali would later say he stumbled on Wepner's foot. The fight inspired Sylvester Stallone to produce the popular film series Rocky. Ali won over Bugner by unanimous decision and stopped Lyle by 11th round TKO.
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