- 1 day ago
Earnie Shavers faces Ken Norton in a WBC Heavyweight Title eliminator fight on ABC Boxing
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00:07in store for all of you
00:14live from las vegas nevada a spectacular night of boxing that features the wbc world heavyweight
00:23by night and panning down you come to where we are now the hilton pavilion an exceptional boxing
00:31facility as you view it from the inside those of you with memories and boxing will liken it to the
00:38box hall in munich west germany where they fought the olympics in that great competition and so the
00:46scene is set for the boxing doubleheader tonight hello again everyone i'm howard cosell delighted
00:52to have you with us here at ringside at the hilton pavilion we look for an interesting and at times
00:58exciting night of boxing tonight why first of all there's homes overwhelming favorite against
01:04ocasio he should be ocasio has had only 13 professional fights and even though he beat
01:09jimmy young twice doesn't appear to be of the stamp of a man like homes so much more experienced bigger
01:15and with hand and speed of feet that ocasio doesn't enjoy but and here's the interesting element
01:22ocasio with his awkward style is difficult to penetrate he's all arms elbows shoulders not above
01:29using the head to butt and score a cut against the adversary and that's one thing to look out for
01:34in the fight that'll be coming up in just a few minutes we expect a slugfest yes indeed ernie
01:41shavers at 34 it's winner else for him and he has tremendous knockout power 55 ko's in his career
01:49kenny norton it's close to win or else for him this skilled veteran has been around a long time he's
01:55listed at 33 but he is a quality fighter he has proved it through the years especially against
02:02muhammad ali let's take a look now at kenny norton's boxing history and let's go back in time to that
02:09day
02:09in the san diego arena when suddenly the whole world knew about kenny norton kenny norton was an
02:17absolute unknown when he fought this fight march 31 1973 against muhammad ali that's the day ali's
02:24jaw was broken and norton won an amazing split decision but it appeared that obscurity would
02:30beset norton because in march of 74 he went to caracas venezuela and george foreman calls it the
02:37caracas caper norton knocked out in the second but kenny didn't quit came back about a year later in the
02:43madison square garden fought against jerry quarry rain blows upon jerry and the fight was stopped in
02:49the fifth round then there was a second fight against ali which kenny lost and this was the classic
02:56third one norton thought for sure he had it won but they gave the decision to ali norton fought on
03:04this one against jimmy young a whale of a battle in las vegas and working young over to the midriff
03:10norton won a close decision he was named the wbc heavyweight champion when sphinx refused to fight
03:18and then defended that crown against larry holmes the classic fight what a battle that was with holmes
03:26winning by the slimmest of margins and then a routine workout against randy stevens an early round
03:32knockout we visited earlier with kenny at his training camp in hemat california
03:39camp is a necessary evil i have to be away from my family i have to really be away from
03:44my close
03:44friends i have to be away from the things that that i'm comfortable around i have to get off by
03:49myself i have to be alone where i can think i have to be alone where i can get myself
03:53ready mentally
03:54physically
03:58my training camp consists basically i'm getting up at five thirty in the morning i get to the road
04:03approximately six o'clock i run approximately four four and a half miles at six o'clock in the morning
04:09there isn't that much traffic i would say that the air is fairly fresh it hasn't been filled with
04:14carbon monoxide from the motor and it's fresh it's cool i can get out there i feel like running because
04:20it's crisp and when i'm running at the present time now i'm thinking of shavers my main thought is
04:26destroying ernie shavers i i basically go over the whole fight during this four and a half mile stretch
04:32i then come back i lay down for approximately 15 minutes i take a shower i get up i go
04:37eat i have
04:37a very good breakfast a big high-supporting breakfast six eggs six pieces of bacon orange juice raw egg
04:47wheat toast i came to the camp i weighed approximately 230 pounds 233 pounds
04:53i plan on fighting about 220 the reason that i chose 220 for this ernie shavers fight is because i
04:58feel that
04:58at 220 i will uh be very quick yet then again i will have my power i feel that with
05:05ernie's power
05:05i need the power to offset his power then i have to try to prepare myself for the gym that's
05:10the hard
05:10work the uh the part that i dread the most it's the part where you get down the business where
05:15you get
05:15your mind ready get your body ready first thing i do when i come in i turn the disco station
05:19on because i
05:20feel that if i get the music in my body i get the feeling it it rejuvenates me i feel
05:23like
05:23working i got the music in me i got the music in me the reason that i skip broke i
05:30think the reason
05:30that most pilots get broke because of the fact it helps your timing helps your agility helps your mobility
05:37i then get into the range the thing that i think about then is hey what am i doing wrong
05:42when i'm
05:42boxing how can i correct it
05:48then comes i think the part that um i enjoy quite a bit because then again it's a necessary evil
05:54the part where we're boxing the only difference between fighting here in the gym and fighting in
05:59the night of the fight is if i get hurt i expect them to let up on me if she
06:02gets hurt i'm definitely
06:03gonna let up on him we all work together we're one big happy family after sparring i've been
06:10a little freaking heavy bag now the heavy bag here for me it's the thing why i increase my punching
06:15power i increase my endurance if i'm hitting wrong and i'll know it with the way the shock goes going
06:21up my arm i then go to the speed bag speed back to me is a lot of fun it's
06:29a bag where it's good for
06:31the hemlock coordination is good for timing as well as listen to the music i listen to the bag
06:36and i wait for the round in the end so i can get out so ernie shavers i feel that
06:41um
06:42this fight is not going to go over five six rounds anyway either i either i'm going to sleep
06:46or ernie's going to sleep right there ernie shavers coming down into the ring just making his appearance
06:54coming down the aisle surrounded by his handlers song star wars or at least the theme song from it
07:00being played in the background there's ernie shavers in effect the tale of the tape this knockout power
07:07we told you about the storyline on ernie shavers is that he's had his ups and downs but he can
07:13punch
07:13look at that right knock out jimmy ellis in the first round but against ron lyle a devastating beating
07:21just a sitting duck there as lyle knocked him into apparent extinction but on the comeback trail
07:27shavers was able to do away with henry clark and then with roy williams and finally he got the dream
07:38opportunity it happened september 29 1977 when he fought muhammad ali at madison square garden and in
07:48the early going shook ali up with that vaunted punching power but even though he went to distance
07:54shavers lost and against larry holmes he got a boxing lesson and so it was back to the drawing
08:01board tonight's bout win or else he won't have to look for me that's what he said about kenny norton
08:08you've heard his fight plan to go right at norton trying to affect the quick knockout not so easily
08:13done against kenny norton who it's one of the most underrated defensive fighters in the business good at
08:19slipping punches extremely adept at picking 15 feet five inches in this fight the ring size doesn't
08:28matter it's a little small this ring we usually see a 20-foot ring here in las vegas but norton
08:36big ring favors a man like larry holmes but these two men who are willing to trade punches as i
08:42said
08:42it doesn't really matter there's the tale of the tape norton listed at 33 shavers at 34 norton the
08:51taller man we've talked about his weight in our extremely sharp at 210 there is a general feeling
08:57around here that shavers well this is it for him this is his real opportunity and a surprising number
09:03of the boxing scribes like his chances again we'll find out the third man in the ring is mills lane
09:10remember him he refereed holmes against norton he refereed up at tahoe in another fight we called
09:17ali against foster the time ali was cut okay the action is underway
09:30norton to the right of his green shavers in the white trunks
09:43many of you are familiar with kenny's style immediately kenny's backed against the ropes
09:48and shavers tries to take off on him the shavers right has accounted for most of his 55 knockouts
09:56norton covers well see kenny covering he wants shavers to punch himself out in a hurry
10:05that's his strategy crowd yelled at a shavers left that only grazed
10:18shavers in the rope
10:20playing the rope a dope of ali if you remember that tactic
10:26shavers is throwing all the leather and he did get a left in there
10:32oh norton's in trouble shavers scored heavily with a left
10:36and norton's head went back
10:38norton's face already red told you this would be a slug band
10:42shavers has norton hurt very much hurt
10:49norton's showing no movement at all whatever his strategy he's paying a price for it
10:55and this the very best down quickly
10:59we told you that many like shavers chances in this fight it's got a low as he
11:05in deep deep trouble you just saw the legs rubbery as he fell against the ropes
11:10the first knockdown scored in the there goes thorton again this time i don't know if he can get up
11:18it's stopped bill blaine has stopped the fight a stunning first round knockout of kenny norton
11:24ernie shavers career continues the pace about kenny norton heaven knows
11:34knockdown came at a minute
11:38two seconds unofficially the second knockdown and the stopping of the fight that is unofficial
11:45what tremendous action in that first round shavers who said he's a new man with a career extended 10
11:53years by the dismissal of his former manager just beat foreman to a pulp in the manner that george
12:00foreman did in the caracas caper in march of 74 except he did it even more quickly stunning unexpected
12:12ernie shavers in the ring now in a moment he'll be coming over here to talk with us
12:21all right look at that first knockdown again trying to cover up
12:26not found he couldn't cover up he had been stung by a left tried to get away from the ropes
12:32then that
12:33right came in and norton was beginning to go the uppercut landed then a left off the top of the
12:39head
12:39a right into the midriff another stinging left and it had to happen after all of that punishment from a
12:47puncher like shavers it just had to happen
12:51norton has not been beaten like this as i said since the george foreman bout
12:58so it's a happy ernie shavers standing there
13:03here is the second knockdown mills lane the official had to go over
13:08norton had fallen against the ropes you see him there wobbling the legs were going and that right
13:14uppercut started it followed by a left and that was it lane would let norton take no more punishment
13:22no more punishment now let's see if we can get ernie shavers over here he's with his trainer and
13:29manager frank luca and his second eddie haynes and the other second audi dorm they're all around him
13:35as he sees a new boxing life in the meantime for kenny norton heaven knows
13:43all right we'll be back talking with ernie shavers in just a minute the winner with a first round
13:50knockout a happy man
13:54all right we're back at ringside with the winner first round knockout a minute two unofficially
14:01ernie shavers and it went exactly as you called it my friend well howard i've been training for
14:06nine weeks i was in good shape i know ken norman afraid of me i was fighting kenny norton and
14:11jose
14:11denaro i couldn't lose you felt that he had been avoiding you all these years didn't you two years
14:16been ducking me because he knew i could punch and i would take him out if we haven't fought exactly
14:20what i did i trained hard got in good shape he was a real hard tough shot he took some
14:25good shots
14:26he's a good fighter anybody here i can take out anybody all right now let's take a look at the
14:31entire first round ernie you look at the monitor and you tell us exactly what you were doing okay
14:42trying to cut him out a little bit let's come through there see what he's gonna do i don't go
14:48over
14:48here i have him kind of with my hand
14:53feeling him out ernie said at this stage just right but still norton right in front of him yeah
14:59norton without a lot of movement always did lag the back leg now against the ropes he's trying to cover
15:05ernie he would rope rope dope set yeah you knew you heard him with that yeah right you can see
15:14him
15:15winch you heard how this time i know it's just just a matter of time now i'm sure thought let's
15:19short left book power worked on my train of frank lucas got me there for this fight watch this film
15:27going short shot now you can see not invisibly hurt he's hurt now he wants to get away
15:33i like to hide all my five kids at home 60 girls at home and i dare be home tomorrow
15:37morning okay i
15:38love you ernie i tell you it was a stunning performance a lot of us had written you off
15:43as too old and thought this would be the finish you proved otherwise when i got over to my manager
15:48nero i had 10 years of my life my career i want to fight at home next i know i
15:52can be home
15:53jennaro wouldn't get to get ready for a home fight give me four and a half weeks
15:56wouldn't spend any money but frank lucas all right you're going to get your shot at homes in september
16:02what makes you think it will be different he's a different fighter from norton's steady lateral
16:07movement well i'll be in shape and i'll cut him off and i'll make a fight i put a lot
16:10of pressure and
16:11i will be in shape believe me i will catch him all right ernie congratulations good luck to you
16:16and frank lucas quite apparently you're one of the men of the hour i thank you and i'd like to
16:21ask frank
16:22gifford to accept my prayers for his son's speedy recovery and thank you and abc for your unbiased
16:28coverage well it's very kind of you to express those sentiments toward frank i know i'll be most
16:33appreciative okay go
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