Overall the lesson of this matchup is one of style. Foreman is slightly larger and heavier boned than Norton. Norton was the strongest heavyweight of his era, perhaps the only all around athlete of the bunch. The entire broadcast is made available here largely for historical reasons. I think Ali was at his best promoting the sport while in his appearance here. Also, do you think we could get away with referring to getting rocked as being ‘in Queersville’ today?

Norton uses a heavyweight version of the peek-a-boo, which has the fighter standing taller with a braced back leg so that he does not get pushed back and enables him to cut down the ring. Such a style is ideal for frustrating a mover like Ali. Being a short peek-a-boo man in the heavyweight class is much harder as the taller men can lay on you when you pop up and burn out your thighs. Based on Norton’s unvarying use of the 90 degree rear leg drag and brace one wonders if perhaps an injury was at the core of this extreme style. Norton shows a superb use of the rear hand and lead shoulder aspects of the oblique cross-arm peek-a-boo style. He was my favorite heavyweight. Unfortunately, using the peek-a-boo guard against a big stalker is suicide.

Foreman is stronger than he looks. He is physically underdeveloped for his frame compared to Norton. George is also more coordinated than he looks, and more skilled as well. He makes many an amateurish mistake, leaving himself open. However, when you can punch like he does there is wisdom in that. The problems with the peek-a-boo against a monster puncher in Foreman’s mold are:

1. The puncher wants to trade and can be expected to issue an invitation to do so. The peek-a-boo style begs for an affirmative answer to this disastrous question.

2. The rear-leg brace makes backing up a functional impossibility. While backing straight up is not sound boxing doctrine, against a monster like Foreman you need to be able to fade or execute a U-hustle, both hard to initiate with the rear leg braced at 90 degrees.

3. The peek-a-boo gives away height, which is disastrous against a tall arm puncher with an uppercut or rear right hook to the body, both of which Foreman had. He can lift you with arm punch uppercuts, and drive plunging shots down at you. If he has a crude boxing style and uses a lot of shoulder and bicep, then you have just put your head on a plate.

4. The peak-a-boo style works better against technically correct boxers like Lyle, movers like Ali, and all sorts of straight punchers, as it allows the peeker to roll off a straight punch from the hips and then counter at an angle. However, thanks largely to his ability to get his hips into a punch even when off balance [watch the KO sequence], Foreman has sick power even when just arm punching.

5. The braced leg guard is meant to push the other fighter around. Since Foreman was too strong to be levered back and Norton did not have that option, when Foreman makes contact with the heel of the hand [that is a ‘stop’ he does with the open right hand, an Old Time tactic of Jack Johnson’s] Norton is now stuck in the pocket, only able to move his head the width of his hips, his body open for chopping blows, and George has him dialed in.

Overall this fight is more a question of style than most you will see. For Norton’s guard to work he has to be stronger than you. I think they were both the same strength in this range, in this sport. But still, Norton had to be stronger, and was not.