Going the Distance : The Ken Norton Story

Rating:
Summary: THAT LONG DISTANCE
Review: "Going the Distance: The Ken Norton Story" makes a compelling read. It is one unassuming autobiography.
Ken was a remarkable fighter: a great one whose hulky hew was intimidating. His era was the one which notable names like Ali, Foreman and Frazier dominated; yet, he still fought his way to the top: becoming a champion in 1978. He is remembered as one of the few boxers who scored a victory over Muhammad Ali. He broke The Greatest's jaw in the process. Ken's (championship) fight against Larry Holmes was a gut-wrenching one: regardless of his losing it via majority decision.
This book rides one across his humble up-bringing; and then into the 1970s. I liked the way it refreshed my memory. It recounted Ken's life story in a candid manner. Reading it was a pleasure!

Rating:
Summary: THAT LONG DISTANCE
Review: "Going the Distance: The Ken Norton Story" makes a compelling read. It is one unassuming autobiography.
Ken was a remarkable fighter: a great one whose hulky hew was intimidating. His era was the one which notable names like Ali, Foreman and Frazier dominated; yet, he still fought his way to the top: becoming a champion in 1978. He is remembered as one of the few boxers who scored a victory over Muhammad Ali. He broke The Greatest's jaw in the process. Ken's (championship) fight against Larry Holmes was a gut-wrenching one: regardless of his losing it via majority decision.
This book rides one across his humble up-bringing; and then into the 1970s. I liked the way it refreshed my memory. It recounted Ken's life story in a candid manner. Reading it was a pleasure!

Rating:
Summary: Solid Boxing Book
Review: A recent issue of Ring Magazine reviewed this book and basically ripped it apart. It also stated that with the exception of the Bio of George Foreman, All relatively recently written books on the great Heavy's of the 70's have been major disapointments. Huh? THe Frazier and Holmes books were excellently written by Phil Berger and do I even need to defend THomas Hauser's and David Remnick's works on Ali? THe Ken Norton bio was a superb addition to this group. Kenny was very open, honest and revealing. He went into great detail in talking about his fights with Ali, Holmes, Foreman and Quarry. THe Ring review blasted these parts of the book, stating that it read like a compubox readout. I couldn't disagree more. One of the pluses of this book was that he talked about his fights as opposed to glossing over them with a sentence or two. Far too many boxing books take that approach and I feel it hurts those books. I'd give the Norton book 4 and 1/2 half stars as it ransk on par with the Frazier and Foreman books, but was not quite as goood as the Holmes and two Ali pieces. Of which there is no shame in. Ring Magazine should be ashamed of their review though. That deserved 0 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Ken Norton's Book Does NOT Go The Distance
Review: Being a boxing fan since 1971, I lived through the era of great heavyweights of the seventies: Ali, Frazier, Holmes, Foreman, and Norton. Ken Norton was a terrific competitor of that era, and I expected his book to be an exciting retelling of his experiences of that era. Unfortunately, the book left me disappointed. Norton spends too much time explaining blow by blow, round by round, his greatest fights. Although this may appeal to some, I found it repetitive and somewhat boring. One can get the round by round analysis by watching the fight videos. I found myself skimming over these sections to get to his feelings and thoughts about the fights. This was THE major drawback of the book.

Norton's three fights with Ali are covered in great detail, as these fights brought him into the public's consciousness. But once again the emphasis was on the blow by blow coverage instead of anecdotes and recollections about the fights. He expresses his bitter feelings about his third fight with Ali in which he feels he should have been given the decision. Having trained so tremendously hard for this fight and then having the decision go against him, Norton relates how this heart went out of boxing at this point. Although he becomes the Heavyweight Championship of the World title two years later when Ali retires, Norton is unable to retain te title in his first defense against Larry Holmes. He blames his failure to defend the title on his lack of dedication to boxing after the last Ali match. His heart was just not in it. I can't help but think Norton would have received the professional recognition and justification he so craved had he defeated Holmes. Their match was an exciting battle that culminated in perhaps one of the greatest rounds of boxing ever. Had Norton pulled out the decision, he would have probably been rematched with Ali one final time and had his best chance to defeat his nemesis decisively. However, history and fate turned a different direction, one that did not include a prominant role for Ken Norton.

Norton's private and then public feud with his son, Ken Norton Jr., make up a complete chapter in the book but this held little interest to me, a boxing fan.

Ken Norton is a decent man who had an interesting career, being both a boxer and a fighter. His experience acting as the characters "Mandingo" and "Drum" are only briefly mentioned. Again, there are few interesting stories or revelations about this time of his life. I would have liked to hear more.

Norton's book is a quick and easy read, as there are no major character controveries, conflicts, or issues to digest. I did not find it compelling in any regard. It was an easy book to put down. I had hoped for much more. As far as boxing books go, I have to rate it sub-par.

Jim Koenig

Rating:
Summary: Ken Norton's Book Does NOT Go The Distance
Review: Being a boxing fan since 1971, I lived through the era of great heavyweights of the seventies: Ali, Frazier, Holmes, Foreman, and Norton. Ken Norton was a terrific competitor of that era, and I expected his book to be an exciting retelling of his experiences of that era. Unfortunately, the book left me disappointed. Norton spends too much time explaining blow by blow, round by round, his greatest fights. Although this may appeal to some, I found it repetitive and somewhat boring. One can get the round by round analysis by watching the fight videos. I found myself skimming over these sections to get to his feelings and thoughts about the fights. This was THE major drawback of the book.

Norton's three fights with Ali are covered in great detail, as these fights brought him into the public's consciousness. But once again the emphasis was on the blow by blow coverage instead of anecdotes and recollections about the fights. He expresses his bitter feelings about his third fight with Ali in which he feels he should have been given the decision. Having trained so tremendously hard for this fight and then having the decision go against him, Norton relates how this heart went out of boxing at this point. Although he becomes the Heavyweight Championship of the World title two years later when Ali retires, Norton is unable to retain te title in his first defense against Larry Holmes. He blames his failure to defend the title on his lack of dedication to boxing after the last Ali match. His heart was just not in it. I can't help but think Norton would have received the professional recognition and justification he so craved had he defeated Holmes. Their match was an exciting battle that culminated in perhaps one of the greatest rounds of boxing ever. Had Norton pulled out the decision, he would have probably been rematched with Ali one final time and had his best chance to defeat his nemesis decisively. However, history and fate turned a different direction, one that did not include a prominant role for Ken Norton.

Norton's private and then public feud with his son, Ken Norton Jr., make up a complete chapter in the book but this held little interest to me, a boxing fan.

Ken Norton is a decent man who had an interesting career, being both a boxer and a fighter. His experience acting as the characters "Mandingo" and "Drum" are only briefly mentioned. Again, there are few interesting stories or revelations about this time of his life. I would have liked to hear more.

Norton's book is a quick and easy read, as there are no major character controveries, conflicts, or issues to digest. I did not find it compelling in any regard. It was an easy book to put down. I had hoped for much more. As far as boxing books go, I have to rate it sub-par.

Jim Koenig

Rating:
Summary: A knockout of a book!
Review: Growing up I remember the watching boxing with fighters like "Smokin'" Joe Frazier, Ali, Foreman and Ken Norton. I remember how Norton broke Ali's jaw and I can still hear Howard Cosell calling the fight. In Going the Distance you'll look into a man, a fighter and a father and see the side of Ken Norton that very few have ever seen before.

Follow along from the early days to his Professional boxing career to his life after boxing and the relationship with his son Ken Norton Jr. Larry Holmes has said the fighting Ken Norton as the best and hardest fright of his life and this book let you relive those fights.

As a fan of boxing I was impressed with how Ken Norton brings to life some of his more famous fights, and not all of them are in the ring. A more personal and in depth look at one of boxing true greats. Overall this is a great book and must have for the serious boxing fan.

Rating:
Summary: HEAVILY FLAWED
Review: the problem with some boxers autobiographies is that they skim over big fights with a line or two. in ken nortons book he goes into FAR, FAR too much detail on his big fights, sometimes four to five pages of a round by round breakdown. it's all, quite frankly, too much.

kens a funny guy to listen to, but his humour doesn't really come across well in this book. overall it's a relatively interesting read, but does not draw you in the way the books of george foreman, joe frazier, larry holmes, and quick tillis do.

unless you really love kenny, i'd give this one a miss.

Rating:
Summary: For all Ken Norton fans and boxing enthusiasts
Review: With the literary assistance of Marshall Terrill and Mike Fitzgerald, Ken Norton presents and outstanding autobiography of his career as a heavyweight boxer. On March 31, 973 Norton defeated boxing legend Muhammad Ali and became a national sensation. Norton went on to challenge such boxing greats as Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. But Going The Distance is more than a litany of boxing matches, it is also the candid, deeply revealing personal story of Norton's life including a stint in the Marines, a job on a Ford factory assembly line, and his very public separation from his son, Ken Jr., the NFL All-Star linebacker. Going The Distance is a "must" for all Ken Norton fans and boxing enthusiasts.