Ken Norton's 1973 Title Belt Going Up For Auction

It was a bout that stunned the world.

It was a bout that stunned the world.

In 1973, Muhammad Ali was near the height of his career, having suffered only one loss two years earlier at the hands of Joe Frazier. But by March 1973, "the Greatest" was again the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight champion.

Ken Norton's professional ring career began in 1967 at the age of 23. His bout with Ali was not expected to be memorable. The fight, as Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Jim Murray wrote at the time, would show Norton to be "a keyboard for the great maestro, a chance to hit a few high C's for a great voice. The fight would just be a complicated solo."

Of course, those weren't Norton's plans. By Round 12, Ali was staggering with a broken jaw. In a split decision, the victory went to Norton, giving Ali only the second defeat of his career. "Ali defeated everyone mentally first," Norton said in a recent radio interview. "Mentally, Ali could not defeat me and physically I felt I was as much a physical power as Ali was."

Now, boxing fans can own a piece of boxing history. The NABF Heavyweight Championship belt awarded to Norton for defeating Ali is featured in Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries' Sports Collectibles auction scheduled for Aug. 5, 2010, in Baltimore, Md. The belt is expected to sell for at least $60,000.

Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage, calls championship belts "the pinnacle of achievement, both in the sport of boxing and in the collecting of its artifacts. But this is something extra special," he adds. "The decade of the '70s was considered the Age of the Heavyweight. You had Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Norton and Larry Holmes -- all Hall of Fame legends. As the prize issued for victory in one of the most famous contests of this era, this belt is one of the hobby's great treasures."

In a rematch seven months later, Ali avenged his loss with a split-decision victory over Norton. The boxers met again in 1976, with Ali retaining his World Heavyweight Champion title in a controversial unanimous decision. Graham Houston of Boxing Monthly places the three Ali-Norton fights among the 10 most dramatic trilogies in boxing history.

by: Hector Cantu

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