Muhammad Ali beaten by Ken Norton

Tonight I’m going to review one of my boxing films. I have about a half dozen that I got when I bought a whole bundle.  I’m not a boxing fan, but I want to spread these out, so I don’t bunch these all up at the end.

But I will say that Boxing has an important place in the history of the moving picture. Early on, when moving pictures were just a fad, one thing that kept it going was boxing. At the time, boxing was outlawed in many states, and the only way to view any boxing for fans, was by these films, which helped keep the industry alive. And Boxing, of all sports, was probably the easiest to capture in the early days. Simple action confined to a rather small area in short time increments. That couldn’t be better for those big bulky cameras with limited shot time.

So the one I watched was Muhammad Ali beaten by Ken Norton. The movie consisted of rounds 1, 5, 11, and 12, or at least I think so. The sub titles were hard to see. This was my only real complaint about the technical aspect of the film. White titles on a light background just never works. Whatever the first round shown was, it was the one where Ali got his jaw broken. We know this because there was an interstitial saying that. So the whole time I’m waiting for a definitive punch as the “Jaw Breaking” punch. Didn’t happen. Count down in the corner, anticipation rising, and then nothing. You couldn’t prove by me that this was when it happened. 

The rest of the rounds, were just boxing. Two guys punching each other. Not being a judge, I can’t tell one dominating over the other. Then at the end we get an interstitial that says *Spoiler Alert* Norton won. I mean, good for him. Glad he’s good at his job but, still not a boxing fan.