GOING THE DISTANCE

"Going The Distance" is the great heavyweight boxer Ken Norton's life story. He breaks it down primarily into 5 parts: 1. Childhood 2. Early Adulthood 3. Boxing Years 4. Life Recovering from his Life Threatening Auto Accident 5. Life after that I found his childhood to be fascinating as well as his early adulthood. His style is open and sincere. Although he's egotistical at times, he's also very honest and is ultimately a very good man. A sigificant portion of the book discusses his primary boxing matches. I didn't care for his descriptions of his matches with Ali, but I did find value in his description of boxing matches with Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes, and even Scott LeDeoux. It ended gently with him going into poignant details about the 2 1/2 year fall out with his son, Ken Norton Jr (great Linebacker for the Cowboys/49ers). The ending made me want to book reservations to go to the annual Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. Ken Norton's Autobiography is very useful if you enjoy reading boxing books. In addition to his autobiography, there are passages from other people from Ken Norton Sr., Gerry Cooney, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Scott LeDoux, Larry Holmes, Eddie Futch, a local media person from the town he grew up in, his mentors, and even the referees that decided his very close loss to in Norton-Ali III. From a boxing standpoint, I found Norton's descriptive of boxing fascinating because of his perspective of boxing as a person who did not get into boxing until late in his life, 20. I was intrigued by his wiley personality which makes him come off as a very charming man. I was also impressed by his amazing focus despite at times being completely out of focus in his life due to his, as he put it, "being spoiled" as a child. I read this in 2 two days which tells me it was worth reading.

"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!

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.

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.

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.