[kenyan_cheena]

AMERICAN | PUGILIST

*** Published bi-weekly out of Chicago, Illinois since 1950 ***

Monday 7 August 2006
Volume 57, Edition 16

NORTON'S EYES
ARE ON THE PRIZE

Story by Larry Masters

As one of boxing's premier competitors and the highest paid of the 504 employed by the International Boxing League, San Diego's Ken Norton isn't the type to get caught up in something as petty as childish trash talking. Following his defeat of Michael Dokes on June 30 he has much, much more important matters on his mind. Norton now sits just two wins away from becoming the IBL's first World Heavyweight Champion but as the man himself said when I spoke to him last week, getting those two wins is going to be the most difficult task of his career to date. On the 22nd of September he faces Nigeria's Ike Ibeabuchi in the tournament semi-finals, an opponent that his promoters deliberately avoided when Norton was WBC champion and who the 27 year-old admits will be the biggest test of his career.

"I've never fought anyone as dangerous as Ike," Norton said. "So with this being a twelve-rounder, it's gonna be like the most important title fight of my life, 'cept there ain't no belt on the line. The guy has scary, scary power and if I'm not careful I could find myself out cold from one of those right hands of his. It's gonna take everything I have to get past him and if I succeed, it don't get any easier."

The reason why it doesn't get any easier? That's simple. If Norton manages to defeat Ibeabuchi he'll then square off against either former WBA champion Sergey Anyukov or Florida's hard-hitting former WBO kingpin Terone Haynes in what will be the first IBL World Heavyweight Championship bout. And a fifteen-rounder, to boot. So you can see that, considering what's coming up on his menu, trash talking ain't a priority right now. Why the mention of trash talking, you ask? Well, if you've been closely following boxing these last few months you'd know that Norton's fellow heavyweight competitor Jack Johnson has been running his mouth off at almost every opportunity in what appears to be an attempt to unsettle Norton. It's an interesting sideline to the real business of fighting, but one Norton has no desire to be involved in.

Back in November Norton befriended up-and-coming Oxnard heavyweight Sam McVey, helping him to train and giving him a lot of invaluable advice. Norton was established as the WBC title holder at the time while McVey had only fought a handful of professional bouts. Norton continued to act as a mentor for McVey as the months passed by. Both men signed contracts with the International Boxing League in April, Norton putting pen to paper only a week after successfully defending his belt against Marcelo Franks. At the end of March, Olympic gold medallist Johnson had relocated to Los Angeles in the face of constant harrassment in his hometown of Galveston, Texas. It wasn't long before he struck up a friendship with McVey, who had apparently been inspired to turn his back on a lucrative NFL career and become a boxer after seeing Johnson achieve glory in Athens.

On a night in mid-June Johnson and McVey went out partying at a Los Angeles nightclub and from reports were there late into the evening. Their IBL debuts were only a couple of weeks away and upon hearing the news Norton commented that he didn't think it was a good idea to be indulging in such behaviour so close to a fight, a comment that he told me was directed entirely towards McVey as some sincere advice. Norton also implied that he didn't think it was the best idea to socialise with someone who you could very well be fighting in the near future. Johnson took it as a criticism of his own playboy lifestyle and gave Norton a piece of his mind while being interviewed on the radio. He defended both himself and McVey and said that Norton's words were nonsense. Norton did not issue any kind of reply, prefering to ignore Johnson and speak to McVey on the matter in private, which he now admits he should have done to begin with.

When McVey made his IBL debut in stage one of the Americas Championship tournament on June 27 both Norton and Johnson were there to support him, the pair making the walk to the ring as part of his entourage. The media tried to dress up the situation, saying that there was noticeable tension between Norton and Johnson, something that Norton denies. McVey scored a sensational 1st round knockout of Florida's David Kane, a result that, in some people's eyes, vindicated Johnson and made Norton look somewhat foolish. During our conversation Norton spoke of his frustrations on how the media loves to sensationalise things and try to make them more interesting than they really are.

"Anything to sell more papers," he said. "I ain't got no beef with Jacky Johnson and, to be honest, the guy means nothing to me at the moment. That could change goin' into next year if we end up facing off but for now, he's not even in my thoughts. I know he's the type of brother who loves to talk himself up, loves to have his name in the papers and have people payin' attention to him. He's used Riddick Bowe before to do this and it's pretty obvious that he's now using my name. I'm a little amused, but really, it don't mean a thing to me."

In early July Norton had spoken publicly about his good friend, IBL middleweight contender James Toney. He told of Toney's uncertainty over the future direction of his career following an unexpected and disappointing loss to Japan's Koichi Wajima in the quarter-finals of the World Middleweight Championship tournament. Within a couple of days Johnson was giving his own, unasked-for opinion on the subject, saying that he felt Toney needed to "harden up" and realise that "life ain't all clear sailin'." While Norton ignored the matter, Toney has apparently used what he felt was "ignorance and disrespect" from Johnson as motivation in his recent training sessions.

"So I guess something good has come from it," Norton said with a smile.

Sam McVey will be back in action on the 8th of August in Indianapolis and Norton plans to be right there at the Conseco Fieldhouse to support him. I asked him about his beliefs in regards to socialising with possible opponents, stating that it seemed to contradict his friendship with McVey.

"I'm confident enough to believe that it'll be some time before or if Sam and I ever step in the ring against each other," Norton said. "If you understand the system the IBL's got in place, you'd know that if Sam wins the Americas belt he's gonna be busy defending it for at least another twelve months in order to get a shot at the world title. I'm planning to be near the top of the peckin' order for a while yet so I can't see a situation in the immediate future when we'll fight each other. I figure that by the time that day comes our friendship'll be more than solid enough to overcome any problems it presents."