BoxRec

He was a hell of a man and a hell of a fighter, but I also thought that Ken Norton, while obviously effective, had a very unusual style. (I hate to use the word goofy; let's go with unorthodox.)

It was especially evident against Muhammad Ali. I'm paraphrasing somebody else with the coming description, but it's accurate. Norton had that Archie Moore shell defense, but he dragged his back foot behind him, kind of like a crab. His jab almost looped up over the top.

It worked great until he ran up against a truly big puncher and couldn't really retreat (George Foreman, Earnie Shavers, Gerry Cooney).

Ya can see what you mean

Remember that fight. Was a horrible clash of styles.

Pretty much every Barney fight stunk like week-old pilchards left out in the sun

The lad was a real oddity - never, ever wanted to engage, horrible style that could not sell tickets - yet, perversely he won some fights and was not made to look idiotic at a reasonably high level.

He landed a few TV appearances partly because he was so different/bloody annoying and the producers probably knew that any fans tuning-in wanted to see him get properly clattered by someone.

Froch mentions Barney in his book......a sort of very back-handed compliment reference

Sung-Kil Moon. Apart from holding his hands up, he didn't do anything right. Very awkward, ugly stylist. Made up for it with strength, durability, pace, and raw punching power. Had innate timing on his punches, too.

Vic Darchinyan's crab style was really awkward to watch.

Genc Pllana has a style that seems like it should not work but it works effectively for him.

Sam Soliman was a bit of a disaster in the ring.
Always off balance and awkward but it worked for him.

Perseus wrote: ↑08 Jul 2020, 07:00 Sam Soliman was a bit of a disaster in the ring.
Always off balance and awkward but it worked for him.

Good shout.

Alguiffer wrote: ↑07 Jul 2020, 08:43 Genc Pllana has a style that seems like it should not work but it works effectively for him.

Genç is maybe the most effective goof today. Long limbs, strange hitting angles but he has hard hands and hardly get hit.

Perseus wrote: ↑08 Jul 2020, 07:00 Sam Soliman was a bit of a disaster in the ring.
Always off balance and awkward but it worked for him.

He made Sturm look like a fool, what a hero.