Have Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton ever fought each other?

Yes. Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton met once on May 11, 1981, and Gerry Cooney won by TKO in round 1.

Who has the better record, Cooney or Norton?

Gerry Cooney is 28-3 and Ken Norton is 42-7-1. Gerry Cooney has the higher win percentage.

Who has more knockouts, Cooney or Norton?

Gerry Cooney has 24 knockout wins and Ken Norton has 33. Ken Norton has more.

Do Cooney and Norton have any common opponents?

Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton share 4 common opponents: George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Jimmy Young (and 1 other). Neither fighter fared better across the shared opponents overall.

Who is bigger, Cooney or Norton?

Gerry Cooney is the taller fighter at 198 cm, 8 cm above the other. Gerry Cooney also has the longer reach, by 3 cm.

How much fight data does Kill The Body have on Cooney and Norton?

This comparison is drawn from 31 bouts tracked for Gerry Cooney and 50 bouts tracked for Ken Norton. Method and activity splits reflect those bouts only.

Gerry Cooney vs Ken Norton — Records, Stats & Common Opponents

🇺🇸UNITED STATES

Ken Norton

Gerry Cooney (28-3) and Ken Norton (42-7-1) are compared on record, finishing method, activity, and common opponents on Kill The Body. The two have met once. They share 4 common opponents.

Cooney

Wins24 KO · 86%

Losses

Draws31 tracked bouts

Norton

Wins33 KO · 79%

Losses

Draw50 tracked bouts

Head to Head

Cooney leads 1–0

Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton have met 1 time; Cooney leads 1–0.
Met	1981May 11	Series
Gerry CooneyFighter A	WWon	1–0W–L
Ken NortonFighter B	LLost	0–1W–L
Result	TKOR1Norton vs Cooney	1Meeting

Norton vs Cooney · May 11, 1981

The Numbers

Cooney 5 · Norton 3 of 8 measurable rows

CooneyEdge = longer wingNorton

Record: 28-3 (edge)42-7-1
Win %0–100%: 90.3% (edge)
85%
Wins by knockoutmax 33: 24
33 (edge)
KO rate0–100%: 85.71% (edge)
78.57%
Stoppage rate (tracked wins)^†0–100%: 86% (edge)
79%
Times stopped^†max 4: 3 (edge)
4
Title reignsmax 1: 0
1 (edge)
Bouts per year^‡max 3.7: 2.4
3.7 (edge)
Bouts trackedcoveragemax 50: 31
50

† Counted from bouts Kill The Body has ingested, not a career total. · ‡ Across each fighter's tracked career span. · Bars are scaled per row — percentages on 0–100, counts against the larger of the two. Every figure is also printed as text.

Tale of the Tape

Height+3″: Gerry Cooney: 6′6″ (edge); Ken Norton: 6′3″
Reach+1″: Gerry Cooney: 81″ (edge); Ken Norton: 80″
Agenot comparable: Gerry Cooney: 70; Ken Norton: Died aged 70
Stance: Gerry Cooney: Orthodox; Ken Norton: Orthodox

Gerry Cooney left, Ken Norton right, as everywhere on this page. Age is stated, not scored — neither age nor stance carries an edge.

How They Win

Tracked bouts only

Gerry Cooney28 wins · from 31 tracked bouts

24 by KO/TKO 86%3 on the cards 11%1 by another method or unrecorded 4%

Ken Norton42 wins · from 50 tracked bouts

33 by KO/TKO 79%9 on the cards 21%

One square per tracked win. Counted from the bouts Kill The Body has ingested for each fighter — Gerry Cooney 31, Ken Norton 50 — not from a career-complete method table.

Common Opponents

4 shared

4 shared · even on 44 shared · even on 4

CooneyGerry Cooney

Opponent

NortonKen Norton

Gerry Cooney
Loss, KO 2
1990Jan 1990
ForemanGeorge ForemanUnited States 76–5 · HeavyweightEvenEven — 0–1 both
Ken Norton
Loss, TKO 2
1974Mar 1974
Gerry Cooney
Loss, TKO 13
1982Jun 1982
HolmesLarry HolmesUnited States 69–6 · HeavyweightEvenEven — 0–1 both
Ken Norton
Loss, SD
1978Jun 1978
Gerry Cooney
Win, TKO 4
1980May 1980
YoungJimmy YoungUnited States 35–18–3 · HeavyweightEvenEven — 1–0 both
Ken Norton
Win, SD
1977Nov 1977
Gerry Cooney
Win, KO 4
1978Feb 1978
BatesGary BatesEvenEven — 1–0 both
Ken Norton
Win, TKO 8
1969Jul 1969

Both sides are set at the same size on purpose. Kill The Body does not score a second-round knockout above a split decision — the edge counts losses first and wins as the tiebreak, and the rest is yours to argue. Shared opponents are matched on fighter identity, not on name, so two different fighters with the same name never merge into one row.

Current Form

Oldest left · newest right

Gerry Cooney last boxed on Jan 15, 1990 — 13,427 days ago. Cooney had lost two straight, after three straight wins.WWWLL

Brown Sep 1984Chaplin Dec 1984Gregg May 1986Spinks Jun 1987Foreman Jan 19902.4 tracked bouts per year

Ken Norton had won one in a row before losing by stoppage to Gerry Cooney. Norton last boxed on May 11, 1981.WLDWL

Stephens Nov 1978Shavers Mar 1979LeDoux Aug 1979Cobb Nov 1980Cooney May 19813.7 tracked bouts per year

Common Questions

With the rows behind them

Have Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton ever fought each other?: Yes. Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton met once on May 11, 1981, and Gerry Cooney won by TKO in round 1.
Who has the better record, Cooney or Norton?: Gerry Cooney is 28-3 and Ken Norton is 42-7-1. Gerry Cooney has the higher win percentage.
Who has more knockouts, Cooney or Norton?: Gerry Cooney has 24 knockout wins and Ken Norton has 33. Ken Norton has more.
Do Cooney and Norton have any common opponents?: Gerry Cooney and Ken Norton share 4 common opponents: George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Jimmy Young (and 1 other). Neither fighter fared better across the shared opponents overall.
Who is bigger, Cooney or Norton?: Gerry Cooney is the taller fighter at 198 cm, 8 cm above the other. Gerry Cooney also has the longer reach, by 3 cm.
How much fight data does Kill The Body have on Cooney and Norton?: This comparison is drawn from 31 bouts tracked for Gerry Cooney and 50 bouts tracked for Ken Norton. Method and activity splits reflect those bouts only.

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Gerry Cooney vs Ken Norton — record, stats and common opponents compared

Gerry Cooney

Ken Norton