On June 9, 1978, Ken Norton (40-4, 32 KOs), the heavyweight WBC champion, defends his title against fellow American challenger, Larry Holmes (27-0, 19 KOs).
Ken Norton is coming in to the fight on a 3-fight win streak with a 72% KO rate; his last fight was a split decision win over Jimmy Young, 7 months and 4 days ago. Larry Holmes is on a 27-fight win streak with a 70% KO rate, with his last fight being a unanimous decision win over Earnie Shavers, 2 months and 15 days ago.
The winning odds are at 90.8-9.2 in favor of Larry Holmes. It is going to be very difficult for Ken Norton to win this fight.
Larry Holmes defeated Ken Norton via split decision and wins the WBC title — in his first world-title fight. Holmes improves his record to 28-0, while Norton adds a loss to his record at 40-5.