Terry Norris - what could have been?

[chinny]

Norris wasted so much of his career under Don King. Look at his record, he fought a lot of nothing fights, especially in his third reign having (finally!) beaten Luis Sentana.

He was really dominant for 3 years until Simon Brown nailed him. Can you imagine how good a Trinidad fight would have been?

By the way, does anyone have any footage of Norris's late defeats to Mullings or Boudouani? I've never seen them, and I can't find anything on youtube.

Cracking highlight vid here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dZlBLQHT8mM

[TerribleTerry]

Norris was super fast, accurate and hard hitting in his prime but his achilles heel was his chin.

One of my favourite fighters to watch - when he fell in love with his power (after the Curry fight I suppose) he went on a streaking run including a razor sharp exhibition of hitting againts Maurice Blocker - he was at his absolute peak on that famous night in Mexico City.

He has an impressive set of wins over top line operators but I fear its his KO losses to the likes of Jackson (no shame there), Brown (avenged), Mullings and Boudouani will hold him back in the all time rankings..

[hitman_hatton1]

he's one of the best 154 pounders ever.

he was boxing great before those bombs that jackson landed.

love that mugabi takedown as well.

sweet as a nut left hook counter to start it all off.

[overhand_right]

Amazing talent and fearsome offensive fighter, but his reigns under DK did him good as DK extended his champs against easy challengers -- Norris's chin would let him down at some point.

Norris was going to fight Oscar De La Hoya in 1998 -- however he saw Keith Mullings lose a dodgy decision and decided to give him a shot.

Noble, but bad idea. Norris aged over night, well suddenly runs dry in rd 8 and rd 9 he gets taken out. Sad.

[Bricks]

he did age overnight didnt he?

All of a sudden it was over.

I was glad he got that $7 million dollar law suit payout off king.
But I cant recall where, but I remmember reading somewhere a couple of years ago, that terry Norris is in very bad shape with slurred speech and punch drunk syndrome these days.
I hope it isnt true.

but one thing ive been dying to ask the thread starter......what the fuckk is this doing in "british boxing"?

[Autobarn]

He was massively talented. Got splattered by 2 of the biggest punchers around - Simon Brown and Julian Jackson - but came back to have some solid title reigns & many title fight wins. Great repertoire of shots but dodgy chin.

Put on a masterclass in Simon Brown rematch, destroyed Maurice Blocker & outboxed Carl Daniels, and got some easy money beating on past it Curry & Leonard. Very exciting fight with limited Aussie Troy Waters took him off the top of the p4p throne, sadly.

He deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. Some bad losses and lack of discipline when he used to hit guys when they were on the floor prevent him from being an all timer, though.

Shame he couldn't get hold of Pernell Whitaker. Whitaker stole Norris' thunder a bit by outboxing rival 154-pound champ JC Vazquez. Whitaker would have been a perfect fight for Norris. Norris also wanted JC Chavez, but that would have been a massive size mismatch.

Sadly, as Overhand says, Norris was older and had wear and tear just as the massive fights - DLH, Tito - beckoned.

Not sure why it's on the British thread.

[chinny]

but one thing ive been dying to ask the thread starter......what the fuckk is this doing in "british boxing"?

Because most of the posters in current scene write like they are 11 years old and it is only you guys I'm interested in hearing from!

[overhand_right]

Thats a fair point -- the quality of posters in current scene has declined badly in the last 4 to 5 years, i dont even bother posting things there anymore because you can't get a normal adult convo.

Norris tried come back around 2000 as a CRUISERWEIGHT (this was reported in Boxing Digest) but was declined by the commission due to slurred speech (his camp put it down to lazy talk which didn't convince many) and possibly a CAT irregularity.

Norris has his own official website, check it out, he looks great and seems to have money & be doing very well.

[Captain Hook]

Norris is one of my favourites, loved his fights with Mugabi and Blocker. Aaron Pryor will always be my favourite but Norris is up there - great boxer.

[Captain Hook]

Norris website - http://www.terrynorris.net/

[Autobarn]

What could have been is almost a funny title.

Because Norris has seen it all - blown away by Jackson & Brown, DQ'd vs Santana twice, gave masterclasses over Brown (rematch) & Pettway, shared a ring with Curry & Leonard (albeit past it), blew out The Beast Mugabi & Meldrick Taylor. And was p4p #1 for a time.

However, what could have been in a valid question. Norris could have been the centre of EVERYTHING, earned some enormous purses and become one of the very best ever, if he'd been more controlled. Boxing mags were hailing him the best in the sport until his chin and temperament were found wanting.

Once upon a time, Jones, Toney AND Hopkins were all willing to make a compromise to fight Norris (Hopkins wanted to go down to 154, other 2 I think were prepared to meet him at middle). Winky Wright even held a title when Norris was in his last reign (but WW wasn't highly regarded then admittedly).

Trinidad and DLH would eventually move up to 154. Whitaker even won a title there for a time (you'd think the HBO/Showtime divide would keep these apart from Norris though). More very big names (and smaller men to pick on!)


Still, a superb fighter who achieved an awful lot & had many memorable nights. What an excellent stylist.

[Woller]

Norris looked terrible against Boudouani. Has was "Damaged goods" in that fight. No balance at all, and no punch resistance.

Woller

[overhand_right]

The kayo loss to Simon Brown was bad for his rep, but it did look a below par Norris. The way he boxed him in the rematch in Jan 94 was simply beautiful.

Unfortunately -- that was the end for him (!) Not long after he wasted a whole year in a farcical trilogy with Luis 'Play Dead' Santana, after that it was back to the generic easy defences on lenghty DK bills, talk of big fights, nothing happening... Then he finally escapes King but at the same time his body gives out and Mullings ends it, just one routine defence away from mega bucks with De La Hoya.

As for some of the big fights not coming off for Norris inthe mid 90s, i'm sure his association with DK was his major stumbling block.

[Autobarn]

Yeah, being with King & on Showtime would have made the big fights like Whitaker, Toney etc hard to make.

I think if Norris had risked his chin less, and not tried to KO ppl when they were on the floor, then he would have been considered the p4p best, and maybe Showtime and HBO could have found a compromise for Norris-Toney or Norris-Jones at middleweight or somewhere.

I think the Troy Waters fight may have convinced Norris he wasn't going to do well if a middleweight hit him (still, interestingly, some of the guys he beat went on to hold middleweight titles, Quincy Taylor & Jorge Castro for instance).

Whitaker would have been just perfect for him, coming up from welter and dethroning JC Vazquez as he did. If Norris hadn't had his unnecessary (IMO) setbacks, there might have been a bigger clamour for this fight to happen.

[My2Sense]

One of my favourite fighters to watch - when he fell in love with his power (after the Curry fight I suppose) he went on a streaking run including a razor sharp exhibition of hitting againts Maurice Blocker - he was at his absolute peak on that famous night in Mexico City.

Ironically, falling in love with his power is what made him such a fan favorite, but also led to his downfall against Simon Brown.

[elmersalsa]

I don't have respect for a fighter that fought most of his career bums, washed up legends (John Mugabi, Ray Leonard, Simon Brown and Donald Curry), and overweight stars like Meldrick Taylor. He NEVER asked for a rematch against Julian Jackson because he knew that he was going to get nailed on the chin again. Did not risk fights with guys like Roy Jones, Jr., Gerald McClelland, Michael Nunn and James Toney. And simply DUCKED Felix "Tito" Trinidad.

He wanted to fight the greats Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez, two fighters that were 20 pounds at least under him...He knew that he could win EASILY those fights....What a bully.

[turn2stone]

no doubt about it, he did feast on some oldies who had great name recognition. he was a soft chinned fighter who fought like he had whiskers of granite.

[overhand_right]

Bit harsh, but it is true he never seemed interested in fighting the middles above him in the DK stable like Gerald McClellan. He was always pursuing smaller guys like Chavez and Whitaker.

[Elton John]

Norris wasted so much of his career under Don King. Look at his record, he fought a lot of nothing fights, especially in his third reign having (finally!) beaten Luis Sentana.

He was really dominant for 3 years until Simon Brown nailed him. Can you imagine how good a Trinidad fight would have been?

By the way, does anyone have any footage of Norris's late defeats to Mullings or Boudouani? I've never seen them, and I can't find anything on youtube.

Cracking highlight vid here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dZlBLQHT8mM

Sounds like another Leonard fans bitter over the loss and trying to play it down

[Elton John]

Norris is definitely a legend. I can understand the hostility towards him tho. he was simply the best of his time. I still remember how he came in a sizable underdog against the beast Mugabi and then proceeded to dismember him inside of a round. I knew he was a future hall of famer.

Terry passed every test before him with flying colors before facing his first big test-Ray Leonard. Here was a man that hadn't lost a fight in 11 years so nobone could blame the experts for making Sugar Ray the overwhelming favorite. After all, what great fighters had Norris faced?

Leonard on the other hand experience of extremely high quality with wins over the cream of the crop yet Norris defeated him without working up a sweat.

Even so, most people just could not believe their eyes and were not convinced. Don Curry was favored to defeat the young upstart. But this wasn't just ANY upstart. How were the people to know they were witnessing a young legend in the making?

Curry put up a fight but even as he strived mightily to get himself back into the fight, the warrior in Norris just would not let him. The two boxing greats would trade right hands on each other's skulls until one of them died. And finally, Curry caved in to the relentless pressure and awesome power of Norris.

It seems like just yesterday that I remember Donald lying there on the canvas, prey to powers that know no defeat. I also remember many eyewitnesses awestruck as they asked one another "who in the world can possibly stand up to him?"

Terry Norris had reached a frightening new peak. John Mugabi, Ray Leonard, Don Curry-none could be a match for Norris. He was just on another level folks!

But still, some believed he could be taken by the right fighter. That fighter's name was Meldrick TNT Taylor, the fastest man in boxing history. A man so fast, that only the fastest of fighters could only dream of having handspeed approaching that of Taylor.

This contest was up in the air according to the oddsmakers and yet....and yet...

Norris KO 4 Taylor

This was followed by several defenses against opposition of various talents including Gatti where the young fighter tagged Norris with vicious left to the jaw. Norris didnt even blink but instead responded instantly with an irristable left hook that left Gatti on the canvas. This was the same left hook that felled the great Mugabi and left Ray Leonard cowering in fear for 10 one sided rounds. Gatti lasted another 15 seconds.

Many had tried and many had died trying to prove be his master in combat.

Then came the Brown fight in which Terry took his foe lightly and made a huge tactical mistake fighting flatfooted. Norris walked into what Czyz described as a shotgun jab that disoriented him. from that point on he was never to shake it. But Norris would be back.

And so he was, displaying his almost unlimited array of skills that would leave Ray Robinson and Roy Jones envious, winning every round in typical Terry Norris fashion. The title was back where it belonged. The sun would once again rise in the west and set in the east.

Boxing had reached new heights that day.

[Elton John]

I don't have respect for a fighter that fought most of his career bums, washed up legends (John Mugabi, Ray Leonard, Simon Brown and Donald Curry), and overweight stars like Meldrick Taylor. He NEVER asked for a rematch against Julian Jackson because he knew that he was going to get nailed on the chin again. Did not risk fights with guys like Roy Jones, Jr., Gerald McClelland, Michael Nunn and James Toney. And simply DUCKED Felix "Tito" Trinidad.

He wanted to fight the greats Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez, two fighters that were 20 pounds at least under him...He knew that he could win EASILY those fights....What a bully.

Elmer you have to admit that no one could have forseen the stunning success of Norris. Who could have known that he would rebound to become champion after the Jackson fight. Did anyone think he would actually defeat Mugabi? Or Leonard?

I remember no one gave him a chance in the leonard fight and lie it or not, he did defeat him and a host of others and acheived more success than any other jr middle before him. So with that said I must say he EXCEEDED expectations.

By the way, where is Granberry?

[Elton John]

guess there's not much love for the overachieving Norris after what he did to Ringsider's favorite fighter Sugar Ray Leonard

[bollox]

Opinion seems divided on Norris but I reckon at the very least we all need to thank Terry for humiliating Ray Leonard 8)

[Elton John]

^True enough. I don't recall any such defeat in recent years more convincing than the one suffered that night by Leonard. he had done a masterful job at avoiding the real competition. Like they all say, Ray Leonard couldnt compete with anyone under the age of 30

[Jaywheel]

This was followed by several defenses against opposition of various talents including Gatti where the young fighter tagged Norris with vicious left to the jaw. Norris didnt even blink but instead responded instantly with an irristable left hook that left Gatti on the canvas. This was the same left hook that felled the great Mugabi and left Ray Leonard cowering in fear for 10 one sided rounds. Gatti lasted another 15 seconds.

When you talk about Gatti, you should specify that it is Joe and not Arturo. Lots of fighters have wins over Judah, Hatton, Pac and Mayweather. But Daniel, Matthew, Bobby and Roger are not the first names that come to mind when you hear these.

So you are on the Leonard shills Elton?