Tony Tucker WSD12 Orlin Norris (1991)

Orlin had very good boxing skills, but he was underpowered and underchinned as a heavyweight. Plus his height and reach were not conducive to his boxing style. He could have easily stayed at and been a dominant cruiser, but he went for the money.

 

Orlin didn't have a bad chin, even at HW. :huh

The Bert Cooper stoppage was from Norris twisting his knee.

I don't see how his chin can be knocked at heavyweight even if he was stopped numerous times, but he didn't regularly fight there until 1996 at which point he was a decade into his career and obviously sliding fast.

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As for his actual heavyweight accomplishments, Norris went and beat Renaldo Snipes and Jesse Ferguson. Both of whom stunned Larry Holmes badly as well.

12 with Page, 12 with Tubbs, 10 with McCall, 22 with Tucker, 12 with Akinwande, 10 with Golota.

If anything Norris had a very good chin, Lennox Lewis' didn't hold up as well as Norris did against the above competition actually.

 

Vitali/Norris was one of the most blatant quit jobs I've ever seen. We're talking nearly as bad as that ****er that threw a fight against Hasim Rahman some years ago.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1L7N3b1xoU[/ame]

Norris showed up in Germant, gave the crowd what they wanted, laid down and said "Thanks I'm going home now"

 

Some of Vitali's early bouts were pretty suspect:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecNNmEGQ9a4[/ame]


Not that he needed to have people like this throwing fights, but it sure didn't prepare him for the real battles. Even Hide folded after a missed right hand, but that probably has more to do with his nerves. After all Bowe too flattened him with a missed punch and a tackle.

 

I think that 1 could be legit, a punch that gets you just behind the ear like that totally takes away your equilibrium

 

I don't buy him being flattened for 10 seconds and then getting up like nothing though. Acklie of course was a known flop artist anyway.

 

Yes he did. He started and moved down, and easily won a title. I think he could have been a long standing cruiser champ, but he would have never made the bucks that he probably got at heavyweight.
Overall he was just too small and his style didnt suit his frame as a heavyweight in my opinion, but like his brother, very talented.

 

Orlin was a tough guy just not a huge puncher. He is as tall as Tyson (who is listed anywhere from 5'10" - 5'11 1/2"). When they fought they were very similar in size but Tyson had a huge edge in power.

I thought he beat Norris in both fights.

 

I think he would have had his hands full with a lot of those guys in the 80s, because they fought like he did, and he was a bit smaller. Hed probably be competitive with them yes, probably fighting closest with Berbick and Mercer.
I kind of stopped watching Tucker after he lost to Tyson. He had his problems and seemed to drop off the radar and became one of King's setup guys, but to me he looked very old when he made his second run against Lewis. He had good skills, but he lost a step for sure.

 

Well, he was old. Tucker was closing 30 years already at the time he fought Tyson and it was pretty much his one real chance of being great. A guy like Tucker would not be at the top of the list of fighters anyone would want to face. Of course being out of boxing for over 2 years afterwards didn't help his career either.

 

Yeah he should have got right back at it after the Tyson loss. Its not like it was a humilating loss.