Is Terry Norris an underated fighter?. Or could he have stood up to the greats?

Ive been watchin alot of Norris footage lately, and im greatly impressed. His speed, accuracy, determination, power and heart....Where do true Norris fans rank him with the all time greats in the WW and MW divisions? I truely believe that any of them woulda had there hands full with this Animal...

 

In terms of athleticism, he was extremely impressive. He also possessed fine technical skills. On his best night, he's a handful for almost anyone at the weight.

There are, however, two big problems with him: 1) inconsistency, and 2) a glass jaw. The 1st point almost ensures he gets caught by a few shots at some point in a fight.

He'd beat smaller, lighter-hitting guys who made brief stops at 154, such as Floyd or Whitaker, as they wouldn't be able to capitalize on his glass jaw really. I'd favor him over the 154 pound version of Mosley and against Wright. However, he'd be screwed against guys like Hearns, McCallum, Leonard, DLH, and Trinidad. All of those guys have significant height/reach advantages, solid to awesome technical skills, as well as the power necessary to shatter that glass jaw when they connect solidly- and they would at some point in a 12 round fight.

In short, Norris is an excellent, but deeply flawed fighter. He'd be a much more difficult H2H opponent if his chin wasn't so shaky.

 

I think he would have dominated anyone in the WW division when he was around, so DLH, Trinidad, Whitaker, Quartey. Very talented boxer, he had chin issues but I think that was part focus, a 100% Norris on his game beats those guys

 

Very talented fighter with an awful chin. Such a shame really because it would have held him back in all the major fights.

I would have loved to see him fight Chavez. There was talk of a fight at 145 but nothing happened. The two hated each other in fact Norris *****-slapped Chavez at a party after the Terrence Ali fight and started a free for all.

 

Certain fighters have everything but lack one thing that makes them ATG's. Norris' chin was his setback.

 

He's a great fighter for fans to watch. Highly entertaining. His soft whiskers is what made him so exciting, because even against the poor quality opponents, he got dropped sometimes.

He could look so great and be obviously so much better than the other guy, and you'd be thinking "man, why isn't he always mentioned among the greats?" and then he gets clipped- "Oh."

But I do think he has a shot against almost anyone at the weight, provided he fights a smart, focused fight. In general, he fails where others succeeded because unlike Tito, for instance, he had trouble recovering.

Trinidad would get dropped or buzzed and he'd be pissed and it would dial him in somehow. Norris had trouble recovering from such things. I don't know if it was that his mentality/confidence was shaken as a result, or if it was all physical. I'd guess a bit of both.

 

I agree with DaveK; Norris is one of the great "Yeah, but" fighters in history. Superb offensive arsenal, but as Powerpuncher pointed out, he dominated the welterweight division.

He was just too brittle to have too long a standing at the top had there been guys like Hearns or McCallum sharing the weight class. Lots of upside, but overriding flaws like lack of defense and an inability to absorb shots just meant he had some impressive winning streaks dotted with bad losses.

 

He's well overrated based on being aesthetically pleasing. Beat up past their best smaller guys and had a **** chin.

 

Agreed. He was pretty good,but not in the elite. I can't see him beating the likes of Benitez,Hearns and a prime Leonard.

 

The last thing I would call him is brittle..He was the total package, a hard puncher...very accurate, and a great finisher..He could have stood up to any of the greats....period

 

Your last statement is the problem; his big problem was standing up and staying upright.... Against most greats, he doesn't stay standing up!

 

Two names hold him back from ATG: Simon Brown and Julian Jackson....He has some big names on his record but Vaca, Leonard, Curry and Mugabi were well past their best...Saying that any fight would be fun while it lasted, I think if he had fought fantasy matches against Hearns or Gerald McClellan they would have been right up there with Hagler/Hearns!

 

G-Man vs Norris is a borderline mismatch.

 

Frankenfrank in 3....2....1....

 

apologies FF, i meant Red Rooster:good