Leonard, Mugabi, Curry, Brown, Taylor, Daniels, Vaden, Castro. Nobody else at 154 has a deeper resume at that weight. Just because someone has a diffrence of opinion does'nt mean you should always laugh or use emotiocons to try to downgrade someone else opinion. Never have I once said a negative thing about your opinions.
I laughed because I know his resume front to back and your statement didn't hold up at all. Leonard, Curry, and Mugabi were all used up fighters by the time Curry got to them. Brown was thought to be completely washed up and a stepping stone for Norris before he embarassingly sparked him out. Taylor was a damaged 140 pounder who had no business fighting a fighter of Norris's size and physical qualities. That's 4 wins against washed up Welterweights (one of them a Junior Welterweight) and one against a legit 154 pounder who was just as shopworn. He also looked pretty poor against Daniels in the early going before overwhelming him with his speed and power. Hardly a fighter who strengthens his case as a great in the first place, ditto Valden and Castro. Norris made his living off the corpses of former highly regarded Welters for the most part, and was far too inconsistent even against that level of opponent to be thought of as any kind of great. Was he very talented? Sure, but so was Zab Judah. I bet if Zab constantly feasted on washed up LW's he'd have had a similar career to Norris's. When he actually went up against a top flight fighter of the same size in Julian Jackson, well, we all know what happened. The guy lacked the intelligence and durability to ever be great.
I guess then Norris in one word could be described as a Bully for making his name against smaller and/or old men.
They were all still world class fighters when Terry fought them and he knocked them out for the most part, anybody resume can be discredited in the manner in which you did. It's not like there were fighters he was avoiding, he fought the fighters that were available to him. Norris only big misstep you can hold against him is his lost to Simon Brown so he was'nt far too inconsistent as you said. Against Jackson he simply got caught bad which can happen to anybody when fighting Jackson but before he got caught he was outclassing Jackson in those two rounds. Now I have no problem with you not agreeing with me on Norris being the GOAT at the 154 pound division but to not consider him a great fighter is just criminal.
Taylor at 154 was not world class. Mugabi at that stage was certainly not world class. Curry was a done fighter by that point, only arguably "world class" because of his technical skills, which still allowed him to hold his own. He was far from elite at this stage, as his speed, power, and durability had waned considerably. Brown was also far from world class. That loss is one of the most embarassing in recent memory from any fighter that can be considered elite. Leonard was hardly proven to be world class by that point either. Still a good fighter in the grand scheme of things, but a shell of the fighter he once was. Yes, but not with every single one of their top wins. The best fighters he faced were all smaller and/or shopworn. What other "great" fighters can you say the same for? To consider him a great fighter would be classed under the same category in my opinion. The man beat up on old, washed up Welterweights, and even lost to them on occasion. He never proved himself a great by any stretch of the imagination.
This reeks of bias and ignorance, I'm not saying they were elite when he fought them but they were world class fighters still. And he only lost to one of the fighters you mention while in his prime, stop acting as if he caught multiple losses to them which he did'nt.
Who cares about opinions like Sweet Pea's? he only knows what he reads and in minds like his, hearsay rules his thoughts. He forgets about the way leonard would refuse a fight unless his opponent had one foot in the grave, and wore 15 ounce gloves while demanding his opponent starve himself to the lower weight limit of the division :bbb Also remember people like Pea may be laughing to minimize the anguish of Terry's awe inspiring accomplishments but I can guarantee at the time Terry was in action, nobody was laughing then. Judging by what I saw in the Jackson fight, I knew that Terry would be way too fast for Leonard. Sugar Ray tho great, had never been in with a speedster like Terry. A multi dimensional fighter who box bang and move. When confronted by the slugger Mugabi, Terry wisely picked his shots like you'd see Leonard do in past fights. Only that Terry was much quicker on the trigger and the release was like unto a suden blast from a shotgun. Look at Mugabi's reaction; he just froze up before losing complete control of his legs. I actually think Leonard performed admirably well in comparison, lasting the full 12 rounds-a tribute to the greatness of the man. But who are we kidding? Even Leonard, 5 division champion with an 11 year unbeaten streak ,was no match for the great TN. Neither the 1991 version nor the 81 version of the kalule fight nor the 84 version. It's a crying shame for the Sweet Peas of the world that Terry had to go on and dominate Brown in the rematch and set the record for title defenses but that's what happens when you're that much better than everyone else people like Sweet pea like the hype while people like us prefer the results
Not saying he avoided him, but a fight with Julio Cesar Vasquez SHOULD have been made for starters. Norris beat very few fighters he didn't physically overmatch to the extreme.
He was both terrible to have to face and terrible towards his fans. Sometimes I think he could have been an ATG if only he'd not had Zoolander-syndrome and had known how to turn left. His footwork let him down: you can be great with a bad chin, but you can't be great with a bad chin AND bad footwork.
Dangerous. Win or lose, he was a dangerous guy to fight. Show up with your B game against a Terry Norris and you'd be in big trouble. And if a manager puts his guy in with say 4 dangerous fighters in a 2 or 3 year timeframe, they'll lose once or more.