Agreed. The word great is thrown around far too often here. Neither was great. Norris was closer of course. As for the bout, the horrible defense of Vargas gets exposed. He'd get hit by everything Norris throws. And he'll be walking into punches & trying to trade and play catchup. I think a pretty brutal stoppage here and one that really sends the Vargas career downhill quick.
Norris by stoppage. Too fast. As far as being great Terry had the look of a great boxer. He just didn't want to fight any Jr. Middleweights. He definitely didn't want to test himself at '60
Norris had suspect chin and had poor recuperative powers and was weight bully. Against a big strong opponent like Vargas Norris couldn't bully him and if he boxed like he did like Brown a rematch he would win. However his hot head would be his downfall like Brown first fight. Vargas ko mid rds.
Neither one was a great fighter, but Norris was better, and I would expect him to stop Nando late. Vargas couldnt handle handspeed, and couldnt avoid left hooks. Norris had a lot of handspeed and a very good hook. Norris TKO 11.
I disagree with this assessment, although I may have agreed with it last week lol. For whatever reason I decided to review some Vargas fights this week and one of my observations was that he is a deceptively better defensive fighter than I had previously thought. Especially against Quartey Tito and DLH. He is a pretty stationary target but has good head and body movement and able to slip and duck punches quite effectively, and once he hits his groove showed to be a solid counterpuncher as well against quicker hands. I also think Norris beats him but Vargas will be a quality game challenger. I also think as was mentioned above that an aggressive Norris of the Brown fight might well get caught himself. However if Norris fights patient and smart he should win a decision or possibly late stoppage.
Norris wins, then asks Larry Merchant how good is his chin, to which Merchant replies "You didn't get hit flush for me to change my mind."
