I know I'm in the minority, but I feel like Norwood was something special. Some have recently said they think he's the only fighter to ever beat Juan Manuel Marquez cleanly. That itself is remarkable. First of all, when defending his title the man went everywhere. Puerto Rico, Argentina, Japan. Back to back fights being on different continents to defend his title. I forget what fight it was exactly, but one of them towards the end of his career he was hit low many times and so hard that he was in a wheelchair for a few days afterwards. :admin Anyway, his destruction of the unbeaten Takashi Koshimoto in Japan was one of the most casual I have ever seen. Everything clicked. Koshimoto was not a bad fighter. 6 years after the Norwood fight he beat In Jin Chi in his second to last fight. Norwood didn't lost a single second of any round and knocked him out with a single punch, where as he laid face first on the canvas for several minutes.
And similar to Marquez two of his losses were very iffy. One was a late career knockout loss where he was elbowed in the temple. Another a DQ for low blows, which I've heard wasn't deserved.
He fouled out and quit in some crucial fights and couldnt make weight. He basically stopped fighting in the Gainer fight because Gainer ran from him and he got frustrated. He always fouled and hit people low. I think he beat up his trainer or manager at one point. He was just a loose cannon, but he was a good southpaw with good power, wasted talent.
Nah. Timmy Austin was a lanky boxer puncher. Austin was a better fighter overall in my opinion, but his personal problems hindered his career a little too, plus he was locked up by Don King. I have to give credit to Aaron Snowell, former Tyson trainer, he was Austins primary trainer and he did a real good job with him. Snowell was very inexperienced when he worked with Tyson but he seemed to come a long way once he worked with Austin. Norwood always reminded me of a short version of James Toney by his looks. He was short and compact. He also didnt move as well as a Tim Austin. His nickname was Lil Hagler, so he tried to box more like Hagler, which was more of a flat footed pressure style.
Austin was a generally nice guy, I think he had domestic violence problems that put him in jail, plus he was acquitted of raping a 16 year old girl. Norwood was not a nice guy, you could tell something wasnt right about him just a grumpy snarly guy.
I dont know the two personally , but Ive seen most of their fights. I base that off of their personalities around the fights. Norwood always was in some mess during or before his fights. Austin during interviews and with his trainers seemed to be even keeled.
