It was the superfight of 97; the boxer/puncher against the puncher/boxer, but it never happened, sadly... So what is your pick for the Superfight that never was?
Norris was too chinny and his legs were gone in 97. Trinidad would have thundered him. At his best Norris boxes circles around Tito
Norris was a God one fight and then a ***** the next. Hard to tell that that guy. When he was "on" he had plenty to beat Trinidad.
Terry's got most of the stylistic edges. He'd give Tito absolute fits. Wasn't quite as good as Oscar, but he had a certain slickness and a two handed attack that Oscar didn't have which would have benefitted him greatly against Tito. But with a chin as bad as that against power that good, its hard to bet that Terry gets through an entire fight without getting a big left hook to the jaw. He might ice Tito early, but I'd put my money on Trinidad, behind on all cards, catching him around the ninth or so. Tito KO.
the way terry norris just fell apart at the end of 1997 was shocking...mullings, rosenblatt, and boudonani just ended up beating the crap out of him
Unless you despise Terry Norris and took pleasure out of him absorbing punishment,I'm not sure why anybody would be disappointed that they didn't fight at that particular time.
15 years of hindsight may suggest you have a point. But when the fight was made it was the talk of boxing, a huge exciting fight.
Norris said he just lost interest with the sport around this time and looking at him, he wasn't the same. Prime for prime though he knocks Tito out
mullings wasnt really a beating. norris tottered apart for no reason in round 5. mullings just kept on him and he just seemed to not be able to get out of the way of the shots it was pretty weird. the boudo fight is sad to watch he just tottering on the heels of his feet for the whole fight. looks SO slow and cumbersome. if it was the norris of 94 in there with trinindad in 97 i think norris could of got to him. good defence slick. but could get crisp combos going on the inside. and a puncher in both hands and super fast hands plus. i dont think trinindad could stand up to him for long enough. felix's defence was solid but simple a 1-2 lights him up and staggers him al the time. would have to go for norris in this one
i believe a part of that. he was also looking to go to 160:blood which to me he wasnt cut out for. just a bit too small. norris looked like an average sized welter. it's strange because ihave in my mind that mosley would of had a better chance of nabbing a title at 160 (with the supposed joppy fight. who he blasted a few times in sparring) where as norris seemed to thrive on fighting guys of similar weight.
Norris was definitely a small Super Welterweight. The original plan back in 1997 I recall was for Norris to move down to 147 and fight DLH for the welterweight title, while Trinidad was going to get his vacated belt (he had a 154 lb WBC eliminator against Troy Waters in 1997.) But then Mullings beat Norris and any talk of DLH-Norris or Trinidad-Norris was lost. If either of those fights happened though, both DLH and Trinidad would have smashed Norris at that stage. Mosley fighting at 160? I can't see that for some reason. He was already pretty small at 154, and he would be even smaller and slower at 160.
I didn't know they'd sparred, otherwise I'd think Joppy to be too big for Mosley. I suppose it's who they get fights with stylistically and quality wise with at 160. Norris would need either a chinny guy he could KO or limited opponent he could outbox
