I've yet to see any empathy for Orlin Norris when he was Knocked down after the bell, his knee buckled and he didn't answer the bell for the next round. Popular consensus seems to be that he quit. Interestingly in his book Tyson stated that he had spotted Norris at several of his press conferences prior to their fight, staring daggers at him. Tyson didn't realize he was a boxer at first and even began to wonder if he was a street guy Tyson had wronged at some point and might pull a gun on him! I believe Norris took the fight seriously. He looked calm and like he had a game plan in the first round, he punched back and never desperately held on. The punch after the bell didn't look super serious but looks can be deceiving, maybe he got hit with an elbow or something. The way his knee buckled certainly DID look serious. I wonder if he tried to milk the punch for some points but accidentally went down awkwardly and inadvertently injured himself. Tyson has stated that Norris walked back to his corner and looked fine, implying he just straight quit. Norris seemed sheepish in the post fight interview which could simply be disappointment and possibly even embarrassment at ending the biggest fight of his career after the first round due to a knee injury. I can understand Norris not wanting to continue if his knee was seriously bothering him. Clearly his game plan was to box and move his feet and with a bum knee he would have been a sitting duck for Tyson's bombs. No one would have cared about the knee if Tyson had KO'd him and he wouldn't have gotten a rematch that way, whereas if he retired hurt, especially as the punch was after the bell, he had a seemingly legitimate claim for a rematch. There was talk of a rematch in the post fight in ring interviews but obviously it never happened. Does anyone remember the chain of events which followed? I wouldn't have been surprised if Showtime had told Tyson's team there's no way they could sell a rematch with a guy who quit on his stool after the first round and Tyson seemed genuinely disgusted with Norris. Maybe if Norris had been more emphatic in the post interview about how it's ultimately Tyson's fault the fight ended early, he'd wanted this fight for a LONG time and he was DESPERATE to get a rematch he would have been able to generate enough interest and good will to draw fans for a rematch but I guess by that point just about every post prison Tyson fight bar the first Holyfield fight had seemed more like a circus than a match and the fans were probably too cynical to want to give that guy another chance. Thoughts?
Norris was trying to get more money by getting a rematch. If you watch the film he strolls back to his corner just fine after the KD and looks fine. He sits down with no issues and then his manager comes to the ringside and starts screaming for him to stay down, "we'll get another fight." When the referee asks Norris whats up he looks confused and embarrassed while trying to give the excuse. It was B.S. No, Norris didnt deserve a second fight based on this act.
tyson should have been dq'ed in this fight. punch came way after the bell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJC4dFDu2Q4 and no there shouldn't have been a rematch.
