Terrible Terry Norris

Great fighter, one of my faves. Was an offensive machine but had flaws and astericks on his resume that hold him back. Regardless though I’d still argue he's a top five 154 pounder of all time.

His biggest fights are Old Ray Leonard, Old Donald Curry, Old Mugabi, Blown Up Meldrick Taylor, Julian Jackson, Simon Browne x2, Jorge Castro, Steve Little, Troy Waters

 

Norris was a quality boxer with fast hands and feet.

Had good power (check Mugabi ko). Had a bad habit of hitting knocked down fighters (Santana X 2) and getting involved in brawls against fighters he could outbox easily (see Troy Waters+Simon Brown 1 and hls of rematch).

Had a bit of a mean streak and a dodgy chin.

Fun and entertaining fighter. A real warrior.

Never going to beat elite light-middles like Hearns or McCallum but fair chance with pretty much everyone else.

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Highly-skilled, fast, powerful, combative headcase.

very poor punch resistance.

 

Feasted on smaller fighters moving up in weight or fighters past their prime.

Never actually beat a real rival co champion at his weight class or his own size like Vasquez.

Don't get me wrong I liked Norris he was a very eye pleasing to watch with his skills, athleticism, speed, aswell as the vulnerabilities he had that made him exciting.

But a bit overrated IMO.

 

Summed him up perfectly.

A fight with Julio Cesar Vasquez who had just beaten a young Winky Wright (dropped him 5 times!) and Javier Castillejo (future light-middle and 160 Ib champ) would have been epic.

Either a furious 6th ko for Julio with both fighters hitting the deck or Norris boxing for an early lead before being worn down for late round ko loss.

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For me I will always best remember Norris for his 3 round war with Troy Waters. My mate always tells how he met Troy at a Central Coast NightClub when he came back to his hometown after this fight and he bought him a drink and Troy told him it was the first drink he had ever had. The drink was Southern Comfort.

 

Paul Vaden was a huge rival. Dig into that soap opera when you get a chance.

 

Very good. **** him.

 

Fast, flashy and skillful, he also had a hair trigger temper and a weak chin plus a desire to duke it out when it wasn’t in his best interests to do so. He also seemed content to be a big fish in a small pond when there were bigger fights either side of his weight class.

A fight with De La Hoya or Trinidad would have been interesting but I’d make both of them favourites over him because of his flaws and their better championship pedigree.

 

I think he’s probably still just about a top 5 all-time light middle too on account of his making the division his home for pretty much his whole career, building up plenty of defenses over the course of 3 reigns, partially unifying and at one time being considered a top 3 p4p fighter in the world… and it being a historically weak division. I was pretty high on him in the early 90s till he got destroyed by Simon Brown.

But the closer you scrutinise his record, there are plenty holes there to find.

 

Very good fighter with fast hands, quick feet, good workrate, stamina and power. He didn’t have the greatest chin but he made do with what he had.

 

Nothing to add, really. He had a super blend of speed and power but he always had some deficiencies as you captured.

His status was probably a touch overblown and overaccelerated by his defeat of SRL. Leonard had probably hit the wall and most certainly wasn't suited to fighting someone who could match or surpass his speed at that point of his career.

 

If you could take the gentleman out of Floyd Patterson, you might have Terry Norris left over.

 

He had all the tools (aside from a dodgy chin) but was a headcase. 3 DQ losses and a fair few examples of him hitting opponents while they were down that he could/should have been DQ’d for.

Great to watch because he threw fast, fluid combinations, was aggressive but was chinny. The Troy Waters fight was his career in microcosm.