was Leonard the favorite when he fought Terry Norris???

Too bad you can't prove it. people mistake his shortcomings for being shot, Norris is just that good. Eat your hearts out leonard fans.

 

Keith mullings,julian jackson......

 

Leonard was indeed fave, but Norris wasn't expected to dominate like he did, Ray was like a shadow that night...

I watched Norris v Rosenblatt live at Foxwoods a few years later and couldn't beleive how damaged Terrys brain was, he slurred and dribbled his way through the press conference ..

so sad............

 

Do you think Norris would have defeated Leonard in the early 80s?

 

Not only Norris but Jackson, Nunn, McCallum-they all would have knocked Leonard out. Prime Hagler vs. leonard would have been no contest.

As for Norris, leonard wouldn't have been able to deal with his speed. Surealy you noticed the problems he had in the hearns fight.

He didn't have the first clue how to hit a moving target. Even his own trainer was yelling at him for his incompetence. he escaped that time but soon got out of boxing to avoid future losses. he knew the competition was only getting better. I'm sure his handlers were only interested in the one big fight with Hagler but knowing he couldn't handle him they just waited for the right time and made a sudden announcement to come back for hagler. They had it planned this way all along.

So he got what he wanted and gave his fans the big win they thirsted for but I told his fans if he ever enters the ring with a young black man with the kind of reflexes of a Micheal Nunn, leonard will be harpooned that day. I knew it was just a matter of time before he made a mistake in choosing the wrong opponent. The monent he stopped facing those useless relics and started facing some real competition he would be shown a boxing lesson, the kind he always feared since the first retirement.

Enter Terry Norris. One December day in 1990. I happened to catch the late news sportscast. When I heard Ray leonard signed to face Norris, I knew that was it for him, that he was headed for disaster and probably retirement soon after. He never really had the experience to handle this kind of speed because Sugar was sricktly a backtracker. That is he could not take the fight to the opponent if necessary. He was too accustonmed to facing flat footed opponents Dave Green, Wilfred benitez, Howard, Lalonde, washed up Hagler-all immobile slow moving plodders.

So the bottom line is Leonard doesn't do well with this style of fighter. Turns out I was on the money as my patience was finally rewarded.

 

sadly, this happens with a lot of legends. Muhammud Ali immediately comes to mind. Ken Norton too.

 

He said legend,huh huh huh......Ali and norris in the same sentence,wow........

 

Why shouldn't Terry be given the chance to make a name for himself. ALi was gone and the sport was in desperate need of his replacment. Norris with his speed and talent floated and stung leonard hard enough to prove he was just the man to fit the needs of the boxing establishment-the new Ali until Roy Jones came along.

 

KO Magazine (not The Ring) called this 1991's Upset of the Year.

Strange, considering the fact that 3 months later in May, Michael Nunn was a huge favorite and lost to James Toney.

 

atsch atsch atsch atsch

 

Thanks Thread Stealer I wasn't even aware of that. I always knew deep inside that KO had integrity somewhere even if it didn't show most of the time which is more than I can say for many of the posters at ESB. At least they didn't try to play it down like SI written by

This content is protected

Well there you go people...upset of the year!!

Bigger than James Toney-Micheal Nunn even, which is without doubt one of history's biggest.

 

Well I suppose he didn't need to fight boxers like Edwin Rosario either. After all, he had lost to Ramirez (twice imo) and Hector had already toyed with him. You also think he lost to Howard Davis. And yet most of the boxing press thought Rosario beat Hector.

I don't see Mayweather or Pendleton having any lesser skills than Rosario and I think their power is up there with his too. Could have been interesting, no matter what Camacho's standing was.

Camacho certainly didn't prove he was above the Rosario's of the world in his fight with Edwin.

 

Hector was a sight to behold in his prime. The best pure boxer of the last 40 years. Nobody done it like Hector.

 

Mancini was probably the more dangerous fight at that time. Mancini looked like a monster back then. If you look at it from a 1983 perspective, Camacho was just a contender that was on the verge of a title shot. Only the hardcore fans knew him at that point. Mancini was the more dangerous fight, if you base it on Camacho's and Mancini's recent performances at the time.