What if Terry Norris came along in the golden age of welterweights

OP was original and entertaining but, Addie is right. wait what?...

 

Its a good question, Norris has some ATG talents but could make mistakes and had a shakey chin. I think he certainly beats Duran, Cuevas and Benitez if hes up for them. I would favour Leonard and Hearns to get to his chin though, although who knows maybe he'd always have Leonards number, I doubt it but its a possibility easily dismissed, that was a hell of a performance

 

Good post Double-P. Thing is that Norris wasn't a welterweight so all these match ups would have to be at 154 to get the best out of Terry. And I agree that he beats Cuevas, Benitez, Duran at 154, all three were great fighters but none have a chance at Terry at 154. I think Terry would always have Ray's number in the same vein that Barkley had another ATG number in Hearns.

 

Benny, Benny, Benny. Every time I try to take you off my ignore list, you pull yourself back in.

 

Quality!

 

I think his style is perfect to beat Benitez much like Leonard beat him. Duran/Cuevas just too small past their best. Hearns I think is likely all wrong for him but I wouldnt completely write him off given Norris had the speed/power to bother Hearns chin himself

Anyway maybe another good thread would be Norris v the WWs of his time, who I think he largely has a better shot to dominate against. I think he could have been the first to beat Whitaker, I think his speed would see him land first on Tito and he could win that, Ike is too ponderous to beat him and he might have had the style to do a younger DLH to. I wonder bet a load

Another thing about Norris is he was probably the type who needed to be hyped for a fight, I dont think he'd have lost to Simon if he was up for it, I dont think he'd ake the same mistakes.

Good movie Dead Prezs :good

 

I agree with everything you said Double-P. I favor Norris over all those fighters you mentioned, even my childhood hero Trinidad. Whitaker knew better than to fight Norris which is why he chose the limited Julio Cesar Vasquez to win his title at 154. I favor McCallum over Norris due to size and great punch resistance but Terry would give a good account of himself against McCallum and not get blitzed like my man Julian Jackson unfortunately. Hearns like I said is 50/50.

 

Whitaker even struggled against Vasquez mainly due to it being a rough fight. I have it it's pretty ugly but somehow entertaining like Pep-Saddler but maybe not that bad. I agree with both of you that Terry could've been the first to fairly beat Pernell. Not saying that just because I'm a fan of Norris but I'm also a fan of Whitaker's:good.

 

I suppose he could have chosen guys that were beating Norris around the time like Santana and Brown. Instead he chose the limited Vasquez. :good

 

Terry's skills are great and he is fast, but his chin just does not hold up against the top guys.

 

I don't blame Pernell for fighting Vasquez instead of Norris, but he did choose to fight Vasquez over Norris knowing that he couldn't beat Norris.

And yeah Santana had a lot to be proud of after he faked injury twice to "win" and "defend" the WBC title.:nut