Terrible Terry's terrible demise

[JAB5239]

Terry Norris was one of the best fighters I've ever seen. Between his hand and foot speed, power and great combinations Norris was an amazing fighter. His downfall though was a less than stellar chin.

If Norris had a better chin he may have been one of the greatest fighters ever. He was certainly one of the most entertaining.

Today his wife says he's like an old man. He's lost much of his coordination and his speech is horribly slurred. This was evident, his speech, several fights before he retired.

Very sad to see so much talent effected so negatively. I was going to say it was out of his control, and to an extent it was. But the brutal sparring he did almost daily surely contributed. It's been well documented, and I had a friend that trained with Norris and his brother in San Diego. I was hearing about these sparring wars back in '89.

Anyway, this leads me to ask the question.....if Terry Norris had a better chin and didn't suffer from brain damage, would he have had an all time great career?

[ShoulderRoll]

His chin was bad but so were his defensive skills. Had he been better able to take a punch he still would have been prone to getting hit more than normal.

Phenomenal offensive fighter, though. Great speed and power in both hands.

[GhostofDempsey]

I always liked Norris, he was all of those things you listed in a fighter. If he had a better chin I have to wonder if it would have made a difference. Ali had one of the greatest chins in boxing and look what it did to him. He took too many punches because he could. Norris may have suffered the same fate with a better chin.

[JAB5239]

His chin was bad but so were his defensive skills. Had he been better able to take a punch he still would have been prone to getting hit more than normal.

Phenomenal offensive fighter, though. Great speed and power in both hands.

I disagree. Im not claiming him a defensive specialist, but he had good lateral movement, parried and ducked and slipped punches pretty well. When he got caught with a hard shot though his brain seemed to short circuit and everything went out the window.

[JAB5239]

I always liked Norris, he was all of those things you listed in a fighter. If he had a better chin I have to wonder if it would have made a difference. Ali had one of the greatest chins in boxing and look what it did to him. He took too many punches because he could. Norris may have suffered the same fate with a better chin.

I agree his fate was probably already sealed due to genetics, just as Ali's was. But do you think he would have been a p4p great had he had a better chin?

[joseph5620]

Terry Norris was one of the best fighters I've ever seen. Between his hand and foot speed, power and great combinations Norris was an amazing fighter. His downfall though was a less than stellar chin.

If Norris had a better chin he may have been one of the greatest fighters ever. He was certainly one of the most entertaining.

Today his wife says he's like an old man. He's lost much of his coordination and his speech is horribly slurred. This was evident, his speech, several fights before he retired.

Very sad to see so much talent effected so negatively. I was going to say it was out of his control, and to an extent it was. But the brutal sparring he did almost daily surely contributed. It's been well documented, and I had a friend that trained with Norris and his brother in San Diego. I was hearing about these sparring wars back in '89.

Anyway, this leads me to ask the question.....if Terry Norris had a better chin and didn't suffer from brain damage, would he have had an all time great career?

I think so. His chin was his downfall but he also had a habit of getting careless with lapses of concentration. It happened against Julian Jackson, Troy Waters, and Simon Brown. If he had the chin to get away with those mistakes, I believe he could have had an all time great career because offensively he had it all. But of course if he did have a better chin he would have beeen another fighter and not Terry Norris.




You're right that he had excellent lateral movement and boxing skills when he chose to fight that way. He showed that in the Brown rematch and the first round against Julian Jackson. He didn't seem to have the discipline to do as consistently as he should have.



I've never seen a fighter deteriorate as fast as Terry Norris. It seemed to all fall apart in one fight (Keith Mullings) and it was downhill fast after that. He would have never beaten Trinidad at that point.

[GhostofDempsey]

I agree his fate was probably already sealed due to genetics, just as Ali's was. But do you think he would have been a p4p great had he had a better chin?

Tough call with Terry. The 154 division wasn’t really stacked with top names during his prime. He also had a problem with getting DQ’d several times. In fact, he was lucky not to be DQ’d versus Leonard when he hit him after he was clearly down. That could have easily been another DQ. If you take away the three disqualifications, and the last three losses on his record (two by KO) he looks a lot more impressive on paper. That said, he definitely passes the eyeball test for greatness when you watch him in action. I would stack him against anyone at 154 in any era and I like his odds. In my opinion he is a P4P great. Highly underrated.

[JAB5239]

I think so. His chin was his downfall but he also had a habit of getting careless with lapses of concentration. It happened against Julian Jackson, Troy Waters, and Simon Brown. If he had the chin to get away with those mistakes, I believe he could have had an all time great career because offensively he had it all. But of course if he did have a better chin he would have beeen another fighter and not Terry Norris.




You're right that he had excellent lateral movement and boxing skills when he chose to fight that way. He showed that in the Brown rematch and the first round against Julian Jackson. He didn't seem to have the discipline to do as consistently as he should have.



I've never seen a fighter deteriorate as fast as Terry Norris. It seemed to all fall apart in one fight (Keith Mullings) and it was downhill fast after that. He would have never beaten Trinidad at that point.

I would have liked to see them fight around '95 after Tito beat Oba Carr and Norris beat Luis Santana in their 3rd fight. I agree 100% about how fast he deteriorated. But he had been showing signs for of slurred speech.

[The plunger man]

Terry Norris was a very talented fighter , great hand speed , good footwork and timing but he loved to get into wars to much and would have often pay the price.
I am actually surprised he came back so well from that brutal Julian Jackson knockout Loss .
It was always a shootout with him and he always had that vulnerability that any moment he could be knocked out

[ShoulderRoll]

I disagree. Im not claiming him a defensive specialist, but he had good lateral movement, parried and ducked and slipped punches pretty well. When he got caught with a hard shot though his brain seemed to short circuit and everything went out the window.

For sure not a defensive specialist. Even if he had been blessed with a granite chin he would still leave openings that he didn't need to. That wouldn't change, it was his style.

I remember there being talk about making a fight between him and Julio Cesar Chavez while Chavez was still undefeated. Always thought he was too big for Julio but in hindsight that might have actually been a very dangerous fight for Norris.