Terry Norris: underrated?

[JAB5239]

Terry Norris seemed to have it all except a chin. Do you think he is overrated or underrated in terms of career and skills?

[StarshipTrooper]

I guess it depends on who you talk to. The man had first class skills for sure and natural talent, but I think his chin keeps him from being an ATG. I have him as a near-great.

Poet

[Scott9945]

I guess it depends on who you talk to. The man had first class skills for sure and natural talent, but I think his chin keeps him from being an ATG. I have him as a near-great.

Poet

Even as a near great, Norris seems mostly forgotten and dismissed. You hear more acclaim for John Mugabi, whose record doesn't even approach Norris'. Not to mention that Terry wiped the floor with Mugabi when they fought.

[StarshipTrooper]

Even as a near great, Norris seems mostly forgotten and dismissed. You hear more acclaim for John Mugabi, whose record doesn't even approach Norris'. Not to mention that Terry wiped the floor with Mugabi when they fought.

Mugabi obviously had a punchers chance but I think that's about it. "The Beast" gets more attention I think because people love punchers.....and he had a cool nickname.

Poet

[TBear]

Perhaps Norris is/was underrated. He had remarkable skills and has some great wins. Yes he got ko'd, but I always felt he brought that on himself. He was usually over aggresive and went for the ko himself which led to him walking into alot of punches he shouldn't have. If he was a careful boxer and defensive he would have been boring but thought of higher historically.

[greynotsoold]

The only guys that stopped Norris were Julian Jackson and Simon Brown; just about anybody that got hit by Jackson got knocked out, and Brown wasn't far behind. Waters briefly dropped Norris, I think it was, and was kod in the same round. I don't think his chin was his big liability.
His biggest problem was an inability to control his emotions in the ring, which led to three DQ losses, and you never hear anybody call him one of the dirtiest fighters of all time. His first dq in particular was stupid, hitting a guy in the back of the head after having just knocked him face down to the canvas.
Norris had power in both hands- I followed his career from his 4th fight, and I've seen him score one punch kos with left hooks and straight right hands- was very very fast with his hands and feet. He could box and punch and, unless you were Julian Jackson, he took a pretty good shot.
I'm pretty sure he would have walked all over Whitaker, which is why that fight was never made, and I think he would have beaten Trinidad as well, though Norris had certainly started to slip by then. I'm less sure of that result than I am of him beating Whitaker.

[SCtrojansbaby]

Predict at 154 Norris vs

Leonard
De La Hoya
Forrest
Mayweather
Winky
Moore
McCallum
Williams
Trinidad
Hearns
Martinez
Mosley
Vargas
Vasquez

[IronDanHamza]

There's people in NSB who think Norris shouldn't be in the HOF and is only known for beating Ray Leonard.

[bojangles1987]

I don't hear Norris's name very often, but when i do it's usually by people who know and properly rate him. Maybe that makes him underrated, that not many mention him.

[MRBOOMER]

Predict at 154 Norris vs

Leonard
De La Hoya
Forrest
Mayweather
Winky
Moore
McCallum
Williams
Trinidad
Hearns
Martinez
Mosley
Vargas
Vasquez

Why would you put mayweather in this? Cotto would have been better he's more established there. And Mosley was also a bad choice never great at that weight