Recently voted into the Boxing Hall of Fame Terry Norris was an extremely athletic boxer. A star baseball player in his youth , Terry chose to ply his athletic skills in the ring, rather than on the diamond.

 

After an outstanding amateur career in which he amassed an amazing record , scoring nearly 300 wins. Norris would turn pro in 1986. In the relatively short , twelve years, he fought professionally he made an indelible mark on the sport. Often accused  of being inconsistent , the word “explosive” comes to mind when thinking back on his career.

 

After rolling off an impressive (21-2) record , with wins over Quincy Taylor and Buster Drayton, Norris got a World Title shot against WBA Light-Middleweight Champ Julian Jackson. Unfortunately for the then 22 year old budding star, Jackson would delay “Terrible Terry”s  climb to the top by stopping him in the 2^nd round.

 

Next, Norris rebounded from this setback with three straight wins, he then scored a sensational one round KO over John “The Beast” Mugabi to win the WBC Light-Middleweight Title.

 

A string of 10 successful title defenses would follow, Norris registering wins over Rene Jaquot, Sugar Ray Leonard, Donald Curry, Bret Lally, Jorge Castro, Carl Daniels, Meldrick Taylor, Maurice Blocker Joe Gatti, and Troy Waters. A pretty impressive list of boxers.   Fighting in Puebla , Mexico Norris would be KO’d by Simon Brown in the 1993 Upset of the Year. The following year Norris would outpoint Brown in 12, to regain his title.

 

Norris next bouts resulted in a strange  trilogy with Luis Santana that saw him lose his  title, then lose the rematch via disqualification and finally regain his title in  the third bout with a 2nd round TKO. In 1995 he unified the WBC and IBF titles with a solid win over Paul Vaden.

 

Four successful defenses followed with Norris winning bouts with  Nicaragua’s Jorge Luis Vado, Vincent Pettway, Alex Rios, and Nick Rupa.

 

In 1997, Terry Norris would start a downward slide, first losing his title by 9^th round TKO to a limited Keith Mullings. The following year losses to Dana Rosenblatt and Laurent Boudouani would signal the end of his career.

 

Terry Norris’s recent election to the Canastota Hall of Fame is most deserved. It is my understanding that Norris has suffered health problems in recent years, boxing fans wish him the best.