Three-time light-middleweight world champion “Terrible” Terry Norris was involved in many entertaining fights throughout his career having fought some of the biggest names of his era in Julian Jackson, Donald Curry and Meldrick Taylor to name a few.
He caught global prominence in 1991 after massacring a faded Sugar Ray Leonard over 12 rounds in which Leonard was floored on two occasions which convinced him to quit the ring for another 6 years.
Lightening hand speed along with knockout power, made Norris a fighter popular wth fight fans in which the beaten Leonard along with George Foreman had predicted a bright future which could lead to greatness.
However despite winning the light-middleweight title on three ocassions during the 90’s, Norris didn’t reach the dizzy heights of legendary status predicted by Leonard and Foreman in which the Texan was caught flush with heavy punches far too many times during his fight career.
By the end of December 1997, Norris’s career at championship level was ended by Keith Mullings with a 9th round stoppage leaving Norris with a career record of 46 wins with 9 losses. (Disqualified 3 times)
Sadly, Norris today suffers from brain damage which has a detrimential effect on his speech and coordination.
Knockout Sports TV salutes “Terrible” Terry Norris with a selection of some of the notable classic fights he was involved in which showcases his devastating hand speed and knockout power.
Andrew Golota will be remembered in Boxing folklore for all the wrong reasons when it could have been all so different.
His two fights against Former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe were fascinating not only for the same dramatic endings but also what occurred outside of the ring in the first fight and the two contrasting sizes of Bowe for the first and second fight.
Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe’s last fight before facing Golota was the 3rd and final fight of the trilogy against Holyfield in which he was victorious having stopped Holyfield in the 8th round. Having not fought in 7 months, Bowe found it very difficult to get motivated for a fight against Golota in which he was expected to win relatively easy. For the first fight, Bowe who had constantly had battles with keeping his weight down, weighed in at 252 lbs which was way off what many considered his best fighting shape which was around 235 lbs.
One of Bowe’s key assets was his jab but right from the outset, Golota landed more jabs and was winning the early rounds despite being warned by Referee Wayne Kelly for persistent low blows which finally resulted in Golota being deducted a point in round 4 and again in the 6th round in which Golota was clearly beating up Bowe and in prime position to possibly end the fight.
Having received a final warning that another low blow would result in an automatic disqualification, Golota again launched another low blow to Bowe in the 7th round which ended the contest.
Complete mayhem took place in the ring in which one of Bowe’s entourage hit Golota in the head with a walkie-talkie which opened up a cut which later required 11 stitches. Golota’s trainer Lou Duva also collapsed in the ring with chest pains and needed to be stretchered out of the stadium. Outside of the ring, chaos continued amongst fight fans which resulted in 10 arrests with 8 Policemen injured with 9 spectators hospitalized.
The rematch which took place 5 months later saw a drastic change in Bowe’s condition in which he was back to his best fighting weight of 235 lbs which was identical to the weight in which he defeated Holyfield to become world champion in their first fight. It was evident from the start that Bowe’s best fighting days were gone as he looked drained from perhaps losing the 17 lbs too quickly and legendary trainer Eddie Futch had also left his camp frustrated from Bowe’s continuous lack of discipline in weight control.
Bowe was knocked down for only the second time in his career in the 2nd round and seemed to be on his way to defeat however he made a miraculous comeback after a good 3rd round in which 15 unanswered punches put Golota down for the first time in his career. Golota, cut over the eye and still dazed, responded by throwing low blows on two separate occasions before the round had ended in which he was deducted another point by Referee Eddie Cotton having also received a deduction in the 2nd round for headbutting Bowe.
A revived Golota came back strongly in the 5th round by putting together 11 unanswered punches which put Bowe on the canvas and from there on Golota seemed to be in control of the fight winning the next three rounds. Despite warnings from his trainer Lou Duva not to throw punches to the body, another right-left combination to Bowe’s groin ended the fight in another disqualification.
Bowe never fought again as a top level fighter and fight fans were left wondering what could have been if he had shown dedication to training he had demonstrated for his first fight against Evander Holyfield and not had spells where he was overweight. What many fight fans did not know at the time was that Bowe and Lennox Lewis had agreed to fight in September 1996 in which the Golota fight was looked at merely as a tune-up before the Lewis fight.
Lewis later went on to destroy Golota in 94 seconds of the 1st round while Golota later went on to face Mike Tyson in 2000 where having hit the canvas in the first round, had to be persuaded to continue with the fight by his corner before refusing to come out for the third round despite the protests of his corner to continue with the fight where he seemed perfectly capable of continuing.
Check out the highlights of the two fights between Bowe and Golota.
Remember the epic slugfest finale in the film Rocky II between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa?
Well George Foreman against Ron Lyle was the real thing back in 1976. The aura of invincibility that George Foreman had was shattered by his defeat to Muhammad Ali in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.
Throughout 1975, Foreman remained inactive until returning to the ring against the dangerous puncher Ron Lyle.
This was a dream match-up between two heavy punchers that was only going to guarantee one outcome which was a knockout!
31 years on and debate still rages on as to who won in Superfight 1987 between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard for the Undisputed World Middleweight Championship.
Leonard coming off a hiatus of 3 years was given virtually no chance against Hagler who had been unbeaten since 1976 and had ruled the Middleweight Division since pulverizing Britain’s Alan Minter in 3 rounds in 1980.
Major challengers to his crown such as Roberto Duran and Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns had been beaten by Hagler who had stopped 10 of his 11 challengers of his title by knockout with the exception of Roberto Duran.
A classic fight between two all-time greats with contrasting styles of fighting.
The late Diego Corrales will forever be remembered amongst fight fans for an incredible stoppage win against Luis Castillio which turned out to be his last victory before his tragic death in a motorcycle accident.
Having been knocked down twice, the WBO World Lightweight Champion Corrales looked like being on the verge of being stopped with Castillio all set to add another belt to his WBC title in the 10th round.
The onslaught from Corrales in the same round to turn the fight around and stop Castillio is unforgettable and will go down in Boxing folklore as a contender for one of the greatest comebacks seen in the Lightweight Division and certainly the fight of 2005.
A rematch followed between the two in which Corrales weighed over the Lightweight limit and the fight didn’t live up to the thriller of the first fight in which Castillio gained revenge by stopping Corrales in the 4th round. A deciding 3rd fight was scheduled but never took place with the tragic death of Corrales at the age of 29.
Holyfield v Bowe was another great trilogy series in which the first fight is regarded in most quarters as the best of three entertaining fights between these great rivals.
Judge for yourselves to decide whether there has been a better Heavyweight World Championship round in the history of Boxing.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler against Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns was the biggest “Superfight” of 1985 with Sugar Ray Leonard still retired until his second comeback against Hagler in 1987.
Hearns had the year before retained his World Light-Middleweight title having destroyed the great Roberto Duran in just two rounds. The bout was ended emphatically with Duran hitting the canvas head first which stunned the Boxing world as the year before in 1983 he had gone the distance with a prime Hagler in what was a very close fight,.
The expectation going into this fight was that this would be a very technical fight which was totally the opposite of what occurred on the night.
33 years on from 1985 and this fight is still looked upon in many quarters as the best 3 rounds in middleweight history between two fighters who are most definitely part of the golden era of Boxing.
