Thread: Orlin norris (an overlooked)...

Norris held the WBA cruiserweight title and fought in several noteworthy boxing matches in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the brother of retired former champion Terry Norris. Both Norris Brothers were extremely talented IMO.

As an amateur, he won the National Golden Gloves title. Norris turned pro in 1986 as a heavyweight and became a highly ranked and much avoided contender. Although only 5'11, and not a big puncher, Norris relied on his fine boxing skills to outbox and pile up points versus his much larger opponents.

Noteable wins:

-Tony tucker (arguably twice)
-Oliver mcall
-Greg page
-Vassily jirov (Draw)
-jesse ferguson
-Renaldo snipes

After the first Tucker performance, Norris struggled to find contenders who would risk fighting him, and was forced to move down a division where he took the WBA CW strap but by 95 the weight draining caught up with Norris!

In 1996 he moved back up to heavyweight and scored a revenge win over an aging Tony Tucker after contoversially losing the first fight. A long legal battle with Don King saw him lose his WBA mandatory #1 challenger status and instead of a challenge to King-promoted champion Evander Holyfield, Norris was forced to fight 6'7 King-managed heavyweight Henry Akinwande in an eliminator. Akinwande stayed at long range and scraped a very close decision over Norris.

In 1999 he travelled to the UK and demolished colourful prospect Pele Reid in one round, Herbie Hide pulled out of a WBO title fight with Norris at the last minute.

Later in 1999 Norris lined up a memorable fight with Mike Tyson in 1999. After the first round ended, Tyson knocked Norris down with a left hook and Norris injured his knee when he went down. Norris said he was unable to continue the fight and the bout was ruled a no contest. Subsequent x-ray scans proved beyond doubt Norris had indeed suffered a serious knee injury.

Norris was then outscored by Andrew Golota and made quick work of by vitali klitschko, however he did redeem himself with a draw against the great Vassiliy Jirov in 05 but it was to be his last hurrah...

Norris finished his career with a very respectable record of 57-10-1. Mike tyson had to cheat to beat him and Tony tubbs needed steroids to do so too...Norris was a fine fighter, he just wasn't a bigmouth (hence he wasn't a big draw) it's a shame most people demote him to the level of 'journeyman' because he was far from one!

I did not rate him at heavyweight but looking at your list he has some good wins. His brother was brilliant.

You forgot Pele Reid from your list.

Phill...

Either way I'm sure Mike Tyson enjoyed both the highs and lows of "cheating"

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Phill...

Either way I'm sure Mike Tyson enjoyed both the highs and lows of "cheating"

Norris faked his fight with Tyson.

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Phill...

Either way I'm sure Mike Tyson enjoyed both the highs and lows of "cheating"

Norris faked his fight with Tyson.

Norris wanted to be in there with Tyson about as much as Clifford Etienne did....

Norris problem was his size, he was not really a ture HW seen him in some good fights, but all in all
a good fighter.

Originally Posted by Hulk

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Phill...

Either way I'm sure Mike Tyson enjoyed both the highs and lows of "cheating"

Norris faked his fight with Tyson.

Norris wanted to be in there with Tyson about as much as Clifford Etienne did....

Or Seldon.

Ya but other than SHW freaks tyson and vitali, norris was a difficult fighter to look good against win or lose! Not a great fighter but a tricky fighter, tucker, akinwande, jirov, page, mcall etc none of em could beat him convincingly, He gave golota a solid fight too! Good fighter all in all, great pedigree and probably deserved a shot at more 'names' certainly not a journeyman. Just thought i would guage ppl's opinions on him. Moorer vs norris would have been a good fight.

Norris got caught between sizes. He didn't feel he was big enough to fight as a HW, though he probably could have done well there. He just wasn't a big puncher at that weight. Then he went down to cruiser and, in my opinion, lost to Arthur Williams and Adolpho Washington (who boxed a beautiful fight that night), and he wasn't a big puncher there, either.
He just wasn't meant to knock guys out and he should have stayed at the higher weight, probably made more money.

Originally Posted by greynotsoold

Norris got caught between sizes. He didn't feel he was big enough to fight as a HW, though he probably could have done well there. He just wasn't a big puncher at that weight. Then he went down to cruiser and, in my opinion, lost to Arthur Williams and Adolpho Washington (who boxed a beautiful fight that night), and he wasn't a big puncher there, either.
He just wasn't meant to knock guys out and he should have stayed at the higher weight, probably made more money.

I don't think it was anything to do with him feeling undersized, other than a few SHW's tucker was not outsized! Tyson was the same size! Norris weighed between 215-220 for tyson and tucker and was ripped! (He was 230lbs for vitali!) He moved to CW because no one would fight him and don king controlled a lot of the main players, he had trouble going sub 200lbs hence his inevitable move back to HW...

Orlin used to be a master at chopping down huge guys check his excellent performance 1991 v tony tnt tucker. He also did real good v akinwande and deserved the decision. Even his fight with golota was close!

At his peak he only lost 3 fights, he was beating bert cooper till he suffered a knee injury (which recurred v tyson!!!) He was probably robbed v tony tucker first time round, tucker outboxed him but was outed for steroids subsequently.

Everybody should check orlin norris v tony tucker 1 to see him master at work. And as i said i also think he did a real good job on akinwande and that is really something considerin henry is 6'7''.

He was #1 contender for a reason and i would have loved to see him fight holyfield in 1998 but don king KOd that with henry and his manouverings.

I think i saw every Norris fight, be it Orlin or Terry, after their 4th or 5th fights. In stead of saying "out-sized" maybe I should say that he felt like he couldn't punch enough at that weight. Tyson, meanwhile, was a huge puncher. Norris was not, not at HW and not at the lower weight. I was sure he would go down there and be a destroyer, but he wasn't. He was a boxer, not a puncher, and being a 5'11" boxer and fighting at 230 pounds is a tough sell.