On this day we saw an interesting crossroads point of the legend 'Terrible' Terry Norris, as he defeated Joaquin Velasquez on August 8, 1997, where Norris secured a 2nd round knockout victory. The outcome doesn't synthesize the adversities Norris felt during this time period.
A well-regarded fighter, who held the claim of stopping John Mugabi, and Meldrick Taylor as well as defeating 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, was brutally knocked out by Julian "The Hawk" Jackson in the second round of their bout. That loss never seemed to shake Norris, as he was seemingly defined by that knockout loss.
After winning fights for a few years, Norris was knocked out by Simon Brown, losing his WBC super welterweight title in the process, in the rematch he'd win, but yet again another knockout loss. After defeating Brown, Norri would have back-to-back disqualification losses to Luis Santana.
Two years later, he find himself in Kansas fighting veteran journeyman Velasquez as he was looking to rebuild and get another marquee 'big money' fight. The fight serves some purpose though as two fights later, Norris was stopped yet again by Keith Mullings. Norris would lose two more times after that as well.
Norris career ended in a sad way and his bout against Velasquez was one of the last times you could see moments of a great fighter in the ring.
After his career, Norris was impacted by pugilistic dementia and Parkinson's disease which has been ruled to be a direct effect from his professional boxing career.
