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A decade of waiting ends Norris gets his shot at Tyson on Saturday night
Posted: Friday October 22, 1999 09:27 PM
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Orlin Norris finally is getting a fight he wanted a decade ago. "I felt like I could beat him 10 years ago," said Norris, who will fight Mike Tyson on Saturday night. "Nothing has changed." Norris' attitude might remain the same, but a lot has changed in 10 years for the two fighters, especially for Tyson. In 1989, Tyson was the fearsome undisputed heavyweight champion. Now he is 33 and making yet another comeback. He is a fighter who maintains the power of his glory years, but whose fast hands and quick feet have been slowed by time and inactivity. Tyson, however, remains an attraction, a man held in the harsh glare of a celebrity built on his boxing achievement and his out-of-ring problems. "People love Mike Tyson," said Dan Goossen, president of promoter America Presents. "They love to see him win. They love to see him lose." "He has done so much for the game, and I think he deserves a lot of the attention he gets," said the 34-year-old Norris. Tyson was a 12-1 favorite to win the 10-round match in the MGM Grand Garden. A decade ago the odds against Norris would have been similar to the 42-1 odds that favored Tyson against James "Buster" Douglas on Feb. 11, 1990. Douglas, who knocked out Tyson in the 10th round in perhaps boxing's greatest upset, was the first choice for this bout. Tyson is fighting for the first time since he knocked out Francois Botha on Jan. 16 and served 3 1-2 months in a Maryland jail for assaulting two motorists after a minor accident. Douglas, however, was rejected because of his poor physical condition. The attraction of Douglas to the people who guide and sell Tyson's career was his chin, which had grown increasingly fragile. The attraction of Norris is that he does not pack a big wallop. Most of the 27 knockouts on his 55-5 record came through attrition. Another factor that probably helped Norris get the fight is his size. He's built like Tyson, who could use a dominating performance at this point of his career. Norris is 5-foot-10, while Tyson is listed at 5-11 1-2, but appears shorter. Tyson weighed in officially Thursday at 223 pounds, which was his weight for the Botha fight. Norris weighed 218 pounds, two pounds less than when he stopped Pele Reid on June 26 in his only fight in 12 1-2 months. Norris has a crafty style, one that can frustrate an opponent and also bore a crowd. In October 1989, Norris had a 22-1 record, but because of his style he was not in the heavyweight championship mix. He won eight of his next 10 fights, outpointing former heavyweight champion Greg Page in 1989 and future champ Oliver McCall in 1990, and losing a decision to former champ Tony Tucker in 1991. In 1991 he shed more than 20 pounds to enter the 190-pound cruiserweight class. He won the WBA title in 1993 and lost on an eighth-round knockout by Nate Miller in 1995. For much of his career, Norris has boxed in the shadow of younger brother Terry, who was a flashy junior middleweight champion. Norris will try to frustrate Tyson for 10 rounds. Botha did it for most of five rounds, winning all of the first four on two cards and three of the four on the third card. Then the South African got a little too cocky late in the fifth, dropped his guard and was knocked out by a right to the jaw. "Botha fought Tyson the right way," Norris said. "Botha did a lot of things right. He impressed me, more or less, as a boxer. He didn't stay in front of Tyson until the last round. Botha used the jab, he used his right hand and speed. My job is not to get hit with the big shot." The Showtime telecast will begin at 11 p.m. EDT. Tyson's fight probably will not start until the World Series game ends, but it is not expected to start later than midnight.
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