Terry Norris vs. Vincent Pettway, 02/24/1996
As the only unified champion in boxing in February of 1996, WBC and IBF 154 pound champion Terry Norris wanted to make a statement headlining a nationally televised card on Fox. He was slated to face a dangerous former 154 pound champion in Vincent Pettway in a highly anticipated title defense.
Norris had unified the 154 pound titles when he defeated Paul Vaden by unanimous decision two months earlier. And Norris already made one successful defense a month earlier when he easily dispatched of Jorge Luis Vado in two rounds.
Norris had his sights set on much bigger fights. But first, he needed to take care of business and impress against a very formidible challenger in Pettway.
Pettway had an up and down year in 1995. In April, he rallied from behind and scored a thrilling sixth round knockout of Simon Brown to retain his 154 pound title belt. But in August, Pettway lost that title to the aforementioned Vaden when he was stopped in the twelfth and final round. Now in his first fight back since the loss to Vaden, the power punching Pettway hoped to resurrect his career against Norris.
The fight would take place on February 24th, 1996 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA.
After a slow start to round one, Norris would score a flash knockdown with an overhand right towards the end of the round.
Norris controlled the second working behind a sharp left jab. In the third, Norris scored his second knockdown of the fight. This time, it was a short left hook on the inside to Pettway's head. Pettway made it to his feet but was visibly hurt.
Norris went for the knockout and battered Pettway with several hard punches to both the head and body. But Pettway hung in there and even got through with a right of his own that momentarily stunned Norris toward the end of the round.
The next few rounds Norris dominated by boxing and working power shots behind his jab. Pettway's output dropped substantially and he was resigned to hoping to land one big counter to shift the momentum of the fight. But Norris was fighting smart keeping out of range and boxing brilliantly.
Norris continued his dominance in the eighth. With under a minute to go in the round, Norris fired off a left to Pettway's body that landed with maximum impact. Pettway sunk to the canvas with a pained look in his face. Though he beat the count, referee Larry Doggett elected to stop the fight.
This was a very impressive performance by Norris on national television and he hoped it would lead him to a much bigger fight. He'd even expressed a willingness to drop down to welterweight to face Pernell Whitaker. But the big fight would elude Norris in 1996 and he'd have to settle for one more successful title defense against Alex Rios on the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon pay-per-view undercard in September of 1996.
This loss was a major setback in the career of Pettway. He would bounce back in 1996 with two wins against journeymen type opponents. But he still had a long road to go to get back into contention