THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
After dispatching Vincent Pettway to retain his two 154-pound titles, Terry Norris set his sights on ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker's WBC welterweight crown.
``Pernell Whitaker, if you're watching, take the challenge,'' Norris said. ``I'll go down to 147 to fight for your title, or you can come up to 154 to fight for mine.''
Any Whitaker-Pettway fight would have to wait. Whitaker's immediate schedule includes an exhibition March 5 at Scope, an April match with top-ranked challenger Wilfredo Rivera of Puerto Rico and a possible bout in late summer or early fall with WBA welterweight champ Ike Quartey of Ghana.
On Saturday night, Norris decked Pettway three times en route to an eighth-round knockout to retain his WBC superwelterweight and IBF junior middleweight titles.
Norris, winning his fifth straight bout, punished Pettway with a left to the rib cage 2:41 into the round. Pettway, grimacing in pain, managed to beat the count, but referee Larry Doggett waved an end to the fight.
``I got up. I was all right,'' said Pettway, a former IBF champion. ``I got hit with a good body shot. I could have continued.''
Norris put Pettway down with a straight right in the first round and a left hook in the third. Norris was consistently the more aggressive fighter, and Pettway was able to score only with the occasional series of counterpunches, including a left hook that temporarily staggered Norris in the sixth.
On the undercard, Oliver McCall, in his first fight since he lost the WBC heavyweight title to Frank Bruno, stopped previously unbeaten Oleg Maskaev of Kazakhstan in the first round.
Also, former WBA cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris, Terry's brother, bobbed and weaved and punched his way to a 10-round split decision over 36-year-old former heavyweight champion Tony Tucker. by CNB