Norris plans to make Tyson pay for trainers’ snubs

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 2:09 a.m.

Everyone in boxing knows Orlin Norris could beat Mike Tyson when they fight Oct. 23 at the MGM Grand Garden.

It's just that no one really expects it, and the written opinions on the subject have followed a similar course.

Norris, speaking this week on a conference call, said the negativity from the press doesn't bother him, although he is slightly peeved at Tyson's trainers for portraying him as little more than an easy night's work for the former heavyweight champion.

"I listen to the reporters and I don't get upset with them," Norris said. "I put it to them not really knowing the game, or whatever."

But when it comes to (Tyson trainers) Jay Bright and Tommy Brooks, Norris has a marginally different reaction.

"I expect them to make comments like they have, but it shows a lack of respect," he said. "They're overconfident."

Bright and Brooks are talking about a quick fight, maybe three rounds or so. Norris, meanwhile, is thinking of taking the fight to its 10-round distance although he's making no official predictions.

"This is a very big opportunity that I'm fully capable of taking advantage of," Norris said from his Big Bear, Calif., training camp, where he's in the seventh of what will be eight weeks of training. "Ten years ago I wanted this fight and 10 years ago I thought I could beat him -- and nothing's changed."

Norris, 34, is 50-5 with 27 knockouts, while Tyson, 33, is 46-3 with 40 KOs.

Tyson is a 12-1 betting favorite for a fight to be televised on the Showtime cable network. Ticket sales for the card are said to be moderate.

"We all know Orlin Norris was picked off a victim's list and they zeroed in on poor little Orlin," said a co-manager, Mike Marley, who adamantly believes his man will win.

His cohort, Scott Woodworth, says "I hope Mike Tyson stays asleep," as if Tyson has bought into his trainers' public ramblings.

Norris tries to stay above the fray, and, typically, comes across as difficult to offend and focused on the task ahead of him.

"I'm well prepared," he said. "I'm confident in my ability and there's really no need for me to be afraid or intimidated. I know what I'm facing; it's not a mystery."

Tyson, who continues to work out at the Golden Gloves Gym, will be fighting for the first time since a Jan. 16 KO-5 victory over Frans Botha. Tyson trailed on the judges' cards prior to ending that fight with a dynamic right hand.

"Botha was doing all right until he got caught," Norris said. "Botha fought him the right way, for the time he fought him. He did a lot of things right: He used his jab, he used his right hand, he used what speed he had. He fought Tyson the way you're supposed to fight a fighter like Tyson."

That said, Norris obviously will try to do the same while avoiding Tyson's vaunted power shots.

"One time I may be in close, one time outside," Norris said. "It's going to take a multitude of things to win this fight."

He realizes Tyson is apt to explode at some point, and he has to be ready for it.

"After six or seven rounds he gets frustrated," Norris said. "The pressure's on him; he's got to win. I expect to see some of that."

Norris, who will be paid a personal-best $800,000 for the fight (topping the $450,000 he received for his second fight with Arthur Williams), said he will come in at 218 to 220 pounds. Tyson could be as heavy as 230.

"He's still a good fighter and good puncher," Norris said of his famous opponent. "He's done a lot for the boxing game and you have to give him respect for that. It's not for me to be upset with him (for his many personal problems and brushes with the law).

Asked to rank Tyson on a 1-to-10 scale, Norris said "I don't know ... he still has the capabilities of being a 10."

And as for himself? "I'm a 10," he replied.

But there have been times he wasn't a 10, as in his five losses (to Olian Alexander, Bert Cooper, Tony Tucker, Nate Miller and Henry Akinwande, plus a sixth to Tony Tubbs that was later ruled a no-contest when Tubbs tested positive for drugs). For all of Norris' talk about being a natural heavyweight and not a cruiserweight -- where he became a world champion -- four of those men who beat him were heavyweights.

"I know there are comments out there that I'm really a cruiserweight, but I'm not," Norris said. "When I fought at cruiserweight I was always having to lose 40 pounds and I was very weak."

He says he's strong and in peak condition for this fight, which will either extend his career or end it.

"I'm coming to win," he said, the disbelievers sufficiently warned.