Norris won KO of the Year honors for 1990 with his destruction of “The Beast.”
“Terrible” Terry Norris did not have a huge reputation as a fearsome puncher, whereas Uganda’s John “The Beast” Mugabi absolutely did.
Entering their WBC junior middleweight title fight on March 31st, 1990, Mugabi had a 100% KO percentage out of his 36 wins, while Norris barely eclipsed 50%. What transpired at the Sun Dome in Tampa, FL — Mugabi’s adopted hometown — was a stunning demolition that also won Ring Magazine’s KO of the Year honors for 1990.
Mugabi, who had given Marvin Hagler one hell of a fight in an eventual knockout loss back in 1986, was way out of his depth against Norris. A big left hook less than a minute into the contest had Mugabi tap dancing, and a three-punch combo sent him down. The rest of the round was just Mugabi in pure survival mode up until he didn’t survive. Norris uncorked a massive right hand that made blow-by-blow man Dan Dierdorf exclaim “John Mugabi will not get up!” Unfortunately, the referee felt the need to count to ten anyway before the KO was confirmed.
With this KO, Mugabi became only the second man ever to win and lose major boxing titles by first-round stoppage. He took the WBC 154 lbs title against Rene Jacquot by injury TKO, and ceded his belt to Norris in violent fashion.
Watch the video at the top of the page.
Norris remained champion until a KO loss to Simon Brown in 1993, regained the belt in a rematch, then lost it to Luis Santana, then won it back in a trilogy. He became a unified champion after beating Paul Vaden and it wasn’t until 1997 that his days as champion ended for good at the hands of Keith Mullings. Norris retired with a record of 47-9 (31 KOs) and is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but sadly he’s heavily brain damaged as a result of the punishment he took in the sport.
Mugabi (42-7-1, 39 KOs) ended his career in 1999 having only gotten one more shot at a world title, which ended in a KO1 loss against Gerald McLellan. For “The Beast” he was very much a “KO or be KO’d” type of fighter throughout his career, which made for great television but also prevented him from ever being a true top-flight fighter.