Accra, Sept 1, – The World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight champion, Terry Norris of the United States has turned down the October 17 title fight with Ghana’s Ike ‘Bazooka’ Quartey. Quartey, the World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion told a press conference in Accra on Sunday that Norris had refused to take the agreed 2.5 million dollars. He said after deciding to increase the purse of Norris to four million dollars, as he had demanded, he (Norris) then requested some tapes of Quartey’s previous fights. ”After watching the tapes, he decided not to fight again”, Ike said. According to Ike, Norris said he would not enter into any major title fight this year and would only consider to fight him (Ike) sometime next year, preferably in April. Asked if Norris’s withdrawal would not affect him, Ike said ”no”, adding ”I am prepared to fight any one who comes my way, even in the middleweight division”. The scheduled 12-round bout would have earned Ike 2.1 million dollars, the highest ever in his professional career. In spite of Norris withdrawal, Ike leaves for the United States with his trainer Oko Damteng on Sunday, September seven to take on either Jose Lewis Lopez of Mexico or Derrel Cooley of U.S as substitutes.
