It Took Time, but Leonard Gets a Shot at the Garden : Boxing: He will try to take the WBC junior-middleweight title away from Norris as both make their Madison Square Garden debut as pros.

Sugar Ray Leonard, who has fought only five times since 1982, will take aim at Terry Norris’ World Boxing Council junior-middleweight championship tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Leonard, 34, inspired by both the opportunity to take Norris’ title and his Garden debut as a professional, will face a 23-year-old who says he might have played New York as a center fielder in Yankee Stadium instead of as a fighter in the Garden.

Leonard and Norris are both fighting for percentages in a unique setup arranged by Mike Trainer, Leonard’s lawyer/manager.

“Basically, we rented the Garden for one night,” Trainer said of the fight. Showtime, which paid a reported $3-million rights fee, will televise the show.

“Both guys are on straight percentages. Ray can make $4 million, and Terry can make seven digits, too. I offered Joe Sayatovich (Norris’ San Diego manager) a guarantee, but he wanted to go for the percentage.”

Trainer and Garden boxing staffers are hoping for 10,000 spectators. By mid-afternoon Friday, ticket sales were said to have reached 7,000. The house is scaled from $350 to $50.

A promotional home run tonight could conceivably carry Leonard-Norris beyond the Garden live gate record, $1,352,951. That’s what Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier attracted in their first bout, in 1971.

No. 2 on the Garden books is the 1983 Roberto Duran-Davey Moore fight, $975,291.

Trainer and Leonard call themselves Victory Promotions. There are two employees. Trainer is the president; Leonard is the chairman of the board.

“Had we put this fight in Las Vegas, Ray probably would have made more money,” Trainer said. “But he wanted to fight in the Garden, so here we are.”

Norris, originally from Lubbock, Tex., was a high school baseball phenom in 1985 . . . or until a brawl ended his baseball career.

It seems that Norris, who was batting .417 at the time, hit a two-run double against an all-white team. As he stood at second base, a racial epithet was directed at Norris, who is black.

“I started fighting them, and I put three guys in the hospital,” he said. “I got suspended from school, and that was the end of my baseball career. I’d done some amateur boxing at that point, so the transition was natural. “

Norris, his wife, Kelly, and their three-month-old son, Terry II, live in Alpine, Calif., 15 miles from his high desert training camp at Campo and about four miles north of the Mexican border. There, he and his brother, Orlin, a pro heavyweight, work under trainer Abel Sanchez on a 30-acre ranch owned by Sayatovich, a San Diego contractor.

He was one of boxing’s least-known champions when Leonard selected him several months ago as his New York opponent. Norris had a record of 24-3 when he won his junior-middleweight title with a surprising one-round knockout of John Mugabi last March 31.

He has since defended the title with a decision in Paris over Rene Jacquot.

Before that, Norris had lost a 1987 decision to Derrick Kelly at the Forum, lost on a disqualification to Joe Walker in Las Vegas and was knocked out in the second round by Julian Jackson.

In addition to making substantially less money than Leonard tonight, Norris made one more concession that some saw Friday as a mistake. He agreed to a day-before weigh-in. Normally, weigh-ins for non-heavyweight title fights are held the morning of the fight, to insure that both fighters will likely bring nearly the same weight into the ring.

But Leonard weighed the maximum, 154 pounds, at the Plaza Hotel weigh-in Friday, giving him 30 hours to add a few more pounds. Norris, who figured to lack Leonard’s strength to begin with, seemed undersized at 152 1/2.

Leonard, who will not reveal his plans should he win--”Please guys, one fight at a time, OK?”--is hoping Norris will be intimidated by a big New York crowd and Leonard’s high-profile career, which has included a half-dozen “world” championships.

Since he came off a three-year retirement to upset Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1987, Leonard has fought only three times, all in Las Vegas. He knocked out light-heavyweight Donny LaLonde in 1988, was lucky to get a draw with Thomas Hearns in 1989 and then, six months later, easily won a decision over Roberto Duran.

He is a 15-year pro since winning the light-welterweight gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, going 36-1-1 with 25 knockouts.

His opponent is athletic, graceful, fundamentally sound, has decent power--15 knockouts in 29 bouts--and has an effective left hook against an opponent who is backing up, which Leonard often does.

However, Leonard may be right when he implied that Norris’ track record won’t mean much tonight, not before a big Garden crowd.

“Terry hasn’t been to this level (of boxing) yet,” he said. “He’ll be intimidated. Just when he realizes he’s at another level of competition, I’ll begin breaking him down. When he sees in the first few rounds that things aren’t going his way, he’ll freeze.

“That, plus the big crowd, the noise . . . he won’t be able to handle the whole scene.”

SUGAR RAY LEONARD HIGHLIGHTS

Montreal, 1976--He decisions Andres Aldama of Cuba to win the light-welterweight gold medal in the Olympic Games. His victory, plus those of Leon and Michael Spinks and Howard Davis, help spark a resurgence of interest in boxing in the United States.

Las Vegas, 1979--In his 26th pro fight, he beats Wilfred Benitez with a TKO in the 15th round to win his first championship, of the WBC welterweight division.

Montreal, 1980--In a strategy he still regrets, he chooses to slug it out with Roberto Duran and loses his championship on a decision.

New Orleans, 1980--Five months later, he frustrates Duran so badly with his boxing ability and some showboating that Duran quits during the eighth round, telling the referee: “ No mas .”

Worcester, Mass, 1984--He ends a 27-month retirement with a nine-round TKO of Kevin Howard, but is unimpressive in the bout and retires again after the fight.

Las Vegas, 1987--In easily his greatest victory, he scores an upset decision over Marvelous Marvin Hagler after 35 months of inactivity, and takes Hagler’s WBC middleweight championship.