It’s a Bout of Gold for Norris : Boxing: Fresh off his victory over Daniels in San Diego, he signs to fight Meldrick Taylor on May 9 for $2 million.

So much for slow people not pushing world junior middleweight champion Terry Norris in the right direction.

Less than two weeks after criticizing his manager for not getting him enough big-money fights, Norris signed to fight welterweight champion Meldrick Taylor on May 9 for more than $2 million.

The fight, to be staged at the Mirage in Las Vegas and televised by HBO, will pay Norris about 15 times more than he made for his Feb. 22 ABC-televised bout against Carl Daniels in San Diego.

Dan Duva of Main Events and Dan Goossen of Ten Goose Boxing will co-promote the bout.

“This is a real crossroads fight for Terry,” Joe Sayatovich, Norris’ manager said. “He beats Taylor, he becomes the golden boy of boxing.”

Said Goossen: “The winner of this fight will be the next superstar of boxing,” Goossen said. “Then, all the other fighters will have to come to him.”

Sayatovich said a Taylor-Norris fight had been talked about for more than a year, but neither party could work out the logistics.

Duva, Taylor’s promoter, had been working on a May 9 fight with Buddy McGirt, but he said negotiations were not going well. Norris was scheduled to fight Aaron Davis on May 30.

“It’s the only fight out there,” Sayatovich said. “Where were they going to go?”

Norris took matters into his own hands during an interview on ABC after the Daniels fight. He said that he would be willing to meet Taylor halfway on their weight differences.

“The problem was the weight difference,” Duva said. “When Terry said that on television, it lit a light bulb for us and we called them.”

Norris and Taylor have agreed to fight at 150 1/2 pounds for Norris’ World Boxing Council junior middleweight title. Norris (31-3) weighed 152 pounds for the Daniels fight. Taylor (29-1-1), the World Boxing Assn. champion, fights at 147 pounds, but he has been known to weigh 160 to 170 pounds between bouts.

Duva did not disclose how much money Taylor will make for the fight, but he said Taylor’s reasons for taking the bout are not monetary.

“For financial gain, this will mean more to Terry Norris than Meldrick,” Duva said. “Meldrick can become a champion at three different weight divisions by winning. He’s had big paydays before. This will establish him as a superstar.”

Taylor, the Olympic featherweight gold medalist in 1984, won the world junior welterweight championship in 1988 over McGirt and took the world welterweight title in 1991 from Aaron Davis.

“Terry has not fought anyone with the hand speed of Meldrick Taylor,” Sayatovich said. “But I see Terry steadily wearing Taylor down and eventually taking him out.”

Norris is still vacationing with his wife, Kelly, in Georgia, but Sayatovich said he expects Norris to be back in the gym training for the Taylor fight within two weeks.

Sayatovich said he and Norris have settled their differences over the terms of Norris’ contract and the amount of money Norris was making per fight.

“From the very beginning, I told Terry he has to be patient,” Sayatovich said. “I remembered telling Terry two years ago when he beat John Mugabi for the title that we’d have a conversation about money. He said we would never argue about money, but it turns out I missed it by a month.”

Four days after his spat with Sayatovich, Norris was involved in an argument with his wife, Kelly. Police were called to the San Diego Princess Resort the morning after Norris defeated Daniels to settle a dispute between Norris and Kelly.

“The merry-go-round is starting to pick up speed,” Sayatovich said. “This fight will give him a chance to slow it down. He loves being back in the gym where he can focus on boxing. People sometimes forget he’s only 24.”