Late in my professional boxing days, especially in the mid-to-late 1990s, I would take time off here and there to accompany local amateur kids to national tournaments and it was at these events that I got a sneak peak at some of today's more well known fighters.
I often saw guys like Paul Spadafora (at the Ohio State Fair in the 1990s, winning a decision over a kid from my gym named Tony Wall), Anthony Hanshaw (who, coincidentally, I saw at the same Ohio State Fair tournament winning a decision over the same Anthony Wall who lost to Spadafora the year before), Ricardo Williams (winning a decision against Chad Dawson's older brother, Ricky, at the 1996 national PAL tournament), Jermain Taylor, Calvin Brock and Lance Whitaker when they were amateurs.
At the 1999 national PAL championships in Florida, Jeff Lacy (at 165 pounds) scored a second-round stoppage over Daniel Edouard. Later on in the professional ranks Edouard was seen on national TV scoring that tremendous stoppage win over Willie Gibbs on ESPN in a fight that was compared, on a smaller scale, to Hagler-Hearns. (Coincidentally, Lacy won that PAL tournament in 1999 with a championship-night decision over Gibbs).
Meanwhile, the 1999 U.S. Championship finals at 165 pounds saw Michigan's 6-foot-4 Arthur Palac win a decision over future Olympian Lacy while one year later at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Box-Off Lacy won a decision over Palac in a fight that, to me (I was there live for it), Palac appeared to dominate.
Lacy also fought in the 1997 National Golden Gloves where he defeated future professional fringe contender Rubin Williams before losing in the final to future (and current) prospect Randy Griffin. That same 97 NGG tournament also saw future professional prospect Cleveland Corder score a championship night victory over future undisputed 160-pound champion Jermain Taylor.
A very odd matchup at 201 pounds in 1989 at a USA-CANADA dual meet saw future heavyweight contender Kirk Johnson score a second-round stoppage over future WBA light heavyweight champion Lou DelValle.
Another unusual matchup, considering how far they both ended up going as pros, saw Antonio Tarver score a unanimous decision over future heavyweight title challenger Fres Oquendo in the 178-pound class at the 1992 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials.
Robert Allen scored a third-round stoppage over fellow future middleweight contender Antwun Echols in a 156-pound fight, one of four straight stoppages (one was a "retirement") he scored that week to capture the light middleweight title at the 1992 U.S. Championships.
Back in the mid-1980s the top American amateur heavyweight (201 pounds) was definitely Queens, New York's Michael Bent. Michael had won the U.S. national championships three times in a row, had represented this country in international matches on numerous occasions over the years and going into 1988 he was certainly the favorite to represent this country at the Olympics in Seoul. Things don't always go as planned, though, and 1988 turned out to be the year of "Merciless" Ray Mercer of the U.S. Army. Mercer won the U.S. Championships in March and then in the U.S. Olympic Trials in July he not only defeated Michael in the deciding match that chose the USA representative but he also scored an early round decision over future pro contender Tommy "The Duke" Morrison.
In early 1992, future heavyweight champion John Ruiz scored a decision over future (about six months later, actually) Olympic gold medalist Torsten Maye of Germany at 178 pounds.
In 1992, in the fight that decided the USA Olympic representative at 178 pounds, Montell "Ice" Griffin scored an upset decision over the favored Jeremy Williams. It marked the second time that week that Montell beat Jeremy. The second match, however, was the fight that Williams claimed he got robbed in (I don't know, I didn't see it) and afterwards he made a big commotion, knocking over tables in the midst of his post-fight fit while shouting "the judges are racist!" Montell's brother Tim also tells me that Griffin scored a 1992 nationals decision over John Ruiz at 178 pounds (Tim also pointed out how that was the first of three future world heavyweight champs Montell would defeat with the other two being, of course, a DQ victory in the pros over Roy Jones in 1996 and two twelve round decisions over James Toney back in 1995).
Anthony "Hollywood" Hembrick defeated future professional world champions Al Cole, Fabrice Tiozzo and William Guthrie while losing four of six bouts to World Amateur Champion Darin Allen. In less than one week at the 1987 U.S. National Championships, Hembrick defeated Cole, Guthrie and future #1 rated middleweight Joe Lipsey to win the 165-pound title. In an All-Army matchup in 87 Hembrick defeated fellow military star and former 156 pound U.S Champion Kevin Bryant.
Meanwhile, Allen, a former IBF world title challenger at 175 pounds, defeated future world professional champions Leonzer Barber, Henry Maske, Reggie Johnson, Alfred Cole, William Guthrie and Frank Tate. Allen also won decisions over top flight amateurs like Dennis Milton, Jerome James and three-time National Golden Gloves winner Mylon Watkins. Darin also won four of his six meetings with 1988 U.S. Olympian Hembrick and, as young kids, Darin won one of his three bouts with future Olympic gold medalist Steve McCrory.
Tate, Maske and McCrory makes THREE Olympic gold medalists that Allen defeated over the course of his long amateur career.
Coincidentally, Allen and I also fought each other twice in 1988 with each of us winning once. I won a decision over him in the finals of the Eastern Olympic Trials in June and then he returned the favor in the semi-finals of the Olympic Trials four weeks later.
As an amateur, I scored victories over the likes of future WBO world middleweight champion Otis "Magic" Grant, future NABF middleweight champion Lamar 'Kidfire" Parks (twice), future IBF super middleweight world title challenger Joey DeGrandis, and future heavyweight contender Melvin "Top Gun" Foster.
And if you want to have a little fun with this chapter and use these results as a lead in to speculation on who might beat who (by several degrees of separation, of course) then you can start by pointing to the fact that I beat Darin (in one of our two meetings) after he beat Henry Maske. Maske, of course, then turned around and not only won the 1988 Olympics but he also scored a 1989 decision over legendary Cuban Pablo Romero, the same Romero who had scored a decision a few years earlier over super star American light heavy out of Atlanta, Georgia named Evander Holyfield.
Kelcie Banks, in one of his 500-plus amateur fights, lost a decision to future World Champion Jon-Jon Molina at the 1985 North American Amateur Boxing Championships at 125 pounds.
Ohio's Anthony "The Tiger" Hanshaw really made his mark at the 1999 USA/ABF National Championships where he scored four very solid victories on his way to the silver medal (he lost in the finals to Darnell Wilson of Lafayette). His victories that week came against Randy Griffin, Sechew Powell, Jermain Taylor and "Contender" winner Sergio Mora.
Hanshaw then returned to the U.S. Championships one year later where he not only won the gold medal but he defeated Sechew Powell again in the finals to get it.
Taylor, meanwhile, scored a 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials victory over fellow future world champion (he coincidentally lost his world title to him in late 2007) Kelly Pavlik.
Pavlik also lost a decision, at 147 pounds (at the 1999 PAL Nationals at Disneyworld), to 2000 U.S. Olympian Dante Craig.
Former middleweight contender Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos, famous for his N.Y. Yankees pinstriped boxing trunks, told me that he scored a KO victory over Juan Domingo Roldan and split two fights with Tony "El Torito" Ayala. Alex tells me that he also scored big amateur wins over future world champs J.B. Williamson and Duane Thomas as well as a late 1970s NYC Golden Gloves decision over future legend Mike "The Bodysnatcher" McCallum.
Marlon "The Magic Man" Starling lost to, among others, Davey Moore, McCallum and Kevin Rooney in the amateurs. Moochie lost to McCallum at the 1975 National Golden Gloves and to Rooney at the Western Mass. Golden Gloves in either 1976 or 1977. Marlon also lost a very close and controversial decision to future middleweight contender and Marvin Hagler's brother "Rockin" Robbie Simms at the 1979 New England Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Kevin Rooney, maybe best known as the one-time trainer of Mike Tyson, had a very solid amateur career that saw him beat not only Starling but also future world champion Davey Moore. Kevin tells me he and Davey actually split four bouts, going 2-2. Rooney also lost in national competitions to standout amateurs Clint Jackson and Kronk legend Bernard "Superbad" Mayes.