WHO BEAT WHO?

TALES FROM THE AMATEURS

(Part Two)

An excerpt from "The Iceman Diaries"

by

"ICEMAN' JOHN SCULLY

"Ice" at age 16

I am not sure who Dwight Flores of Roswell, New Mexico is but I wonder if he even knows that he defeated Vinny Pazienza in the 132-pound class at the 1981 National Golden Gloves tournament?

I am not familiar with a kid named Terry Lockette of Miami but I wonder if he is aware that in the finals of the Ohio State Fair tournament in 1987 he won a decision over future 1996 Olympic gold medalist and WBA super welterweight champion David Reid. Lockette defeated Reid on championship night in the 112-pound intermediate JO division.

I am familiar, however, with Jose "Killer" DeJesus but you might not be. He was a lifelong amateur from Massachusetts who never turned pro because of a nagging back injury that prematurely ended his boxing career. Several years after I defeated him by a 3-0 unanimous decision in the Golden Gloves he scored a second-round stoppage over future 154-pound titlist Travis Sims (and then retired in the very same tournament).

Brooklyn’s 1984 Olympic gold medal winner Mark Breland of racked up an amazing amateur record of 110 wins against just one single defeat that eventually made St. Louis' Darryl Anthony, who scored a decision over the future two-time world welterweight champion in 1981, one of the most important footnotes in amateur boxing history.

One particular unsung boxer who most have never heard about and will never hear about – or see him fight again – is Cincinnati's Jeshawn Johnson, a 156 pounder who advanced all the way to the semi-finals of the 2002 National Golden Gloves tournament in Denver where he lost to eventual champion Jesse Briseno of Michigan.

On the way to that semifinal finish, Johnson scored an electrifying decision over future hot prospect Andre Berto, scoring two particularly wicked knockdowns along the way (I was there live to see both of them). Truth be told, if my memory serves me correctly, Berto was thisclose to a stoppage loss in that fight and deserves credit for even getting up from the punches he took that night to last the distance with Johnson.

[Author’s Note: The reason I say that fans will never see him fight again is that Jeshawn was shot and killed by a group of cowards (beat him down before a particular coward named Lionel Grimes, 18, shot him in the back while he lay on the ground) just nine months after the decision over Berto.]

Henry Matos of Springfield, Massachusetts was a pretty good New England-area amateur back in the early and mid-1980s whose career highlight came at the 1983 New England Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Lowell when he won a finals night decision at 132-pounds over Micky Ward (one night after Ward had defeated future two-time world champion Joey Gamache).

Regarding the Ward-Gamache fight, the Lowell Sun reported it like this:

“At 132 [pounds] Micky Ward of Lowell and Joey Gamache of Vermont engaged in about as even a fight as you're going to see. Neither boxer had anything resembling a clear edge in the bloody brawl but Ward's aggressiveness in the third round probably won him the decision.”

I am not sure who Solomon Lopez of California is but I wonder if he realizes that the guy he beat at the 1978 National AAU tournament was future WBC/WBA welterweight champion Marlon Starling?

I never met Ernie Bennett, a former 201-pound amateur from just 90 minutes away from where I live (Connecticut) in Rhode Island, and I am not familiar with his accomplishments as an amateur boxer, but I would be willing to bet the highlight of his career came back in early 1982 when he scored a decision over future undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (just a hunch).

Many knowledgeable boxing fans that are good with trivia know the name of Clinton Mitchell as the guy that defeated Bernard Hopkins in the future undisputed middleweight champ's pro debut back in 1988. What most do not know is that many of us were familiar with Clinton way before that when he was one of the top amateur light heavies in the country. As a matter of fact, in 1986, he went to the finals of the U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston where he lost a decision to eventual Olympic champion Andrew Maynard.

Chicago heavyweight Al Evans was clearly decisioned in 1984 by Tyrell Biggs and stopped in 1983 by Henry Tillman in amateur bouts. Those two facts make it even more surprising that, in 1982, Evans scored a stoppage (TKO) victory over... Mike Tyson.

You may not be very familiar with Maryland's Leslie Johnson but I am because before he put together a 21-3 pro record he was a pretty solid 156-pound amateur who I first met in North Carolina in 1988 at the Eastern Olympic trials where he defeated Steve Manfredo (Pete's uncle). Johnson's amateur career dated back to well before I met him, though, and one of his most notable victories came at the 1980 Ohio State Fair where as an 11 year old 80 pounder he scored a decision over Chicago's 10 year old Montell Griffin

Rudy Cisneros was a 147 pounder boxing out of Marquette's Northern Michigan University (before landing a spot on "The Contender: Season 2") who scored a stoppage victory over the then-inexperienced future IBF welterweight champion Kermit "Killer" Cintron at the 2000 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials tournament. Rudy also earned a decision victory that same year in a USA-Ireland dual meet over another future pro middleweight prospect John Duddy

In the 1980s New York City amateur Lionel Odum was a young phenom who never really excelled as a professional but as an amateur he defeated the likes of Junior Jones, Shane Mosley and Kevin Kelley.

I don't know anything about Germany’s Andy Liebling other than that he scored a 1987 decision at 156 pounds over future superstar Roy Jones Jr. at the junior world championships.

Back in the mid 1990s there was an amateur boxing show held in Manchester, Connecticut that saw one of the junior Olympic bouts on the card produce a result that didn't mean very much at the time but now, maybe 10 full years later, Hartford's Jose Sierra (a kid that never even advanced to the open class as an amateur) can look back with pride and tell his friends (if any of them would even believe him) about the night he stopped future WBC 175-pound world champion "Bad" Chad Dawson (Dawson, to his credit, came back at a later date and defeated Sierra in a return match).

Kwak Kwi-Keun of South Korea probably never turned professional but he can always brag to his friends about the time in 1987 that he scored a first-round stoppage over future heavyweight champion Michael Moorer at 165 pounds. Kwi-Keun, while unknown to American amateur fans, was a top level amateur middleweight back when he beat Michael.

Roberto "Chocolate" Perez, however, was an unknown amateur outside of my area when as the New England champion he defeated then no. 1 ranked Moorer (representing Pennsylvania) in a 156-pound fight at the 1986 National Golden Gloves tournament in Iowa. (Perez moved up to the 165-pound division the following year where I beat him via decision in the “Fight of the Year" at the 1987 Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves tournament.)

Terry Christianson of Omaha, Nebraska was a highly decorated amateur boxer who reportedly had over 300 amateur fights and was an accomplished title holder at weights from 139 to 165 pounds over the course of his career. In 1980 he lost to future world champion Johnny Bumphus at the nationals but rebounded several years later to score a 156-pound decision over another future world champion, Gerald McClellan, at the 1986 National Golden Gloves. At the 1988 National Golden Gloves Christianson fought Yours Truly at 165 pounds on opening day in Omaha and I came away with a unanimous decision to score one of the biggest win of my amateur boxing career.

I wonder if a kid named Brian Shaw out of Mississippi knows that he defeated future world champions Glen Johnson and William Joppy just a couple of days apart on his way to a silver medal in the 165-pound class at the 1992 National Golden Gloves?

Hartford bantamweight Hector Rosario had just one fight as a professional, losing to my stablemate Angel Gonzalez on the undercard of my 1989 fight with John Wilkinson at the Hartford Civic Center. As a longtime amateur, though, Hector was an accomplished New England kid who scored, among many other victories, a 1984 decision over future European Flyweight champion Luiggi Camputaro in the finals of the Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves tournament and a 1987 decision in the semifinals of the New England Golden Gloves tournament over future top ten junior welterweight "Sucra" Ray Olivera.

One of Rhode Island's top amateurs, Eric "The Energizer" Fagan, won many titles in his long career and probably defeated over one hundred people along the way but none of his wins can compare to his being the first boxer EVER to defeat Hawaii's star Brian Viloria at the 1997 National Junior Olympic tournament in Marquette, Michigan. Fagan, one of New England's most decorated amateur boxers in recent times, also scored Junior Olympic victories over future WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson and future 122-pound contender Mike-Mike Oliver.

I am willing to bet that most of you have not heard of a late 1980s amateur super heavyweight named Robert Salters (who boxed out of the U.S. Army) but I can assure you that any top amateur from that era knows him, as I do, from his stoppage (referee stopped contest) of the heavily favored Riddick Bowe at the 1988 U.S. Championships out in Colorado Springs.

I wonder if Marcus Johnson of Gary, Indiana realizes that the guy he beat by decision early in the 1994 U.S. Championships in the super heavyweight division was future world heavyweight champion Hasim "The Rock" Rahman?

Mike Johnson from Columbus, Ohio won a decision in the 125-pound finals over Thomas "Hitman" Hearns at the 1975 Ohio State Fair.

The 1957 New York City Golden Gloves 147-pound novice finals saw Charles Wormley out of the Salem-Crescent A.C. in Harlem (Sugar Ray Robinson's home gym) win a decision over future multiple world champion and hall of famer Emile Griffith, who was fighting out of the W. 28th Park Department at the time.

(Coincidentally, Griffith won the 1958 NYCGG welterweight title one year later in the open class with a finals night decision over Osvaldo Marcano of the Lynch Center PAL while one weight class up at middleweight was where future world light heavyweight champion Jose Torres, fighting out of the Empire S.C., won a decision over William Picket of the Webb-Churchill PAL.)

Mike Brown of Sagle, Idaho won a decision in the 132-pound finals of the 1986 National Junior Olympics over future heavyweight champion Chris Byrd

Felix Nance was a journeyman professional boxer with an average record compiled against the likes of Kevin Rooney, Davey Moore and Pedro Vilella. His claim to fame, though, came as an amateur boxer in the late 1970s when he scored a one-shot knockout over future Golden Gloves champion Marlon Starling at the Holyoke Boys Club in the Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves tournament.

I also wonder if a guy by the name of Raynon Woods out of Phoenix, Arizona realizes he scored a late 1990s stoppage victory over future heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn.

At the 1984 U.S. Olympic Box-Off, 132 pounder Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker was the favorite to make the United States team and he did, too. He not only made the team but he went on to capture the gold medal at the 1984 Olympiad in Los Angeles. What most boxing fans do not realize, though, is how close Whitaker actually came to not even making that team. Whitaker lost a 5-0 unanimous decision in the first bout at the box-off to Washington State's Joey Belinc and was therefore forced to face Belinc again a final match that would see its winner advance to Los Angeles.

Whitaker came away with a razor thin 3-2 split decision in the finals to advance to Los Angeles and the rest, as they say, is history.

I am not exactly sure why things turned out as they did in the pro game for Belinc but a check of his record tells me that he turned professional and went 17-2 with nine stoppage victories to his credit before retiring at just 22 years of age.

In a 1990 USA-Canada duel meet, Tony Gonzalez out of Las Vegas scored a 119-pound decision over future superstar Arturo "Thunder" Gatti.

Maybe the most interesting unsung boxer in amateur history is a Kentucky teenager from back in the mid 1950s (1957 to be exact) named Kent Green who scored what would turn out to be a stoppage victory that likely has been, and will continue to be, passed down through his family and friends from first and second hand accounts, a simple victory at the time that came over a fellow Kentucky kid by the name of Clay.

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