Golden Gloves Champions to World Champion?
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Golden Gloves Champions to World Champion? While many of the top stars in Boxing enjoyed a successful amateur career winning various honours it’s not always integril to their development. It also doesn’t gaurentee success in the pro’s. The two sports after all are very different. There’s no exact formula to enjoying success in both sports. In America & Britain fighters tend to go from the amateur’s to pro’s without the same sort of grounding that they get if they were from Cuba, Russia or another Eastern Block country. This isn’t nessessarily a bad thing as a punishing schedule can mean that a guy leaves the best years in the unpaid ranks. However it can also provide him with the chance to hone his skills further and give him much more experience. At the end of the day it’s a fine balancing act. We start off our closer look into some of the most prestigious amateur tournements with the National Golden Gloves. Super Heavyweight – Over 201 – Only came into existance in 1982 since then no fighter has successfully won this title and gone on to fight for the Heavyweight title much less win one. Larry Donald probably holds the distinction of being the best fighter of the past winners who went on to have a decent pro career. Heavyweight – 201 – Is one of the original division’s which debuted way back in 1962. Four fighters have won both the National Golden Gloves & later World title. Michael Dokes became the first in 1976 he later won the WBA Heavyweight crown when he briefly reigned from 1982-83. Greg Page followed in 1978 he beat the very man who unseated Dokes a certain Gerrie Coetzee and again only reigned briefly from 1984-85. In 1984 Mike Tyson won the title before going on to have a stellar career that saw him win become the youngest Heavyweight champion in history. He also unified the title before coming back to win the WBC & then the WBA crowns. Finally in 1986 Orlin Norris won Golden Gloves. Unlike Dokes, Page & Tyson he opted to drop down to Cruiserweight when he became WBA championship. In the 23 years since Norris triumph only Fres Oquendo & Calvin Brock have fought for a version of the Heavyweight title. While 2002 winner Matt Godfrey has dropped to Cruiserweight and will look to emulate Norris when he fights for the vacant title possibly in March. Light Heavyweight – 178 – Another original weight class. That has seen 5 previous winners go onto world honours in the pro’s. Firstly Marvin Johnson who was the 1971 champion before winning the WBA Light Heavyweight crown in 1978 after a brief reign he then won the WBA title that didn’t last long either before he regained the WBA title in 1986 only to lose it in 1987. Lee Roy Murphy achieved the honour as 1979 champion and followed it up winning the IBF Cruiserweight title reigning from 1984-86. The Great Evander Holyfield became the third to do so when he won the 178 title in 1984 before going onto unify both Cruiserweight & later the Heavyweight division in the late 80’s early 90’s. Ten years later Antonio Tarver won the Golden Gloves then held either the WBC/WBA or IBF titles at some point in the past decade. In 1998 Steve Cunningham became the most recent he went on to hold the IBF Cruiserweight crown from 2007-08. Middleweight – 165 – Since it debuted back in 1962 the Middleweight’s have produced 5 future World champions. First came Marvin Johnson who first won the 1971 title before moving up to 1972 to win the Light Heavyweight crown. In 1976 Michael Spinks took the honours before winning the IBF Light Heavyweight championship he then unified it over the next few years before heading to Heavyweight where he became the IBF kinpin. As well as fighting at the 1984 Olympics Virgil Hill won that years Golden Gloves before having 3 successful stints as WBA x2 and one as IBF Light Heavyweight holder before in the latter part of his career when he moved to Cruiserweight where he collect the WBA laurels. The following year William Guthrie followed Hill’s lead. In 1997 he won the vacant IBF Light Heavyweight title before losing it in his first defence. The most recent winner was Byron Mitchell who claimed 1996 title then twice became WBA Super Middleweight champion. Light Middleweight – 156 – Though this division is now defunct in amateur circles it did run from 1967-2002. In those years 6 fighters won the championship. The first to hold this distinction was Michael Spinks who won it in 1974 before moving up to Middleweight. Frank Tate was the 1983 holder before embarking on a pro career that saw him become the IBF Middleweight champion in 1987, a title he held for nearly a year. Future four weight world champion Roy Jones was the 1987 Golden Gloves champion. Lonnie Bradley held took the honour in 1992 and held the WBO Middleweight crown from 1995-97. Jermain Taylor is among very few to successfully retain the title he won in 1998 when returned in 1999. He then went on to win the Unified Middleweight Championship in 2005 before being stripped of two of the belts, he lost the remaining two in 2007. Andre Berto was the 2001 champion, he currently hold the WBC Welterweight belt. Welterweight – 152 – Seven men have enjoyed success in both the Golden Gloves and the pro’s. It started with 1966 champion Hedgemon Lewis who in 1972 became the NYSAC holder. In 1977 & 1979 Mike McCullum held the title he went on to become a three weight world champion. In 1980 Donald Curry achieved one of his best amateur honours before going onto become Unified Welterweight holder and later the Light Middleweight champion. Frankie Liles was next in 1986 then in 1994 he completed the double winning the WBA Super Middleweight title remaining champion until 1999. Prior to winning gold at the 1996 Olympics David Reid won the 1993 championship. He went on to hold the WBA Light Middleweight title for a year from 1999 to 2000. Cory Spinks followed in his uncles steps winning the 1997 crown. As a pro he became the Unified Welterweight holder and a two time IBF Light Middleweight champion to which is is still today. After winning the 2001 Light Middleweight title Andre Berto dropped four pounds to again become champion in 2003. Light Welterweight – 141 – Since this division came into being in 1967 at the Golden Gloves 6 men have achieved both titles. The first three are the Legendary quartet of Sugar Ray Leonard who won it in 1974 before going on to win world titles in 5 weight classes from Welterweight through to Light Heavyweight. He was followed by rival Thomas Hearns in 1977 who also went onto become a 5 weight world champion also from Welterweight to Light Heavyweight. In 1986 Roy Jones Jnr held the title before again going onto hold World titles at 4 weights from Middleweight upto Heavyweight only missing out the Cruiserweight crown. St Louis Terron Millett became the 1991 holder. He shocked many people when he beat another former Golden Gloves champion Vince Phillips for the IBF Light Welterweight title in 1999. Another Olympian David Diaz won three out of four titles from 1993, the one he didn’t win was in 1995 when DeMarcus Corley took the honours. Diaz of coarse became WBC Lightweight holder while Corley was the WBO Light Welterweright champion. Lightweight – 132 – Five men here won both titles. Starting with the aforementioned Hedgemon Lewis in 1964. Followed by Sugar Ray Leonard in 1973. The outstanding Aaron Pryor won back to back championships from 175-76 before going onto have an fantastic pro career in which he is widely regarded as one of the best Light Welterweights ever. He held a first the WBA then IBF crown from 1980 to 1985. When Pryor was stripped of the WBA crown in 1983 Johnny Bumphus held the title though only four six months. He won the National Golden Gloves in 1979. The most recent winner was way back in 1985 by Vince Phillips. Featherweight – 126 – Only three previous winners here firstly Eddie Hopson in 1988 he later held the IBF Super Featherweight in the mid 90’s briefly. The following year Oscar De La Hoya captured the title he then went on to become the first 6 weight world champion enjoying many successes along the way to collecting 10 World titles in the 90’s and 2000’s. The third to do this was Floyd Mayweather Jnr in 1996. Like De La Hoya he has gone on to enjoy a brillaint career in which he’s won championships at 5 weights all the way from 130-154. Bantamweight – 119 – Also produced three guys, interestingly in consecuative years in the early 80’s. Steve Cruz was the first do so in 1981 before he upset the Barry McGuigan apple cart to become WBA Featherweight champion. Meldrick Taylor dazzled many in both his amatuer and pro career. He won the 1982 crown and went on to have pro glory at Light Welterweight & later Welterweight. Texan Jesse Benevides claim the prize in 1983 before winning the WBO Super Bantamweight title. Flyweight – 112 – The first of seven winners came in 1974 with Greg Richardson who went on to in 1991 hold the WBC Bantamweight crown. Leo Randolph won it in 1976 before winning the WBA Super Bantamweight championship in 1980. Jesse Benevides won it in 1982 then went upto Bantamweight to do it again the following year.