An Amateur Boxing Story

Article Courtesy of John “Iceman” Scully

Every once in a while you will come across a performance where a boxer will exceed expectations and elevate himself higher than most could even expect him to go. Sometimes a boxer with a lot of question marks will find a way to answer most or all of them in one single flash of brilliance. That doesn’t always necessarily mean that the boxer in question is world class or legendary or headed for greatness. But it doesn’t mean that he isn’t either. What it usually means is that for one day (or a few days) the boxer is great.

There are two examples of this that come to my mind from my own era of amateur boxing on the national level.

(The greatest example EVER in boxing has to be Buster Douglas and the all-time brilliant display that he put on that night in Tokyo when he showed virtually every single attribute that the greatest of the greats posses. Rare it is that a boxer can exhibit them all in just one single night. Buster did almost everything in one single fight that could mark him as being great. He showed a great jab, technique and intelligence. He showed heart, toughness and the ability to take a punch. He showed fearlessness, finishing ability and calm under pressure. For one night of his career, at this one juncture compared to any other time in his life, he was as great as anybody else that ever put gloves on. The performance against Tyson, especially considering who Mike was at that time, was as impressive as any single show ever put on in the history of boxing.)

In 1988 it was pretty much common knowledge that the best amateur boxer at 125 pounds in the United States, and a definite gold medal hope for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, was Kelcie “Mr. Mix” Banks of Chicago. At the 88′ U.S. Championship tournament in Colorado he was going after his record fourth straight U.S. title and, despite the fact that there was many tough competitors in his weight class, it was pretty much the general consensus that Kelcie would come through with his fourth crown. Seventeen year old Carl “The Squirrel” Daniels had other ideas, however, and put forth one of the most inspiring performances of recent times when he punched in bunches and hustled his way to a definitive victory over Banks, who came into the match as the reigning and defending Pan-Am Games Champion from the year before. As the fight wore on, and it became increasingly apparent that Banks didn’t have the stuff on this night to hold Daniels off of him, there were many of us in the crowd that sensed that a huge upset might be about to take place.

And we were right.

Probably an even more inspiring single night of greatness came in a 1987 USA-vs-Cuba duel meet when 17 year old American Gerry Payne out of Washington, D.C. was matched up with one of Cuba’s biggest names in Idel Torriente. Payne was a huge underdog to the Cuban star and was expected to lose without very much resistance. However, he showed amazing desire as he let his hands go with such abandon that even his “USA” headgear drooping down over his eyes didn’t stop him from unleashing a furious assault on his opponent that had the entire crowd standing up cheering “U-S-A! U-S-A!!” in a scene that was reminiscent of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” in USA Olympic hockey.

From “The Amateur Boxer” Magazine: “Gerry Payne, 139, only 17 years old and a high school junior out of Washington, DC, punched, pounded and fought his way to a decision victory over the experienced ten year Cuban amateur Idel Torriente. Torriente had won Gold Medals in both the 1986 Central American and the Berlin International tournaments while Payne was last seen losing on points to Nick Kakouris in the U.S. Sports Festival Finals. Payne showed tremendous determination against Torriente, however, the headgear sometimes drooping over his eyes and his legs sagging against the ropes but he kept at it and stood toe-to-toe several times against the Cuban. His gutsy performance won him the bout and the crowds (who often cheered “USA, USA!”) adulation.”

Super heavyweight Kilbert Pierce was there at the fight (he lost to Cuban star Jorge Luis Gonzalez on the same show) and he told me that the atmosphere in that arena was “electric” as Payne aggressively fought and flurried his way to victory over the vaunted, and heavily favored, Cuban.

So we fast forward more than fifteen years and I am at the 2004 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials amateur tournament that was held at the Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania (The Poconos) this past weekend (January 2004) and I watched a kid there that I have seen several times at amateur tournaments over the past several years named Anthony Dirrell from Flint, Michigan.

The first time I really saw Anthony box was about six years ago when he fought and defeated one of the kids I train (Dwayne Hairston) in the Ohio State Fair in the 75 pound Junior Olympic intermediate division final. I saw him again about two years ago at a tournament in Kansas when he was about fifteen years old and I remember him telling me he was “looking to turn pro.” I remember thinking at the time that he was just “trying to sound like a big shot” and I thought how “this kid has no idea what being a pro is all about” and that he better wait a while. It takes, in general, a different kind of heart to get through a tough pro fight than it does to get through a tough amateur fight.

I also remembered back to when Anthony defeated Dwayne at the 1998 Ohio State Fair nationals when Dwayne hadn’t trained a day for the tournament and I ended up bringing him more as a way to get out of Hartford than anything. Dwayne was a very talented, tough kid and even with very little training he gave Anthony all he wanted before losing a very close decision. At the end of the fight, after the decision was announced, I remember telling Dwayne how bad he should feel because, if anything, his performance showed that with even moderate training he would beat these so called top guys in his division.

(With renewed dedication, Dwayne realized his potential just two months later at the PAL Nationals at Disney World when he defeated future -2004- U.S. Olympic alternate Anthony Peterson of Washington D.C. in the 85 pound finals in what was generally regarded as the second best fight of the tournament that year behind Rock Allen’s semifinal war with New Mexico’s “Little” Ray Sanchez at 139 pounds.)

Anyway, about three weeks ago they held the 2004 USA Amateur Boxing national championships out in Colorado with the winners qualifying for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials. Anthony fought there at 165 pounds, a little big for him, and he was eliminated from the competition after winning a couple of bouts early on. After the tournament was over I read where he said he was going to go back down to 152 pounds for the Eastern Trials because his brother, Andre, had already qualified for the trials at middleweight and he didn’t want to be in a position where he would have to box against his brother to make the Olympic Team. So here we are at the Eastern Trials two weeks after he says he is going down to 152 pounds and I see his name listed in the 178 pound LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT class. I talked to him after I saw his name there and he said he only weighed about 167 pounds now but didn’t want to go down to 165 because he didn’t want to be in the same weight class as his brother and it was obviously too late to get all the way down to 152 so he just decided to stay where he was and box in the light heavyweight division.

Now, my first thought was that he was a tall and elusive southpaw (like an amateur version of Michael Nunn) and could do well for a bit before bowing out of this tournament as he would probably not be strong enough at this new and unnatural weight for the better, more physical guys.

The first fight of the tournament he came through as he stopped a kid on the “20 point rule” (meaning that the fight was stopped because, according to the computer, a boxer had reached the point where he was twenty points ahead of his opponent. A ridiculous rule in my opinion for stopping a fight but a rule just the same). The second day, same thing. He again stops his opponent on the 20 point rule. I saw the fight and he was up against a strong kid but he remained unruffled under pressure and showed grit when he had to. Now I am saying to myself “If he can fight a top guy and stay off the ropes he might actually do something here.” But in the end I still wouldn’t bet on him to win the whole thing. He still had top class light heavyweights like Curtis Stevens, Jaidon Codrington, Rommel Rene and Eric Kelley in his weight class to deal with.

It was in his third match of the week, though, that he REALLY showed me something I didn’t expect to see under the circumstances. A few seconds into the third round of his match, seemingly out of nowhere, Dirrell hit the canvas extremely hard but no punch was thrown. It was like some invisible force has slammed him to the floor. Immediately a guy in the audience yells out “He broke his leg, man!! That’s it, the fights over!” I guess he must have twisted his leg up pretty bad because he went down like he got shot. I, too, thought the fight was going to be called off at that moment and at first he didn’t look that much like he was in a hurry to get up, anyway. They called the doctor up to the corner to check on him after he finally made it to his feet and after a few words, surprisingly, they let the match continue.

Now he comes back into the fight and is actually doing pretty well for about twenty seconds or so when all of a sudden he AGAIN falls hard to the canvas, this time flat on his stomach. I am now SURE this fight is over. He is obviously in pain and he starts banging on the canvas with his right glove, like he is trying to somehow ease the pain shooting through his leg. Obviously in severe distress, he somehow makes it to his feet again and, once more, the ref doesn’t stop the fight on him. I realize he is a small middleweight, if anything, and now is the time when the real 178 pounder he is in with will probably take over and probably stop him since his leg is in so much pain and his movement is so limited. What happens, though, is after he takes his second mandatory standing eight-count, Dirrell furiously attacks his opponent, letting loose with somewhat wild, but fluid, combinations. With about thirty seconds left in the round a whistle goes off and the ref jumps in to declare…

…that the 20 point rule for this bout has just been reached and Dirrell is once again the stoppage winner!! Now, I am impressed. That whole episode right there showed me that this kid, despite his lack of weight and strength, has an abundance of heart and will to win. No matter what happens from now on he has shown a lot. That’s three straight victories by twenty point stoppage including a very gutsy showing in the third match. The next day his leg had to be very tight and sore but he fought yet again. And won on a 29-10 decision. Meaning if he scored just one more good shot he would have won by twenty point stoppage AGAIN. At this point there is a buzz throughout the arena from day today as people begin to hear more and more about him and the odds he is facing. These four victories have put him in the gold medal match, one win away from an unlikely qualifying for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. To pull this unlikely ending off, though, he is going to have to get through a kid by the name of Rommell Rene from Florida who just happens to be rated #1 in the USA in the 178 pound light heavyweight division. Rene and usual #1 rated Andre Ward from California are probably the two top USA hopes at this very moment in this weight class for the upcoming Olympic games. I had to leave the tournament early and head back to Connecticut before the finals took place but I wished Anthony luck and headed home knowing that I could and would check with interest the result of his bout on the USA Boxing website the next day ( http://www.usaboxing.org)/.

The next day, just five days ago, I opened up the website and checked the results. I’m not sure if I was even surprised or not at this point, but natural 152 pound Anthony Dirrell not only defeated #1 rated 178 pounder Rene Rommell but he scored a 30-12 victory -coming just two points away from “twenty pointing” the top rated guy in a division that just two weeks ago he had planned to be nowhere near. He had planned to box at 152 pounds and now here he is headed to the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and is just a handful of victories away from making Team USA 2004. That in itself is a pretty big feat and the obstacles he overcame to get there only serve to add to the legend of this unlikely story.

I cannot say right now what will happen at the trials next month and I definitely cannot predict professional success for Anthony because, really, he is still a kid. But I wanted to mention him in a special way because what he did in Pennsylvania-considering the circumstances- was eye catching and one day will be a story that future amateur hopefuls will hear about to inspire them. You heard it here first

Note. 2-21-2004: The U.S. Olympic Trials are under way and Anthony Dirrell has won THREE more thus far and just last night he scored ANOTHER huge upset as he defeated formerly #1 rated, and highly regarded, DeAndre Abron of the U.S. Army.

Note: 2-26-2004: Anthony Dirrell went all the way to the finals of the challengers bracket of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, losing to Marcus Johnson of Texas in the 178 pound light heavyweight class. Not bad for a guy that just a few weeks ago had planned to box in this same tournament at 152 pounds.

Note: September, 2004. Anthony’s Brother, 165 pound Andre, claimed a bronze medal at the Olympic games in Greece this past weekend.

Final update: April 2006. At this point in their professional careers both brothers are coming along slowly but surely as professional boxers. As light heavyweights, Anthony is currently 9-0 while Andre is 7-0.