Boxing Spotlight: Darrel Madison

**With Slideshow**

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

The east coast provides a host of new professional boxers every year. New prospects hope to become contenders while others are satisfied becoming nothing more than opponents. As some of them begin to become recognized for their skill or personality there is the rare occasion a fighter gets noticed for having both, meet Darrel “King David” Madison.

“King David” has a style that emulates Pernell Whitaker and James Toney which he amplified by studying hours and hours of fight footage. Although he is serious about his craft his personality is warm and humorous, which is something the Heavyweight division has not experienced for a long time.

Madison developed his skill in the amateur ranks winning a variety of titles which included winning the Golden Gloves three times in three different states. “I won it in New England first in 2000, and then I fell out of the loop for a little while,” said Madison. “I came back and won the Gloves in 2005 in New York and then went to California and won the Southern California Golden Gloves in 2006.”

During his amateur career he got his first taste of what it would be like to be a professional fighter when his outgoing personality landed him the opportunity to spar with some of them. Madison was humble about the experience saying, “I’m really just happy that they invited me to work with them, it was a great learning experience.” His sparring resume included Michael Grant, Oleg Maskaev, Jason Estrada, Terry Smith and Scott Pemberton.

Madison became a highly ranked fighter in the amateurs and made a tough decision not to wait and try to make the 2008 Olympic team. “The only thing that stopped me was my age,” said the 30 year old Madison. “I fought a good friend of mine Kimball Bethall and beat him; he made it all the way to the finals in the Olympics. He lost in the finals by only two or three points, so I kick myself in the ass sometimes saying I could have made it. But this is what God had planned for me so this is what I’m going to do.”

Although Madison always wanted to turn professional he wasn’t always serious about it. “When I was younger and wasn’t really focused about turning pro, I just wanted to do it to turn pro,” said Madison. “When I really started winning and going to national tournaments and getting ranked I really wanted to turn pro. But when I started sparring with pro guys and really handling them, I really knew I was meant for this and I could do it.”

Madison began his professional career in November 2006 and has compiled a record of 7-1 (3). His lone loss came in his second bout after he was disqualified for rabbit punching. “I had the guy down twice and he was looking for a way out,” recalls Madison. “I was going through a lot of things in my life, I was overweight, I was a little under trained, I wasn’t really focused and I gave him a way out and hit him in the wrong spot and they disqualified me.”

While an early loss can derail a fighter’s career Madison considers it a blessing and has used the experience as motivation. In addition to fighting 20 pounds less he won his next six bouts with two TKOs and four wins by unanimous decision.

In his last outing “King David” met his toughest test facing Ryan Thompson who had won all his fights by KO and was coming off a big KO victory defeating 7 foot 329 pound Ernest Mazyck. Although it was his toughest test it was his finest performance. The southpaw Madison used his jab to keep Thompson off balance and moved well landing punches from all angles putting on an excellent show winning by scores of 40-36 on all three judges’ scorecards.

Madison hopes to close out 2007 with one more victory tonight at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City facing Sam Coming 4-4 (3) on the Gotham Boxing undercard.

When asked about his plans for 2008 Madison said, “I just want to step up the rounds more and the opposition of opponents. My fight with Ryan Thompson was suppose to be eight rounds but got cut to four because of all the Philadelphia fighters making their pro debut. I don’t want to be one of those fighters that are 15-1 only fighting four rounders.”

In a muddied Heavyweight division that has four different champions and little attraction Madison is a welcome addition with his exciting boxing style and bright personality. He has all the skill and attitude to develop into a strong contender which I for one will look forward to watching as he advances his career.