Jay's Corner

The commentary provided is of extreme importance to our lifestyle. It is a living history of the effort put forth by us the coaches, officials and most importantly the athletes of today. Remember that what is today will most certainly be yesterday soon. Thank you from all of the Tidewater boxing community to you Jay.

Robert "Machine" Matney
President of the Virginia Association of USA Boxing

The information provided below here is the commentary of Mr. Jay Pittman. It is intended to be a spotlight for the amateur and professional boxing fan alike and to hopefully gain new fans as they are exposed to the great sport of American Olympic Style Boxing.
For local bout coverage and results, also by Jay, visit the event results section of this website.

Area Professional Boxing News June 4, 2009


Area professional boxing has been nonexistent during this calendar year. Some of the local fighters have taken out of town engagements with mixed results. These are reported in the IT HAPPENED section, followed by scheduled events in the COMING UP section. If I have missed any upcoming bouts or if anyone would like to discuss boxing, don’t hesitate to call at 479- 459 6433 or e-mail jppittman@cox.net.

IT HAPPENED
Dorin Spivey was training for a lightweight contest in January. When it fell through, he was offered a NABO Welterweight Championship fight with Antonin Decarie in Toronto, Canada. He lost a twelve round decision, but put up a good scrap.

Jeremiah Wiggins of Newport News was the most active area fighter. He had a successful pro debut in January by defeating Calvin Aughtrey in a four round contest. In February, he defeated Ronald Reaves, and in May he stopped Robert Graves. He is currently scheduled to face an unnamed opponent in June.

Alex Dill lost his match to light heavyweight Scott Sigmon via a six round decision in January. This match was held in Staunton.

Frankie Fillipone was unable to continue after the second round of his match with Scott Sigmon due to a hand injury in March. This match took place in the Charlottesville area.

John Micheal Terry of Portsmouth lost twice this year, once to Glen Williams in Maryland and then to Mike Tiberi in Delaware.

Ivan Zigler lost an April four rounder to Cory Jones in Atlantic City.

Michael Todd lost his professional debut in Atlantic City, dropping a four rounder to Lavern Harvell.

William Bailey repeated a win over Juan Carlos Robles in the Lynchburg show which took place in April. See note in COMING UP section for Bailey’s next match to be aired on showtime.

COMING UP
In a move spurred by the absence of local promotions, two area amateurs, Kenny Moody and Cordaro Simpkins have signed with a Florida based management company, Voodoo Management. Voodoo is headed by four time world champion, Nate Campbell. This is believed to be a good move for the two amateur standouts. Moody, of the 7cities club, and Simpkins of the ILA, plan to do most of their training at their local gyms. Campbell, who visited the 7cities gym recently, has told the fighters to be ready in July for their debut. We wish them both the best of luck and I hope to see them fight locally again.

William Bailey is tentatively scheduled to meet Ran Nakash in Newark, NJ on July 11. This is an eight round contest and will be aired on showtime. Nakash is undefeated for 18 contests.

This writer has just learned that Bobby Jordan will be fighting an eight round contest in Salisbury, MD, on June 19th. His opponent is undefeated super middleweight Farah Ennis.

Ex-ALL NAVY BOXING COACH JOHN HUNTER AND HIS BOXING FAMILY


One evening at the 7cities gym, several boxers who train there were doing pushups in the exercise area. Fifty pushups were acceptable, and most made it ok. Then one of the coaches came over and did fifty one. No big deal, except the coach is John Hunter, and he is seventy one years old.


The stories about Coach Hunter are many, and mostly true. As a coach he is as tough as they come. Such as the night when one of his warriors came back to the corner at the bell, and complained that he had injured his hand. Hunter’s eyes held little compassion as he stated simply, “You have two hands. Use the other one”. If this implies that he simply doesn’t care, that’s not true. As he will readily explain to you, boxing is a tough game and a fighter does not climb through the ropes with the expectation of not winning. A fighter will extend every effort to win. If the fighter does this, he is a winner, no matter what the decision. John will never ask of anyone, anything that he has not given of himself. An example of this was evident during one of his Navy show bouts. When he returned to his corner at the completion of the second round, he told Coach Dick Pettigrew that he had a broken jaw. Pettigrew voiced the intent to stop the fight but Hunter stopped him, explaining that he could avoid being hit for the next round. This he did, and won the fight by decision.


John Hunter’s boxing career started at seventeen in the tobacco warehouses of Oxford North Carolina in 1954. His last amateur fight was a winning effort in 1974. During the twenty years he fought more than two hundred times, winning the all Navy championships five times, in the lightheavy and heavyweight divisions. Other titles include various naval district, east and west coast, state and regional championships. John also won the World Military Heavyweight crown in the mid seventies, shortly before he retired. During his active boxing career, John was often cast into the role of coaching other boxers. He made his mark in that category in 1971. There were more potential boxers than billets on the Navy Boxing Team that year, so Hunter moved into the position of assistant coach. He was told by coach Pettigrew to work with some of the newer people to see if there was any talent. This resulted in at least two members of the East Coast Team, stepping down to make way for John’s protégés.


When asked the question, “How many corners of other boxers do you think you worked?” Hunter looked startled. It was decided that four or five thousand would be a fair estimate. It is possible that there may be someone, somewhere, that has been more dedicated to the sport of boxing than John Hunter, but it is doubtful.


Hunter passed this ring integrity on to many boxers including his sons Juan and Keith Hunter. Both were excellent amateur boxers. Many old timers can remember when these two would be asked to box an exhibition on a local card and the exhibition would become the main event. There was no playing around for these two. When the bell rang, there was a fight. If anyone tried to decide which the better fighter was, the answer would be --- Which time? Juan was probably the tougher of the two, while Keith was the better boxer. They were both very good, and proved it often. Such was the bout during the Virginia State tournament, when Juan was disqualified for spinning. At that time in Virginia, the winner and the runner-up fought each other again prior to competing in the National AAU. Juan was advised that if the State Champion should suffer a knock out in that bout then he would be the boxer representing Virginia. Some fans can still recall the relentless attack that resulted in a KO for Hunter. Juan went to the Nationals.


When Keith decided to lace up his gloves, his very first opponent was the more experienced Pete Whitaker. Keith did not win the fight but there was no fear in his young eyes as he boxed the bout that started his long amateur career. That was not the only time that his and Whitaker’s paths crossed. A few years and a lot of fights later, the two would meet again. The results were the same, but it was one good fight.


Both Juan and Keith fought professionally, but their pro careers never flourished. They both decided to retire after a year or two. Keith coaches an amateur team in Mechanicsville Va. Juan is planning to coach in the Tidewater area in the near future.


There is a lady in the Fighting Hunter Family. John’s daughter, Kim Calame never boxed or coached. She has been around boxing, especially Navy boxing, for most of her life. Kim probably knows more about the amateurs of the 1990’s than most local coaches. Some of us can still remember her as a toddler following her dad around the Navy gym.


The latest fighter in the Hunter family is seventeen year old Andre. He is being trained by the grandfather, John. His debut occurred at a recent show in Richmond where he was supported by his entire family. The fight was close, but Andre clearly won over a good boxer, Raymond Benavida from Team Primus of Norfolk. Both boxers showed skill and determination that belied the fact that this was the first time for both. I do believe that we shall see good things from both these boxers.


It is almost impossible to predict the future of amateur boxing. We all hope that the upward surge in local shows and the obvious interest of the fans will continue. With folks like the Hunters around, it is possible.