Calvin Vance Brock (born January 22, 1975) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 2001 to 2007. He was ranked as the world's No.9 heavyweight by BoxRec at the conclusion of 2005. Calvin Brock was trained by Tom Yankello. In 2006, he won '' Ring Magazine's''

Knockout of the Year '' The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922 and has named a Knockout of the Year since 1989, based on the magazine's writers' criteria. Knockouts of the Year by decade 1980s * 1989: Michael Nunn ''KO 1'' Sumbu Kalambay 1990s * 1990: Terr ...

for his win against

Zuri Lawrence Zuri Lawrence (born June 22, 1970) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2009. He is most well-known for having never scored a knockout win in 44 professional fights. Career Lawrence has never fought for a major heavyweigh ...

and challenged for the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

and IBO heavyweight titles. Brock was forced to retire after receiving retinal damage in his right eye following his loss to

Eddie Chambers Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 20 ...

Early life

Brock was born and raised in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

in a middle-class family. He became a fan of boxing as a kid, prompting his father to take him to the gym when he was 10 years old, where he was told to come back when he's 12. Brock returned to that gym five months after turning 12, losing his first six bouts. Brock earned a degree in finance from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

at Charlotte in 1999 and took a job as a banker in the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

. He appeared in a Bank of America ad, in which he was referred to as "The Boxing Banker", which ultimately became his nickname. Brock soon left the job in order to concentrate on his boxing career.

Amateur career

Brock had a notable amateur boxing career. He won the Golden Gloves heavyweight championship in 1998, and the United States national amateur super heavyweight championship in 1999. He qualified at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

super heavyweight tournament after narrowly beating one-time conqueror T.J.Wilson in the qualification, but lost to

Paolo Vidoz Paolo Vidoz (born 21 August 1970) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011 and held the European heavyweight title from 2005 to 2006. As an amateur Vidoz won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the super-heavywei ...

in the first round. During the Olympics, he was a teammate of future world champions

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, a ...

Jeff Lacy Jeffrey Scott Lacy (born May 12, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2015. He held the IBF super middleweight title from 2004 to 2006, and the IBO super middleweight title from 2005 to 2006. Lacy rose to p ...

, and

Brian Viloria Brian Viloria (born November 24, 1980) is a retired American professional boxer of Filipino descent. He is a former unified WBA and WBO flyweight champion, as well as a former WBC and IBF light flyweight champion. His nickname of "The Hawa ...

. Brock ended his amateur career with 147–38 record.

Professional career

Brock made his professional debut on February 11, 2001, knocking out Zibielee Kimbrough in the third round. He built up a 23–0 record with 19 knockouts before stepping up in competition, facing Clifford Etienne. Etienne, once highly regarded prospect, was looking for a way to regain his stock after being knocked out by Mike Tyson and

Fres Oquendo Fres Oquendo (born April 1, 1973) is a Puerto Rican professional heavyweight boxer. He had a successful amateur record before turning professional in 1997. He has challenged three times for world heavyweight titles. Amateur career He had an amat ...

. Coming into the bout, Etienne was 5–0–1 in his last six fights. The bout took place in

Reliant Center The NRG Center (former name Reliant Center) is a convention center in Houston, Texas, United States. It is part of the NRG Park complex that was constructed around the NRG Astrodome and NRG Stadium. The NRG Center hosts various events year-ro ...

in Houston, Texas, and was aired on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. Brock knocked down Etienne three times, once in round two and twice in round three, with the referee stopping the fight after the third knockdown, declaring Brock the winner by third-round TKO. Afterwards, Brock took a big step up in competition when he agreed to face Jameel McCline on 23 April, just three months after beating Etienne. McCline, ranked No.8 heavyweight in the world by ''The Ring'' at the time, was coming off of a razor-thin split decision loss to

Chris Byrd Christopher Cornelius Byrd (born August 15, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2009. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having first won the WBO title in 2000 after an upset corner stoppage over th ...

for

world heavyweight title in what was described as an entertaining fight, and was viewed as the favorite coming into the Brock bout. The fight was scheduled to take place at Caesars Palace in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

and was televised on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

as part of the undercard of the pay-per-view fight between

Antonio Margarito Antonio Margarito Montiel (born March 18, 1978) is a Mexican-American former professional boxer who competed between 1994 and 2017. He held multiple welterweight world championships, including the WBO title from 2002 to 2007, the IBF title in ...

and

Kermit Cintrón Kermit Cintrón (born October 22, 1979) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and online boxing writer. He held the IBF welterweight title from 2006 to 2008, and has challenged once for the WBC super welterweight title in 2011. Early and ...

. Brock weighed in at and was outweighed by McCline by . The fight started with McCline trying to work behind the jab, while Brock tried to close the distance, working primarily McCline's body. In the middle rounds, Brock largely outboxed McCline using

bob and weave In boxing, bobbing and weaving is a defensive technique that moves the head both beneath and laterally of an incoming punch. As the opponent's punch arrives, the fighter bends the legs quickly and simultaneously shifts the body either slightly ...

strategy, but was knocked down in the seventh round with a short left hook followed by a right hand. Brock got up from the knockdown and finished the round strong and proceeded to outbox McCline for the remaining of the fight. The bout went full ten rounds, with Brock being declared the winner by unanimous decision (UD), with scores 97–93, 96–94 and 96–93. The fight was praised by critics, with prominent coach

Teddy Atlas Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas Jr. (born July 29, 1956) is an American boxing trainer and fight commentator. Early life The son of a doctor, Atlas grew up in a wealthy area of Staten Island, New York City, New York. His mother, Mary Riley Atlas, w ...

predicting a bright future for Brock in the heavyweight division. The win over McCline allowed Brock to enter ''The Ring'' heavyweight rankings. He was also ranked within top ten by all major sanctioning bodies. In an ESPN interview in July of that year, former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson picked Brock and

Samuel Peter Samuel Okon Peter (born September 6, 1980) is a Nigerian professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title in 2008, when he stopped Oleg Maskaev in six rounds. In his prime, he was known for his rivalry with the Klitschko brothers, havi ...

as his favorite fighters from the new crop of heavyweights. On November 19, 2005, Brock faced David Bostice for IBA Continental Americas heavyweight title, making it the first fight in Brock's professional career with a title, albeit lightly regarded, on the line. Bostice, who had a 35–9–1 record coming into the fight, was described as a "tough veteran", with most of his previous losses coming at the hands of former world heavyweight champions and contenders, such as

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

Tim Witherspoon Tim Witherspoon (born December 27, 1957) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2003. He was a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title in 1984, and the WBA title in 1986. Witherspoon also wo ...

Francois Botha Francois "Frans" Botha (born 28 September 1968) is a South African former professional boxer and kickboxer. He competed in boxing from 1990 to 2014, and is perhaps best known for winning the IBF heavyweight title against Axel Schulz in 1995, ...

and Jeremy Williams. The fight took place at the

Cricket Arena Bojangles Coliseum (originally Charlotte Coliseum and formerly Independence Arena and Cricket Arena) is an 8,600-seat multi-purpose arena located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which als ...

, Brock's hometown. Both fighters fought aggressively from the opening bell, with Brock seemingly doing the better work in the early rounds, going back-and-forth between combinations to the head and body and not allowing Bostice to fire back. Brock appeared to be tired going into the middle rounds, fighting rather defensively, but picked up his pace after the seventh, hurting Bostice several times and almost stopping him in the ninth round. The twelfth round saw both fighters slugging it out, with the crowd chanting "Calvin! Calvin! Calvin!". The fight ultimately went the distance, with Brock being declared the winner by unanimous decision, with scores 118–110 (twice) and 116–112. The fight was widely praised for being a slugfest. On February 25, 2006, in a stay-busy fight, Brock faced

on the undercard of the fight between

Shane Mosley Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF l ...

and Fernando Vargas on HBO PPV at the

Mandalay Bay Events Center The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by M ...

in Las Vegas. Regarded by the public as an experienced journeyman with a record of 20 wins, 10 losses and 4 draws, Lawrence was coming off of upset victory over Jameel McCline. The first five rounds were tentative, with Brock slowly breaking Lawrence down and winning every round. At the end of the sixth round, Brock caught Lawrence with a left hook, knocking him out cold. Lawrence fell flat on his back and was unconscious for several minutes. Brock remains the only boxer to knock Lawrence out. The knockout received ''The Ring'''s KO of the Year award. At the conclusion of 2005, Brock was ranked No.7 heavyweight in the world by ''The Ring'' and No.9 heavyweight by BoxRec. With 28–0 record, Brock was offered to fight

for

world heavyweight championship in the summer of 2006 by Klitschko's advisor

Shelly Finkel Sheldon "Shelly" Finkel (born June 27, 1944) is an American boxing and music manager and promoter. Finkel received the Boxing Writers Association of America ''Manager of the Year'' award in 1990 and 1993. He was inducted into the International ...

, but Brock declined citing disagreement with the offered terms. Instead, Brock opted to face undefeated prospect

Timur Ibragimov Timur Ibragimov (Тимур Ибрагимов; born January 15, 1975) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. As an amateur, he competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Early years Ibragimov is from Uzbekistan. ...

on June 24, 2006. The fight took place in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Brock had previously defeated Jameel McCline, and was aired on HBO as part of the ''

Boxing After Dark ''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...

'' series. During the fight, the temperature exceeded , which resulted in each fighter unwilling to press the action. Brock ultimately won the bout by unanimous decision, with scores 119–109, 115–113 and 117–111. "His style was a contrast to mine. He was very cautious of being hit, always moving away. In the 6th or 7th round, I rocked him, he was hurt but not too hurt. He had a very good defense and was able to roll with punches. He surprised me because I didn't expect him keep his movement up for the whole fight. I thought at some point he would break down, but he kept running", Brock said after the fight. With a 29–0 (22 KOs) record, numerous boxing insiders considered Brock as one of the most promising American heavyweight prospects at the time, while ESPN journalist

Dan Rafael Dan Rafael (; born August 25, 1970) is an American sportswriter known for his coverage of boxing and baseball. Early life and education Rafael was born in Albany, New York. He attended Binghamton University, where he wrote for the school paper. ...

claimed that "a number of promoters" were interested in signing Brock who became a free agent on July 27. Brock finally received a shot at the world title as he agreed to face

for

world heavyweight championship. In the build-up to the fight, Brock was confident of his abilities: "I can adopt to every style. He's big like Jameel McCline, but a better fighter. I will beat him and become the heavyweight champion of the world. Klitschko has a good jab, but they also said Timur's best weapon was his jab. I have a good jab myself. I can adapt to anybody's style, anybody's strength and turn their weapon against them." He later added: "The heavyweight division is stacked with a bunch of talent. It's not weak, definitely not weak. The division is pretty strong and that's why the title keeps changing hands." The fight took place at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2006. In the opening rounds, Brock's economical but effective movement made Klitschko reluctant to throw punches, with Wladimir being unable to fully establish his rhythm. In between the 3rd and 4th rounds, Klitschko's trainer

Emmanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...

urged Wladimir to press the action. From the fourth round, Klitschko started fighting more aggressively, hurting Brock several times with the right cross. In the fifth round, Brock opened a cut under Klitschko's left eye that started bleeding heavily in the sixth. In round 7, Brock was caught with a counter right hand before being sent to the canvas with another straight right. Brock was able to get up but the referee stopped the bout, deciding that Brock appears to be unable to continue. After defeating two journeymen, Brock was given a spot in the 4-man elimination tournament to receive a shot at the IBF world heavyweight championship. In semifinals, Brock faced undefeated prospect

. In the build-up to the fight, Brock claimed to be in the best shape of his career. Brock weighed in at 241 lbs, the heaviest in his entire career and almost 17 lbs heavier than in his bout against Klitschko. The additional weight appeared to be muscle. The fight took place in

Emerald Queen Casino The Puyallup, Spuyalpabš or S’Puyalupubsh (pronounced: Spoy-all-up-obsh) ('generous and welcoming behavior to all people, who enter our lands') are a federally recognized Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, Uni ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

and was aired live on Showtime. Chambers appeared to have the upper hand in the fight, effectively using his hand speed and upper-body movement, and was declared the winner by split decision, with two judges scoring the bout 115–113 in favor of Chambers, while the third judge had the same score but in favor of Brock. During this bout, Brock suffered retinal damage in his right eye. As a result of botched surgery to repair the damage in December 2007, Brock became legally blind in his right eye, and forced to retire permanently from the sport of boxing. Brock can still see images of daylight in the right eye.

Personal life

Brock is now a commercial real estate agent. He has a wife, a daughter, and a son.

Professional boxing record

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%" , - ! !Result !Record !Opponent !Type !Round, time !Date !Location !Notes , - , 33 , Loss , 31–2 , align=left,

, , 12 , 2 Nov 2007 , align=left, , , - , 32 , Win , 31–1 , align=left, Alex Gonzales , UD , 8 , 2 Jun 2007 , align=left, , , - , 31 , Win , 30–1 , align=left, Ralph West , KO , 1 (10), , 17 Mar 2007 , align=left, , , - , 30 , Loss , 29–1 , align=left,

, TKO , 7 (12), , 11 Nov 2006 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 29 , Win , 29–0 , align=left,

, UD , 12 , 24 Jun 2006 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 28 , Win , 28–0 , align=left,

, KO , 6 (10), , 25 Feb 2006 , align=left, , , - , 27 , Win , 27–0 , align=left, David Bostice , UD , 12 , 19 Nov 2005 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 26 , Win , 26–0 , align=left, Kenny Craven , TKO , 4 (10), , 25 Jun 2005 , align=left, , , - , 25 , Win , 25–0 , align=left, Jameel McCline , UD , 10 , 23 Apr 2005 , align=left, , , - , 24 , Win , 24–0 , align=left, Clifford Etienne , TKO , 3 (10), , 21 Jan 2005 , align=left, , , - , 23 , Win , 23–0 , align=left, Wesley Martin , TKO , 2 (6), , 14 Nov 2004 , align=left, , , - , 22 , Win , 22–0 , align=left, Willie Williams , UD , 6 , 24 Jul 2004 , align=left, , , - , 21 , Win , 21–0 , align=left, Terry Smith , UD , 10 , 15 May 2004 , align=left, , , - , 20 , Win , 20–0 , align=left, Derek Berry , RTD , 6 (10), , 22 Jan 2004 , align=left, , , - , 19 , Win , 19–0 , align=left, David Vedder , TKO , 8 (8), , 12 Dec 2003 , align=left, , , - , 18 , Win , 18–0 , align=left, Ken Murphy , TKO , 3 , 8 Nov 2003 , align=left, , , - , 17 , Win , 17–0 , align=left,

Shane Swartz Shane Swartz (born December 27, 1975 in Fort Collins, CO) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2007. Amateur career Swartz began boxing under the guidance of his father Roger at the age of four. He was an outstanding ...

, , 6 (8), , 29 Aug 2003 , align=left, , , - , 16 , Win , 16–0 , align=left, Marcus Rhode , , 2 (8), , 19 Jul 2003 , align=left, , , - , 15 , Win , 15–0 , align=left, Jim Strohl , TKO , 1 (6), , 7 Jun 2003 , align=left, , , - , 14 , Win , 14–0 , align=left, Shawn Robinson , TKO , 1 (6), , 4 Apr 2003 , align=left, , , - , 13 , Win , 13–0 , align=left, Jeff Pegues , TKO , 3 (6) , 23 Jan 2003 , align=left, , , - , 12 , Win , 12–0 , align=left, Franklin Edmondson , TKO , 2 (8), , 22 Nov 2002 , align=left, , , - , 11 , Win , 11–0 , align=left, Leroy Humphries , TKO , 2 (6), , 13 Sep 2002 , align=left, , , - , 10 , Win , 10–0 , align=left, Antonio Colbert , UD , 6 , 27 Jul 2002 , align=left, , , - , 9 , Win , 9–0 , align=left, Don Normand , TKO , 2 (6), , 25 May 2002 , align=left, , , - , 8 , Win , 8–0 , align=left, Craig Brinson , TKO , 5 (6), , 7 Oct 2001 , align=left, , , - , 7 , Win , 7–0 , align=left, Lewis Gilbert , TKO , 1 (6), , 2 Sep 2001 , align=left, , , - , 6 , Win , 6–0 , align=left, Rocky Gannon , TKO , 2 (6), , 18 Aug 2001 , align=left, , , - , 5 , Win , 5–0 , align=left, Shawn Woods , TKO , 1 (6), , 17 Jun 2001 , align=left, , , - , 4 , Win , 4–0 , align=left, Antonio Colbert , , 4 , 1 Apr 2001 , align=left, , , - , 3 , Win , 3–0 , align=left, Jeff Ford , TKO , 2 (4), , 23 Mar 2001 , align=left, , , - , 2 , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Benjamin Garcia , TKO , 1 (4), , 11 Mar 2001 , align=left, , , - , 1 , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Zibielee Kimbrough , , 3 (4), , 11 Feb 2001 , align=left, , align=left,

References

External links

Catching up with Calvin Brock
(Interview)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Calvin 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina African-American boxers Boxers from North Carolina Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Heavyweight boxers National Golden Gloves champions Olympic boxers of the United States Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers University of North Carolina at Charlotte alumni American male boxers 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople