Jeremy Williams (born August 19, 1972) is an American former professional boxer and mixed martial artist. He challenged once for the WBO heavyweight title in 1996.

Amateur career

As an amateur, he was the 1989 and 1990

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amateur Light Heavyweight 1989 heavyweight Jr. Olympic champion and the 1990 and 1991 National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight champion, and is a member of the

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

hall of fame. He was a bronze medalist in the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, United ...

in the 81 kg division, being knocked out cold with a

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thrown by the Soviet

Andrey Kurnyavka Andrey Petrovich Kurnyavka (russian: Андрей Петрович Курнявка, born 4 May 1968) is a retired Soviet and Kyrgyzstani boxer. He won the world middleweight title in 1989, and finished second in 1991, but was not included to th ...

in the quarterfinals after a three-round slugfest (Kurnyavka later told that this was the toughest of his 350 fights.) At the 1991 match-up he was again knocked out cold in the 3rd round via left hook by the Soviet Sergey Klokov. Williams said in an interview to

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%). The ...

that the 1990 knockout loss "affected him for years after."

Amateur accomplishments

*1990 Blue and Gold National Light Heavyweight Champion *1990 USA National Light Heavyweight Champion *1991 USA National Light Heavyweight Champion *1989 the world record fastest knockout 8 seconds *California state record fastest Knock out 10 seconds His amateur record was 168–4. He dropped decisions to

Montell Griffin Montell Julian Griffin (born June 6, 1970) is an American former professional boxer. He held the WBC light heavyweight title in 1997, and challenged twice for a world title. Early life Montell Griffin was born June 6, 1970 in Chicago. By age 22 ...

in the Olympic qualifiers 1992.

Professional boxing career

Jeremy Williams is known in the boxing world as one of the most feared knockout artists in the Heavyweight division of his time, with two of his 35 knockouts coming before 30 seconds of the first round—he KO'd Arthur Weathers in 8 seconds on March 19, 1996 (the fastest KO in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

boxing history) and KO'd Louis Monaco 28 seconds into their second meeting on March 17, 2002 (Williams had knocked Monaco out in 3 rounds 6 years earlier). Williams won the WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight Title twice. Williams fought his professional debut at cruiserweight, before moving up to the heavyweight division for the rest of his career. Williams always seemed to be on the cusp of attaining greatness, but his only challenge was for the WBO World title. Williams quickly grabbed the attention of the former team that planned the road for

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...

, Bill Cayton and Kevin Rooney. Williams relocated to

Catskill, New York Catskill is a town in the southeastern section of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,298 at the 2020 census, the largest town in the county. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park. The town contains a v ...

. He won his first five fights by KO. While on the rise as a young pro, Williams defeated another undefeated prospect out of Detroit's Kronk Gym, Danell Nicholson. Going into the fight many writers believed that Nicholson (who was managed and trained by Emmanuel Stewert) would pick apart the smaller Williams. Williams ripped Nicholson up in the first round and finished him in the 2nd round. A ferocious puncher who was of mixed blood.(Irish & African American; Dempsey Irish & Cherokee)He racked up a record of 15–0 before his first loss, via majority decision to

Larry Donald Larry Ali Donald (born January 6, 1967) is an American former professional boxer. As an amateur boxing, amateur he won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships, 1991 World Championships and ...

. After the loss, Williams reeled off another streak of knockouts, and wound up facing

Henry Akinwande Henry Adetokunboh Akinwande (born 12 October 1965) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2008. He held the WBO heavyweight title from 1996 to 1997, as well as the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 1993, and the Euro ...

for the WBO Heavyweight Title. Williams lost by KO in the 3rd round. Akinwande was much too big for Williams. It would appear, in retrospect, that Williams manager and father, Charlie, pushed Jeremy into the heavyweight division too soon and Akinwande capitalized on the much smaller and outclassed Williams. It is thought that this premature push into the heavyweight division (with Williams taking the fight on short notice) resulted in squashing Williams's dreams for ever claiming a heavyweight title. He then began a new streak of KO victories but in fighting for the lightly regarded IBC heavyweight crown Williams lost by TKO to Denmark's Brian Nielsen. There was some controversy surrounding the fight after Williams suffered from food poisoning after dining with the promoter the night before the bout. Some insiders have said that Williams was purposely poisoned. After another streak of knockouts he again was defeated this time by decision by perennial spoiler

Maurice Harris Wilbur Maurice Harris (born February 21, 1976), nicknamed "Sugar Moe", is the former United States Boxing Association heavyweight champion. A professional competitor since 1992, he holds notable victories over Siarhei Liakhovich, David Izon, Jam ...

. In 2003 he upset heavyweight prospect

Andre Purlette Andre Purlette (born 4 November 1973) is a Guyanese former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2009. Known as "Tombstone", Purlette turned pro in 1992 and won his first 32 bouts, including a victory over Jimmy Thunder. He later lost to v ...

by decision. Williams also competed

Cedric Kushner Cedric Kushner (July 18, 1948 – January 29, 2015) was a South African-born American boxing promoter and manager. In the late 1990s he was one of the most significant promoters in the sport. Boxers he promoted and/or managed included Hasim Rahman, ...

Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament Thunderbox may refer to: *Thunderbox, a slang word for a portable toilet * ''Thunderbox'' (album), by the group Humble Pie * Thunderbox Gold Mine, a disused gold mine in Leinster, Western Australia * Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament, a former bo ...

, "Fistful of Dollars", but lost on a 3-round decision that doesn't count on his record. Williams latest run towards a heavyweight title shot ended when he went up against power punching Sam Peter, who ended Williams' night quickly with a vicious KO in the second round. In 2007 Williams re-entered boxing as a cruiserweight and won his first fight by split decision over Gary Gomez.

Professional boxing record

Television and film career

In 2005, he assisted the

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show The Contender as a trainer for the West Coast Team. In 2006, he again appeared on the show,

Contender Season 2 ''The Contender 2'' is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the (welterweight) competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. Filmed ...

, as a trainer. Williams also starred in the film Carman: The Champion. He is also the bully trainer on the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reality show,

Bully Beatdown ''Bully Beatdown'' is an American reality television series created by Mark Burnett which aired on MTV. In each episode, show host Jason "Mayhem" Miller challenged bullies to fight against a professional mixed martial artist for a chance to win ...

Mixed martial arts career

In 2005, he made his MMA debut at WFC: Rumble At the Ramada, defeating Josh Tamsen via TKO in the first round. He has since gone 5–0 with his latest win coming via way of TKO over Auggie Padeken on March 15, 2008.

Mixed martial arts record

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Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

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Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated 103,949 in 2019. It is the 58th most densely-populated ...

, United States , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jeremy 1972 births American male mixed martial artists Boxers from Iowa Cruiserweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Living people Mixed martial artists from Iowa National Golden Gloves champions Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Sportspeople from Fort Dodge, Iowa American male boxers Goodwill Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games