Lamon Tajuan Brewster (born June 5, 1973) 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 1996 to 2010. He held the
WBO heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
title from 2004 to 2006, and is best known for scoring an upset
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
victory over
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 ...
to win the vacant title. He was ranked as the world's No.8 heavyweight by
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profess ...
at the conclusion of 2004.
As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, Brewster won the
U.S. national championships in 1995, and a silver medal at that year's
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
, both in the heavyweight division. Following his retirement from the sport in 2011, he became an entrepreneur and founded a consulting business.
Amateur career
Brewster won the 1995 U.S. national amateur championship as a heavyweight. Additional highlights include:
* 1995 2nd place at the
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
in
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. Results were:
**Defeated Moises Rolon (Puerto Rico) PTS
**Lost to
Félix Savón
Félix Savón Fabre (born 22 September 1967) is a retired Cuban amateur boxer, who competed from 1980 to 2000. Considered one of the all-time greatest amateur boxers, he became three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the World Champion six times ...
(Cuba) RSCH-2
*Brewster failed to qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after he lost to
Nate Jones and
DaVarryl Williamson
DaVarryl Jerome Williamson (born July 25, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. A highly-touted amateur, he challenged once for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2005.
Early and personal life
Williamson was raised in poverty in th ...
in the trials.
Professional career
1996–2003: Prospect to contender
Brewster turned professional in 1996 and was undefeated for his first three years as a pro until losing decisions to
Clifford Etienne
Clifford Etienne (born March 9, 1970) is an American former professional boxer and convicted robber, who is currently serving a 105-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole. Known for his aggressive, high-volume style despite being ...
and
Charles Shufford
Charles Lamont Shufford, Jr. (born February 3, 1973) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for the WBO world heavyweight title in 2001.
Amateur career
Charles Shufford, a nephew of former welterweight contender Horace Shuf ...
in 2000.
2004–2005: WBO heavyweight champion and title defenses
On April 10, 2004, Brewster faced
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 ...
in a fight for the vacant
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...
championship that had been vacated by
Corrie Sanders
Cornelius Johannes "Corrie" Sanders (7 January 1966 – 23 September 2012) was a South African professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2008. He won the WBO heavyweight title in 2003 after knocking out Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds, wh ...
, who had upset Klitschko by knocking him out in the second round of their fight in 2003, when he decided to challenge
Vitali Klitschko
Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of Kyiv[World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...]
title vacated when
Lennox Lewis
Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold ...
retired.
Brewster was dominated in the early going, knocked down once in the fourth round. In the fifth round, Brewster hurt Klitschko with a left hook that forced the Ukrainian fighter to use the ropes to hold himself up, which resulted in a knockdown. As the round ended, Brewster hit Klitschko with a combination of punches that caused him to go down after the bell sounded. Seeing Klitschko struggle to return to his feet, referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight and awarded a technical knockout victory to Brewster. Klitschko claimed foul play resulted in his defeat but an investigation found nothing.
For eleven years, Brewster remained the last boxer to defeat Klitschko in the ring, until
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...
defeated Klitschko in a 2015 heavyweight fight. Brewster remains the second last boxer to knock Klitschko out in a bout, preceding
Anthony Joshua
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...
, who won by TKO on the 11th round defeating Wladimir Klitschko on 30 April 2017.
2006–2007: Brewster vs. Liakhovich and Klitschko II
Brewster lost his WBO title by unanimous decision on April 1, 2006 to
Sergei Liakhovich
Siarhei Piatrovich Liakhovich ( be, Сяргей Пятровіч Ляховіч, Siarhiej Piatrovič Lachovič; russian: Серге́й Петро́вич Ляхо́вич, Sergey Petrovich Lyakhovich; also Siarhiej Piatrovič Liachovič or Siar ...
from Belarus in an action-packed fight. In an interview following the fight, Brewster said that he could not see with his left eye after the first round. It was later confirmed that he had suffered a detached retina in his left eye and he had to undergo surgery.
Lamon Brewster returned to the ring on July 7, 2007, losing his rematch against Wladimir Klitschko after trainer
Buddy McGirt
James Walter "Buddy" McGirt (born January 17, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1997, and has since worked as a boxing trainer. He held world championships in two weight class (boxing), weight classes, inclu ...
stopped the fight after the sixth round. The fight took place in
Köln (Cologne), Germany, 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 ...
& IBO heavyweight title.
2008–2010: Tail end of career
After two tune-up bouts, he was upset by
Gbenga Oloukun
Gbenga Oluokun (born 14 June 1983) is a boxer from Nigeria, who participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native West African country. He has faced former world champions and contenders Manuel Charr, Lamon Brewster, Kubrat Pulev, Rob ...
by an eight-round points decision. The following year he was stopped by rising contender
Robert Helenius
Robert Gabriel Helenius (born 2 January 1984) is a Finnish professional boxer. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the European title twice between 2011 and 2016. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at th ...
.
At one point in his career, Brewster was managed by ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' co-creator, professional poker player and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
,
Sam Simon
Samuel Michael Simon (June 6, 1955 – March 8, 2015) was an American director, producer, writer, animal rights activist and philanthropist, who co-developed the television series ''The Simpsons''.
While at Stanford University, Simon wo ...
,.
Later Brewster left Simon and signed with manager
Al Haymon
Al Haymon (born April 21, 1955) is an American businessman and boxing manager. He was the manager of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and has won the Boxing Writers of America Manager of the Year Award five times.
Early life
Haymon was raised in Cleveland, ...
.
Retirement
On January 9, 2011, Lamon Brewster officially announced his retirement as a professional boxer. Brewster cited an eye injury from his last fight with Helenius as the reason for this retirement. Further, he indicated that he believes that Helenius tampered with his gloves which caused the resulting injury to Brewster. He underwent four unsuccessful surgeries to restore sight in his left eye. Further surgery allowed him to regain vision in the eye.
Personal life
From 1993–97 Brewster was married to actress
Tichina Arnold
Tichina Rolanda Arnold (; born June 28, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in supporting roles in ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986) and '' How I Got into College'' (1989) before being cast a ...
(of ''
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
'' and ''
Everybody Hates Chris
''Everybody Hates Chris'' is an American television semi-autobiographical sitcom that is inspired by the memories of the teenage years of comedian Chris Rock. The show is set from 1982 to 1987, although Rock himself was actually a teenager from ...
'' fame). Brewster remarried his current wife "Juana" Brewster in October 2000, and together they have two daughters and a son. Brewster also has one older daughter from a previous relationship. He is also the cousin of former IBF and WBO heavyweight champion
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 ...
. Brewster has made several television appearances as well as public service announcements through his career.
Entrepreneurship
Brewster founded "Fighting Connection Consulting" in July 2011 providing expertise to professional fighters on training methods, psychology, nutrition, conditioning, team building, and publicity.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewster, Lamon
1973 births
Living people
African-American boxers
Boxers from Indiana
Sportspeople from Indianapolis
Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers
World Boxing Organization champions
Boxers at the 1995 Pan American Games
American male boxers
World heavyweight boxing champions
Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States
Pan American Games medalists in boxing
Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople