Marion Wilson (born October 19, 1956) is an American former heavyweight

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 1989 to 2007. Wilson, despite having faced some of the hardest punchers of his era, has never been stopped in his professional career. As a result, he is considered by many to have one of the best chins in boxing history, and boxing writer James Slater included him on a list of boxing's best "chins" and Livefight.com ranked him as #8 in terms of best heavyweight chins ever. Wilson faced virtually all notable prospects of his time with perfect records, stopping several promising winning streaks as well as taking former heavyweight champion

Ray Mercer Raymond Anthony Mercer (born April 4, 1961) is an American former professional boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist who competed from 1989 to 2009. Best known for his boxing career, Mercer won a heavyweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer O ...

to a draw. In the words of the ABC Sports Network's boxing analyst

Al Bernstein Al Bernstein (born September 15, 1950) is an American sportscaster, writer, stage performer, recording artist, and speaker. Journalism career In the 1970s, Bernstein was a newspaperman, working at Lerner Newspapers in Chicago. He eventually b ...

, Wilson is a veteran fighter, who "has not won many fights, but always gives these youngsters a tough time." He holds wins over

Corey Sanders Corey Sanders (born March 7, 1975) is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer. Known as "T-Rex", Sanders' most notable victory came in an upset knockout against future WBC world champion Oleg Maskaev in 2002, which temporarily ...

, Mike Hunter, and

Paea Wolfgramm Paea Wolfgramm (born December 1, 1969) is a Tongan retired boxer. Nicknamed "The Tongan Warrior", Wolfgramm won the Super Heavyweight silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making him the first athlete from Tonga to win an Olympic medal. P ...

Amateur career

Wilson took up boxing at the age of 27.

Professional career

Nicknamed "The Creep" and "Jackhammer", Wilson turned professional in 1989 and immediately established himself as a tough

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

opponent for the heavyweight elite. Despite a lackluster record, he has faced, and has lost decisions to, fighters including Oliver McCall,

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 ...

Hasim Rahman Hasim Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC t ...

Andrew Golota Andrzej Jan Gołota (; born 5 January 1968), best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title (by all four major sanctioning bodies), and as ...

Shannon Briggs Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion, having held the lineal heavyweight championship from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs is known for h ...

and

Ike Ibeabuchi Ikemefula Charles "Ike" Ibeabuchi (born February 2, 1973) is a Nigerian former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 1999 in the heavyweight division. He defeated the previously undefeated highly ranked contender David Tua in 1997 and anot ...

(the latest caught him on a two-days notice, Ibeabuchi was scheduled to fight

for the Tuesday Night Fights, but Sanders quit a few days prior to the scheduled fight, event promoters in a hurry began to look for a substitute, and Wilson took the chance.) One of his notable victories was against rising, undefeated Thomas Williams, who was Wilson's roommate at the time, and who is best known for being the only fighter to be jailed for fight fixing. Wilson, despite losing 41 fights, was never knocked down, nor received a standing eight count in a bout. Hence, he is considered one of boxing's "best chins". Wilson also defeated boxers such as Mike Hunter,

, and

, while his fight against WBO heavyweight champion

resulted in a draw. Wilson felt he was "robbed" of his victories in fights against Orlin Norris, and

Obed Sullivan Obed Benjamin Sullivan (born January 17, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Fighting Marine", Sullivan was at times a highly ranked heavyweight who fought many significant fighters of his era. Sullivan turned pro in 1 ...

, via the judges' decision (holding

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cases against him, as well a ...

responsible).Ike Ibeabuchi vs Marion Wilson
comments by Earnie Rosenthal and John Saracino.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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history

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Marion 1956 births Living people American male boxers Boxers from South Carolina Sportspeople from Florence, South Carolina Heavyweight boxers