Tarick Salmaci (born February 28, 1972) is a

Lebanese-American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

former professional boxer and

North American Boxing Organization The North American Boxing Organization (NABO) is one of several regulators of boxing that works in North America. The NABO is one of the regional bodies that is part of the World Boxing Organization. Current champions See also *List of NABO ch ...

(NABO) middleweight champion. He was one of 16 boxers chosen worldwide to participate on season 1 of NBC's

reality television 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 ...

series '' The Contender''.

Boxing

Amateur career

Salmaci began his boxing career at the age of 8 at

Kronk Gym Kronk Gym is a boxing gym located in Detroit, once led by trainer Emanuel Steward. It was run out of the basement of the oldest recreation center of the City of Detroit, and became a household word in the sport of boxing and its gold shorts a magn ...

in Detroit. He compiled an amateur record of 136-12, and earned a spot in the Olympic Trials where he fought his way to the finals, just missing the U.S. Olympic team.

Professional career

Salmaci turned professional after the Olympic Trials and signed with manager

Jackie Kallen Jackie Kallen (born Jackie Kaplan, April 23, 1946) is one of boxing's first and most successful female managers. Her life was the inspiration for the 2004 film ''Against the Ropes'', starring Meg Ryan as Kallen, in which she had a brief speaking ro ...

. Salmaci won the

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title on March 11, 1997 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. He then signed to fight

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine ...

for the WBO super middleweight championship but pulled out of the fight after a dispute with his management. Salmaci won his first eighteen professional bouts and finished his career in May 2005 with an overall record of nineteen wins and three losses.

Acting

In the first season of NBC's reality show '' The Contender'', Salmaci was one of 16 fighters chosen worldwide to participate on the show, Although Salmaci lost in the first round of the show's tournament, he was voted back as a "fan favorite" to fight once more.

Personal life

Salmaci has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He also invests in real estate development. He is married and has one daughter.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salmaci, Tarick 1972 births Living people American people of Lebanese descent The Contender (TV series) participants Boxers from Michigan Sportspeople from Dearborn, Michigan American male boxers University of Michigan alumni Middleweight boxers Sportspeople of Lebanese descent