Tyrell Biggs

Tyrell Biggs (born December 22, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1998, and challenged once for the undisputed heavyweight title in 1987. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, having previously won bronze at the 1983 Pan American Games and gold at the 1982 World Championships, all in the super heavyweight division.

Early life

Biggs was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, making his sporting debut playing basketball at West Philadelphia High. He was a starting forward for the Speedboys' Public League and City champions in 1978, a team that extended a state-record winning streak to 68 before a regular season loss to Overbrook. In '77, one of Biggs' teammates was Gene Banks, who went on to excel at Duke and play in the NBA. After his initial boxing successes, he changed his name to "Tyrell".<ref>USA vs. The World match-up, YouTube.com. Accessed November 8, 2022.</ref>

Amateur career

Template:BLP unsourced section Biggs' first major success as an amateur boxer was winning the gold medal at the 1981 United States National Boxing Championships in the super-heavyweight division. He repeated this feat the next year, and also in 1982 he won the World Championships in Munich, West Germany, where in the final he defeated Francesco Damiani from Italy on points, who beat the legendary Cuban veteran Teofilo Stevenson earlier in the competition. In 1983, Biggs won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games, losing to future professional challenger Jorge Luis Gonzalez in the semi-final. In addition, Biggs won a 3–2 split decision over Cuban Angel Milian, who had beaten Greg Page five years earlier.

In 1984, Biggs won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, defeating future Olympic gold medallist and professional world champion Lennox Lewis in the quarter-finals. In the gold medal bout, Biggs beat Damiani on points again.

Biggs finished his amateur career with an outstanding record of 108–6–4.

Professional career

He turned professional soon after his Olympic victory, scoring a 6-round unanimous decision over Mike Evans on November 15, 1984 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in his first bout. Besides Mike Tyson, Lewis and Damiani he went on to face such other boxing luminaries as James "Quick" Tillis, Ossie Ocasio, Riddick Bowe, Tony Tubbs, Buster Mathis, Jr., and Larry Donald before ending his career with a second-round knockout of Carlton Davis in 1998. He did not win a title, but stalked the rankings of contendership for much of the mid- to late 1980s.Template:Citation needed

Biggs vs. Tyson

Template:Main article Biggs' biggest professional fight was against Tyson, for the latter's undisputed heavyweight title. Biggs and Tyson disliked each other, and Biggs derided Tyson before the fight. Biggs attempted to outbox Tyson, using his jab and movement. But Tyson kept coming in and landing big punches, wearing him down until the fight was stopped in the seventh. Tyson admitted after the fight to "carrying" Biggs so as to inflict more damage, in retaliation for Biggs' pre-match comments.<ref>Olympic Heavyweights – A History – Part Three, maxboxing.com. Accessed November 8, 2022.</ref>

File:Mike tyson knocks out tyrell biggs.jpg

Tyson knocks out Biggs in the 7th-round, 1987.

Unfortunately the talented Biggs' life has been a constant fight against drug and alcohol addiction. He had to enter rehabilitation only a few months after turning professional, and some declare that his career at the time of the Tyson fight was already effectively over. Biggs' robe was sometimes emblazoned with, "Realize your potential", a drug rehabilitation mantra. An article published when he was 40 years old characterized him as "still fighting between stints in rehabilitation."<ref>BOXER'S ORDEAL: JEERS, DRUGS, nytimes.com. Accessed November 8, 2022.</ref><ref>Golden amateurs who never made talent pay, nytimes.com. Accessed November 8, 2022.</ref>

Outside the ring

Biggs competed in the American Gladiators season 5 Gold Medal Challenge of Champions in 1993, losing to 1984 Gold Downhill Skiing medalist Bill Johnson. A feature documentary about Tyrell Biggs' life is currently in production.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
40	Template:Yes2Win	30–10	Template:Flagicon Carlton Davis	KO	2	Aug 27, 1998	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
39	Template:No2Loss	29–10	Template:Flagicon Larry Donald	KO	2 (10), Template:Small	Sep 11, 1997	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	29–9	Template:Flagicon Alonzo Hollis	Template:Abbr	6	Feb 19, 1997	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	28–9	Template:Flagicon Andre Crowder	TKO	1	Jan 11, 1997	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
36	Template:No2Loss	27–9	Template:Flagicon Ray Anis	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	Apr 4, 1994	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
35	Template:No2Loss	27–8	Template:Flagicon Buster Mathis Jr.	UD	12	Feb 5, 1994	Template:Flagicon Template:Small	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	27–7	Template:Flagicon Evgeny Sudakov	Template:Abbr	3	Dec 3, 1993	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	26–7	Template:Flagicon Shane Sutcliffe	TKO	2 (3), Template:Small	Dec 3, 1993	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
32	Template:No2Loss	25–7	Template:Flagicon Tony Tubbs	UD	3	Dec 3, 1993	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
31	Template:No2Loss	25–6	Template:Flagicon Mike Hunter	UD	12	Jan 17, 1993	Template:Flagicon Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	25–5	Template:Flagicon Marion Wilson	UD	10	Dec 8, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	24–5	Template:Flagicon John Jones	KO	2	Nov 19, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	23–5	Template:Flagicon Roy Jobe	KO	1	Jul 18, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	22–5	Template:Flagicon Mike Faulkner	TKO	2	May 29, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	21–5	Template:Flagicon Charles Woolard	TKO	1 (8), Template:Small	May 7, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	20–5	Template:Flagicon Alan Jamison	KO	1	Apr 18, 1992	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
24	Template:No2Loss	19–5	Template:Flagicon Lennox Lewis	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	Nov 23, 1991	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
23	Template:No2Loss	19–4	Template:Flagicon Riddick Bowe	TKO	8 (10), Template:Small	Mar 2, 1991	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	19–3	Template:Flagicon Rodolfo Marin	UD	10	Dec 8, 1990	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	18–3	Template:Flagicon Rick Kellar	TKO	2	Apr 5, 1990	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	17–3	Template:Flagicon Ossie Ocasio	UD	10	Jan 11, 1990	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	16–3	Template:Flagicon Bobby Crabtree	TKO	5 (10)	Nov 29, 1989	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
18	Template:No2Loss	15–3	Template:Flagicon Gary Mason	KO	7 (10), Template:Small	Oct 4, 1989	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
17	Template:No2Loss	15–2	Template:Flagicon Francesco Damiani	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	Oct 29, 1988	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
16	Template:No2Loss	15–1	Template:Flagicon Mike Tyson	TKO	7 (15), Template:Small	Oct 16, 1987	Template:Flagicon Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	15–0	Template:Flagicon Lorenzo Boyd	TKO	3, Template:Small	Jul 31, 1987	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	14–0	Template:Flagicon David Bey	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	Mar 7, 1987	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	13–0	Template:Flagicon Renaldo Snipes	UD	10	Dec 12, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Template:Flagicon Robert Evans	KO	5 (10), Template:Small	Oct 29, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Template:Flagicon Percell Davis	UD	10	Sep 14, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Template:Flagicon Rodney Smith	RTD	7 (8)	Aug 14, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Template:Flagicon Jeff Sims	UD	10	Mar 23, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Template:Flagicon James Tillis	UD	8	Jan 25, 1986	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Template:Flagicon Tony Anthony	Template:Abbr	1, Template:Small	Dec 21, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Template:Flagicon Danny Sutton	TKO	7 (8)	Nov 19, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Template:Flagicon Sterling Benjamin	TKO	7	Aug 29, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Template:Flagicon Eddie Richardson	TKO	3 (6), Template:Small	Jul 13, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Template:Flagicon Grady Daniels	Template:Abbr	2 (6)	May 17, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Template:Flagicon Mike Perkins	Template:Abbr	1 (6), Template:Small	Apr 20, 1985	Template:Flagicon Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Template:Flagicon Mike Ronay Evans	Template:Abbr	6	Nov 15, 1984	Template:Flagicon Template:Small

External links

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