Darnell Wilson | |
---|---|
Born | Darnell Wilson September 22, 1974 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Other names | The Ding-A-Ling Man |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | Heavyweight Cruiserweight |
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
Reach | 75 in (191 cm) |
Stance | Orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 49 |
Wins | 25 |
Wins by KO | 21 |
Losses | 21 |
Draws | 3 |
Medal record |
Darnell Wilson (born September 22, 1974) is an American boxer. He challenged once for the WBA World Cruiserweight title in 2008. He is perhaps best remembered for his brutal left-hook knockouts of Emmanuel Nwodo and David Rodriguez.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, He graduated from Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Many people confused Darnell Wilson with the outstanding amateur Darnell Wilson who won the United States Amateur Light Middleweight Championship three years in a row (1997–99). [1]
Known as "Ding-A-Ling Man", Wilson turned pro in 2000 as a light heavyweight. He showed a world-class punch and a good chin but couldn't outbox his opponents. His best results were draws with George Jones (record 19–2) and James Lubwama (record 18–1).
In 2005 he moved up to cruiserweight. There he was outpointed by prospects/fringe contenders Vadim Tokarev (17–0), Felix Cora Jr. (17–0–2), and veteran Andre Purlette (record 38–2) and also lost to heavyweight Owen Beck.
In late 2006 he at least managed to KO another former light heavyweight in southpaw Daniel Judah (21–1–3), but at age 32 seemed to be going nowhere. He says of this time: "I was diagnosed. My adrenal glands were being worn down. I would go flat after a few rounds of sparring because of a bad effect from energy drinks." [2]
His career direction changed dramatically in 2007 when he scored a sensational KO2 over Canadian contender Dale Brown in Edmonton. He quickly added another upset KO3 over Kelvin Davis who had put him on the deck before in the second round. At this point, Wilson was rated in the Top 10 by The Ring Magazine.
Wilson knocked out hard-punching Emmanuel Nwodo on June 29, 2007. ESPN announcer Teddy Atlas proclaimed it the most devastating knockout ever on ESPN's Friday Night Fights series. It was later named the ESPN.com Knockout of the Year. [3]
He finally got a shot at the WBA cruiserweight title on May 3, 2008, but lost a unanimous decision to Firat Arslan. [4]
Wilson lost his first fight of Season 4 of The Contender to Ehinomen Ehikhamenor.
Darnell Wilson owns and operates a digital infrastructure firm as a technology systems engineer. [2]
Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the three belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Michael Lee Moorer is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 to 1991; compiling 22 straight KOs in 22 fights and the WBO heavyweight title from 1992 to 1993; the unified WBA, IBF and lineal heavyweight titles in 1994; and regained the IBF heavyweight title again from 1996 to 1997 becoming a three-time heavyweight world champion.
Virgil Eugene Hill is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF and lineal light heavyweight titles from 1996 to 1997; and the WBA cruiserweight title twice, from 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2007. As an amateur, Hill won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 2013, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Antonio Deon Tarver is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IBF and Ring magazine titles, as well as the IBO light heavyweight and cruiserweight titles.
James "Bonecrusher" Smith is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1986 to 1987.
Jean-Marc Gilbert Mormeck is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He is a two-time unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA, WBC and The Ring world titles twice between 2005 and 2007. He was the first boxer to hold unified cruiserweight title since Evander Holyfield in 1988, and the first fighter to hold The Ring cruiserweight title since Carlos De León in 1987. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's top 10 cruiserweight from 2001 to 2005 and in 2007, and was ranked No.1 in 2003 and 2004. Mormeck also challenged for the unified world heavyweight title in 2012.
Bruce Samuel Seldon is an American former professional boxer and current boxing trainer, who competed from 1988 to 1996, and 2004 to 2009. He held the WBA heavyweight title from 1995 to 1996, most notably losing to Mike Tyson via knockout in his second defense.
Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF and The Ring magazine cruiserweight titles from 2008 to 2009. He also held the IBO cruiserweight title in 2007, and challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011. BoxRec ranks Adamek as the third greatest Polish boxer of all time, pound for pound. He is the first Polish boxer to win The Ring title.
Jeremy Williams is an American former professional boxer and mixed martial artist. He challenged once for the WBO heavyweight title in 1996.
Adolpho Washington is a retired professional boxer. He held the IBF cruiserweight title from 1996 until 1997, and challenged twice for WBA world titles at cruiserweight and light heavyweight.
Travis Walker is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won the 2003 National Golden Gloves.
Michael Marrone is an American professional boxer. He challenged for the WBA cruiserweight title in 2011.
Firat Arslan is a German professional boxer of Turkish descent who held the WBA cruiserweight title from 2007 to 2008. He also challenged twice for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2012 and 2014 and once for the IBF cruiserweight title in 2014
Danny Santiago is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2016. He challenged three times for a light heavyweight world title: the WBO title in January 2007, the IBO title in December 2007, and the WBA/IBA titles in 2011.
Beibut Amirhanovich Shumenov is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer. He is a multiple-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA (Regular) cruiserweight title twice between 2016 and 2021 and the WBA light-heavyweight title from 2010 to 2014.
Steve Hérélius is a French former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2013 and held the WBA interim cruiserweight title from 2010 to 2011.
Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol is a Russian professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title since 2017 and the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title since December 2023. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. As of January 2024, Bivol is ranked as the world's sixth best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, fourth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), sixth by The Ring, seventh by the Boxing Writers Association of America and fourth by ESPN. He is also ranked as the second-ranked best light heavyweight by The Ring, ESPN, and TBRB, and first-ranked by BoxRec.
Kevin Lerena is a South African professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim bridgerweight title since 2023. Previously, he held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2021 and challenged for the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title in 2022. As of September 2021, he is ranked as the world's fifth best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine, fourth by Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and eight by BoxRec.
Junior Anthony Wright Jr. is an American professional boxer who challenged for the WBA cruiserweight title in 2016. As an amateur, he was a three-time Chicago Golden Gloves champion and also fought in the National Golden Gloves tournament.