Mike Hunter (boxer)

Mike Hunter
Statistics
Real name Mike Hunter
Nickname(s) The Bounty Hunter
Rated at Heavyweight
Nationality American
Born (1959-09-14)September 14, 1959
Died February 8, 2006(2006-02-08) (aged 46)
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 36
Wins 26
Wins by KO 8
Losses 7
Draws 2
No contests 1

Mike Hunter (born September 14, 1959 in Greenville, South Carolina died February 8, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) was an American boxer who won the NABF Heavyweight title.

Professional career

Known as "The Bounty Hunter", Hunter was a colourful and erratic Heavyweight fringe contender during the early-to-mid 1990s, and was known for his unique boxing style, boxing skills, and good defense. Hunter's boxing career began in Maryland, after a seven-year stint in prison for armed robbery. Hunter's skills caught the attention of actor James Caan, who would manage Hunter for three years, before selling his contract to Bill Slayton. Hunter first became ranked by the major sanctioning bodies in 1990, and would defeat many notable boxers like Dwight Qawi, Pinklon Thomas, Tyrell Biggs, Oliver McCall, Jimmy Thunder, and Alexander Zolkin. During this long respectable run of results he lost a highly criticized points decision to fellow contender and future world champion Francois Botha, after dropping Botha in the first round.

Although he was a very talented fighter and had a promising run during the 90s, he largely squandered his talent. By the mid-1990s, drug problems had begun to catch up to Hunter, evident to all after his victory over Buster Mathis, Jr., which was turned to a No-Contest following a positive drug test.

Hunter would lose three fights in the last year and a half of his career, before retiring following a loss to Danish Heavyweight Brian Nielsen for the IBO version of the heavyweight title.

Professional boxing record

26 Wins (8 knockouts, 18 decisions), 7 Losses (1 knockout, 6 decisions), 2 Draws, 1 No Contest
Result Record Opponent Type Round Date Location Notes
Loss 26-7-2 (1) Denmark "Super" Brian Nielsen TKO 5 31/05/1996 Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark IBO World Heavyweight Title.
Win 26-6-2 (1) United States Arthur "Stormy" Weathers PTS 10 03/11/1995 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss 25-6-2 (1) United States Marion "The Creep" Wilson SD 10 06/10/1995 New Jersey Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States 94-96, 94-96, 97-93.
Win 25-5-2 (1) United States Will "Hammer" Hinton PTS 10 06/05/1995 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss 24-5-2 (1) Cuba Aurelio "El Toyo" Perez UD 10 24/03/1995 Brazil Sao Paulo, Brazil 89-97, 89-97, 89-97.
Loss 24-4-2 (1) Russia Alexander Zolkin SD 10 16/12/1994 West Virginia Chester, West Virginia, United States
Win 24-3-2 (1) United States Keith "Sir Jabalot" McMurray SD 10 01/09/1994 New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States 94-95, 99-92, 98-90.
Win 23-3-2 (1) United States Craig Payne PTS 10 19/05/1994 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
NC 22-3-2 (1) United States Buster Mathis, Jr. NC 12 04/12/1993 Texas Corpus Christi, Texas, United States USBA Heavyweight Title. MD for Hunter overturned due to positive drug tests.
Win 22-3-2 United States Cecil Coffee UD 10 06/11/1993 South Africa Sun City, North West, South Africa 98-94, 98-92, 99-91.
Win 21-3-2 Russia Alexander Zolkin SD 12 05/08/1993 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States USBA Heavyweight Title.
Win 20-3-2 United States Tyrell Biggs UD 12 17/01/1993 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States USBA Heavyweight Title. 118-109, 117-110, 117-110.
Loss 19-3-2 South Africa Francois "White Buffalo" Botha MD 8 22/09/1992 Texas El Paso, Texas, United States 77-77, 76-77, 75-76.
Win 19-2-2 United States David Jaco TKO 3 14/02/1992 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win 18-2-2 Puerto Rico Ossie "Jaws" Ocasio UD 10 14/12/1990 Australia Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 97-93, 99-93, 99-93.
Win 17-2-2 Uruguay Jose Maria Flores Burlon TKO 1 31/10/1990 Australia Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Referee stopped the bout at 2:57 of the first round.
Win 16-2-2 Samoa Jimmy Thunder KO 4 14/08/1990 Australia Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Win 15-2-2 United States Pinklon Thomas UD 10 12/06/1990 North Carolina Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States 99-91, 100-90, 99-91.
Win 14-2-2 United States "The Camden Buzzsaw" Dwight Muhammad Qawi UD 12 16/03/1990 New Jersey Newark, New Jersey, United States WBC Continental Americas Cruiserweight Title. 117-111, 119-109, 116-112.
Win 13-2-2 United States Donald Coats KO 3 31/01/1989 California Irvine, California, United States
Win 12-2-2 Canada Wade Parsons UD 8 06/12/1988 Canada Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win 11-2-2 United States Dino Homsey KO 4 26/07/1988 California Reseda, California, United States
Win 10-2-2 United States Oliver "Atomic Bull" McCall UD 10 22/01/1988 New Jersey Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Loss 9-2-2 United States Andre "The Giant" Smith UD 8 05/11/1987 California Reseda, California, United States
Win 9-1-2 United States Rodney Stockton TKO 1 29/09/1987 California Reseda, California, United States
Win 8-1-2 United States Gary Lightbourne KO 1 25/08/1987 California Reseda, California, United States Gary knocked out at 2:12 of the first round.
Loss 7-1-2 United States Levi "Terminator" Billups SD 8 18/05/1987 California Inglewood, California, United States 76-77, 75-78, 78-75.
Win 7-0-2 United States Mike Gans UD 8 28/04/1987 California Reseda, California, United States
Draw 6-0-2 United States James Pritchard PTS 6 20/02/1987 New Jersey Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win 6-0-1 United States Kelvin Beatty UD 6 02/01/1987 New Jersey Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win 5-0-1 United States Ken Crosby TKO 5 02/10/1986 New Jersey Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Draw 4-0-1 United States Woody Clark PTS 6 23/08/1986 North Carolina Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States
Win 4-0 United States Avery Rawls UD 8 11/04/1986 Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win 3-0 United States Dominic Parker UD 6 02/03/1986 Pennsylvania Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
Win 2-0 United States Donald "Duck" Vance PTS 4 18/01/1986 Virginia Staunton, Virginia, United States
Win 1-0 United States Warren "Chico" Thompson SD 4 14/12/1985 Maryland Largo, Maryland, United States

Life after boxing

Hunter returned to the sport in September 2005, working as an instructor and trainer at the Tru Boxing Gym in Hollywood.

Death

On February 8, 2006, Hunter was on the roof of the St. Moritz Hotel in Los Angeles, when he encountered two Los Angeles police officers, who had set up a buy/bust sting operation surveillance. The officers reported that Hunter, who was unprovoked, hit an officer on the head with a gun. The other officer tackled Hunter, with the previous officer eventually joining in the struggle. Hunter broke free, and pointed his gun at the officers, who promptly shot him twice, in the chest and the arm. Hunter was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where he died. The two officers involved stated that they did not feel that Hunter was aware that they were police officers. The officers announced several times during the struggle that they were officers. Hunter however had a serious base cocaine (crack) addiction problem.

Personal

His son Michael Hunter, Jr. became US amateur champ in 2007.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.