Tag Archives: virgil

Posted on 10/02/2017

By: Ken Hissner

When one thinks of Native American boxers you have former world champions in Virgil “Quicksilver” Hill, 51-7 (24), the former WBA light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion from Williston, ND, and IBF and WBC world cruiserweight champion Marvin Camel, 45-13-4 (21), of Missoula, MT. Besides these two are the Lopez brothers who were part Ute Indian. Danny “Little Red” Lopez, 42-6 (39), was the WBC world featherweight champion who was inducted into the IBHOF in 2010. His brother was Ernie “Indian Red” Lopez who was 49-12-1 (25) and a world welterweight title challenger.

Others include WBA heavyweight title challenger Joe “The Boss” Hipp, 43-7 (19), of Yakima, WA, who held the WBF title but lost to Bruce Seldon in challenging for the WBA title. He was inducted into the American-Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012. George “Comanche Boy” Tahdooahnippah, 34-3-3 (24), of Lawton, OK, a one-time middleweight contender boxed from 2004 to 2016. He also was a college wrestler at DE State going there on a full scholarship.

Active today we find World WBA lightweight champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, 34-3-1 (25), now at of Oxnard, CA, and heavyweight John Wesley Nofire, 20-1 (16) from the Cherokee Nation in OK now out of Miami, FL, along with female boxer Sonja Fox, 7-0 (2), of McLaughlin, SD. Little known Emerson Chasing Bear, 5-4-2 (3), of Rapid City, SD, was more known for his amateur career then spending five years in the professional ranks from 2007 to 2012. Shawn “The Sioux Warrior” Hawk, 23-3-1 (17), retired in 2012 after challenging for the WBO light heavyweight title losing to Nathan Cleverly.

Hill is probably the best known. He won a Silver Medal at the 1984 Olympics. He boxed professional from 1984 to 2008. He was inducted in 2013 to the IBHOF. His son Virgil Jr., was 5-0 in a brief career. Camel, 45-13-4 (21), was WBC World and IBF World Cruiserweight champion.

We can go all the way back to Luther McCarty, 15-1 (15), of who held the White heavyweight Championship fighting from 1911 to 1913 when he died after suffering this loss. His father was half-Native American.

Posted on 08/22/2016

Demetrius Andrade Will Rise
By: Brandon Bernica

The first time I glanced at Demetrius Andrade doing work in a boxing ring, I was floored. Right before he was scheduled to fight Vanes Martirosyan for the WBO junior middleweight crown, I decided to scout out this former Olympian. Immediately, his form grabs your attention. Somehow his pristine punches freeze his opponents just out of range. If said opponents try to overextend into his space, he slides to the sides, knowing full well how badly they’re going to whiff before they even punch. His real genius, however, is in his return, in how he seems to choose the right punch at the right time to optimize every exchange for his benefit.

If you think I’m mistaken, I wouldn’t blame you. Andrade is a promoter’s dream – a true talent with proven skills and unbridled confidence. His resume isn’t sparse, either, consisting of wins against well-known contenders like Martirosyan and Willie Nelson. But before you take your money to Bank Andrade and deposit every cent of stock you own, listen. Because Andrade’s story feels incomplete, and it has nothing to do with his performance inside the ropes.

The truth is, Andrade struggles to find an enclave in boxing’s revolving carousel of niches. Not to his own fault, he fights with gusto and barks for any top-dog to go against him. As you start peeling the layers back from Andrade’s career, you notice that the only figures lacking confidence in his abilities are the team around him. Promotionally, Andrade’s never been pushed as an attraction, and it shows in the gun-shy nature of Banner Promotion’s matchmaking for him. Fans have had nothing to get excited about – no big fights, no buzz, no engendering to the public. When he signed a deal to appear exclusively on the Showtime networks, many believed that would be the beginning of an Andrade run at stardom. Instead, Showtime has been reluctant to showcase him, despite little rationale behind that decision. Training-wise, he’s outlasted multiple changes at the helm. While anyone would call it foolish to believe that men like his father and the great Virgil Hunter couldn’t see the prospects in his future, clearly the issue of consistency behind his career lingers.

If anything, Andrade should have the fans in his back pocket, right? Wrong. Fans just haven’t developed any large swell of support for Andrade despite his credentials. One theory behind this disappointing turn out (or turn-away) might be the color of Andrade’s skin. Boxing fans quickly identify black fighters as slick boxer-punchers, lazy bylines moving uninspired, predetermined narratives. And the thing is, Andrade is slick and is a boxer-puncher. But he’s so much more than that. He loves to mix it up. He uses the ring as his playground, bobbing and weaving and punching from every angle the sun shines on. Yet much of this is missed when you box him into stereotypes, limiting perspective to what you expect to see over what you actually see.

If Demetrius Andrade’s story seems unfair, consider this: the man’s thrived under the radar. He grew up in the sliver of the nation in Rhode Island, away from the burning lights of fame. In 2008, his Olympic experience was overshadowed by the likes of Raushee Warren, Gary Russell Jr., and Deontay Wilder. Even against Martirosyan, it was Vanes, not Andrade, who was expected to blossom at the professional level. His ship has tossed and turned amongst the waves already. Fortunately, he’s a pro at righting the ship, thriving in the undertow of boxing. One day, everything will fall in place, or, just maybe, it won’t. To spin an old adage – don’t blame the player, blame the game.