Newspaper Page Text
State champ looking for a sponsor
One of the toughest
sports around is boxing.
He sport has promised
and given a lot of success
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NEWS
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to a lot of Black young
men who had the skills,
the know-how, and the
.good breaks: it has also
been an early grave for a
lot of young men. While
thousands enter the sport
of boxing, only a few
make it big.
Augusta presently has
several boxers trying to
do just that! One such
Box
Score BfjL
by George Bailey fl
boxer is Bernard John
son, a 165-16 middle
weight who presently is
the State Champion with
a 23-0 record.
Johnson started boxing
about 10 years ago while
serving in the job corps.
During that time Johnson
also had some problems
with the law, enough to
send him to prison for an
eight-year stint. While in
prison Johnson met two
professional boxers who
saw he had the talent;
they taught Bernard
everything they knew.
Johnson had a total of
more than 40 fights while
in prison and remained
undefeated.
After prison, Johnson
was looking to turn
professional, but Tommy
Morales, a long-time
trainer of boxers in this
area, persuaded him to
fight amateur for a while
before going
professional.
W ) w:
B db
Bernard Johnson
The Augusta News-Review November 26,1983
Johnson has won the
state crown in the mid
dleweight division and at
tended the Nationals in
Colorado Springs, Colo.
He finished in the top
four, even though he
broke a bone in his hand,
and was invited to the
Olympic trials.
Johnson is presently
looking for a sponsor. He
is confident and feels his
chances are good at
making it successful.
Johnson credits his suc
cess in the sport to his
mother and gran
dmother. He says, and I
quote, “They both stuck
by me through the hard
times.”
This guy is a good
boxer, and don’t be sur
prised if this summer you
see Bernard Johnson
dancing around the ring
at Los Angeles with an
American flag in his hand
and gold medal around
his neck.
Holmes, Frazier
to tangle Fridayl
Larry Holmes, the un
defeated (44-0, 31 KOs)
WBC Heavyweight
Champion puts his title
on the line against un
beaten 23 year-old Marvis
Fraizer in a 12-round
fight Friday evening at
Caesar’s Palace in Las
Vegas. The fight will be
broadcast live by NBC
Television, but blacked
out in Las Vegas.
The bout is recognized
as a title fray by the In
ternational Boxing
Writers Association and
by Ring Magazine. The
promoters, Murad
Muhammad and Bob
Andreoli have not
received word from the
WBC about that
organization’s sanction.
Holmes captured the
title on June 9, 1978,
winning a 15 round
decision against Ken Nor
ton. He has defended his
crown as unprecidented
sixteen times and this
year defeating Lucien
Rodriquez and Tim
Witherspoon in 12 round
decisions and polished
off Scott Frank in five
rounds on Sept. 10.
Holmes has had wins
against Mike Weaver
(KO) and Earnie Shavers
(KO 11) in 1979. Among
his victims in 1980 was
Muhammad Ali (KO 11).
In 1981 he disposed of
Leon Spinks (KO 2) and
got off the deck to knock
out Renaldo Snipes in the
11. Last year Gerry
Cooney became a
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Page 6
celebrated victim. 1
Frazier has had a spec I
tacular amateur caree. 1
(51-1), and had two win ’
over James Broad an<
Joe Bugner, respectively,
earlier this year which
earned him a chance to
meet the WBC Cham
pion.
He expects to come in
at 200 pounds and may
give away as much as 15
to 20 pounds. “I’ve been
fighting bigger guys all
my life, and you know
that famous line, the
bigger they are the harder
they fall,” said the son of
former heavyweight
champion Joe Frazier.
Frazier suffered the
only loss of his career,
amateur or professional
in the semi-final of the
1980 United States
Olympic Trials to the
Armed Forces Champion
James Broad. He
avenged that defeat
earlier this year in stun
ning fashion.
He had an operation in
1980 for a pinched nerve
in his neck. “If I got hit
on top of my head it
paralyzed my whole
body. Now everything is
fine,” said the
Philadelphia native.
Frazier feels inex
perience will not be a fac
tor against Holmes. “I’ve
fought against guys like
Tim Witherspoon, Jim
my Young and Mike
Dokes in the gym. I think
I have as much experience
as Holmes,” he said.