Demetrice King (born January 21, 1985) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2003 to 2011. He holds a notable win over future world heavyweight champion

Bermane Stiverne Bermane Stiverne (born November 1, 1978) is a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2014 to 2015. Amateur career Stiverne started boxing at the age of 19. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the super ...

Professional career

King made his professional debut on September 20, 2003, defeating Matthew Fendley via first-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. He then had two wins (both by KO) and two losses (both by points decision) before defeating Joe Johnson at the International Convention Center in

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

. Next he lost via points decision to

Zuri Lawrence Zuri Lawrence (born June 22, 1970) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2009. He is most well known for having never scored a knockout win in 44 professional fights. Career Lawrence has never fought for a major heavyweigh ...

at the id-Hudson Civic Center in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...

. After the bout with Lawrence, he defeated Mujaheed Moore (via KO) and Kevin Montiy, suffered a points decision loss to Terry Smith, and knocked out Val Smith at the State Fairgrounds in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

on February 18, 2005. Next, King fought then IBU heavyweight champion and future WBO heavyweight champion

Shannon Briggs Shannon Briggs (born December 4, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1992 and 2016. He held the lineal heavyweight title from 1997 to 1998, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title from 2006 to 2 ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

on March 3, 2005. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Briggs was the first boxer to stop King. After the bout with Briggs, King suffered a number of defeats, at the hands of boxers including

Jason Estrada Jason Moses Estrada (born November 30, 1980) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2015. As an amateur, he competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in the super heavyweight division. He also won the gold medal at the 2003 ...

Chazz Witherspoon Chazz Witherspoon (born September 16, 1981) is an American former professional boxer. The second cousin of former boxing champion Tim Witherspoon, he emerged as a talented boxer in the 2000s. He won the 2004 National Golden Gloves finals in Kansas ...

Derric Rossy Derric Rossy (born July 2, 1980) is an American former professional boxer and a former defensive end at Boston College. He enrolled in the Lynch School of Education with a major in human development. Rossy knocked out Gary Bell in the second ro ...

, and Kevin Johnson, losing via points decision each time. Following his loss to Kevin Johnson, King had a winning streak of five, all by knockout, defeating, among others, future

WBC heavyweight champion This is a list of WBC world champions, showing every world champion certificated by the World Boxing Council (WBC). The WBC is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and certifies world champions in 18 different weight cla ...

in 2007. This winning streak brought his record to 14–15. He next suffered a points decision loss to Michael Grant in

National Guard Armory A National Guard Armory, National Guard Armory Building, or National Guard Readiness Center is any one of numerous buildings of the U.S. National Guard where a unit trains, meets, and parades. A readiness center supports the training, administrat ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and on August 29, 2008, he lost a rematch with

Raymond Olubowale ''Suicide Squad'' is a 2016 American superhero film based on the the supervillain/anti-hero team. It is the third installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was written and directed by David Ayer and stars an ensemble cast includ ...

(whom he had defeated via KO in October of the previous year), also via points decision. He defeated the then undefeated Australian prospect

Bowie Tupou Suliasi Tupou Ahio (born 3 August 1982), better known as Bowie Tupou, is an Australian professional boxer. Tupou has peaked at 13th in the WBO rankings after winning the WBO African title against Hunter Sam in March 2015. Tupou lost the title ...

via KO in the second round in their bout at Agua Caliente Casino in

Rancho Mirage Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is a low-density desert community with resorts, golf courses, and country clubs within the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled along the foothills ...

. By November 2009, King was ranked the 40th heavyweight in the world, and the 18th in the United States. After his win over Tupou, he was set to fight

Fres Oquendo Fres Oquendo (born April 1, 1973) is a Puerto Rican former professional heavyweight boxer. He had a successful amateur record before turning professional in 1997. He unsuccessfully challenged three times for world heavyweight titles. Amateur car ...

for the NABA and vacant USBA heavyweight titles. The 12-round fight took place at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond on February 20, 2010. King failed to answer the bell for the tenth round. His last two fights were against Tor Hamer and

David Tua Mafaufau Tavita Lio Mafaufau Sanerivi Talimatasi (born 21 November 1972), known as David Tua, is a Samoan-New Zealand former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. A highly ranked heavyweight contender for most of his career, Tua w ...

, losing both via points decision. King was knocked out only once in his career, by

in their

bout. He has stated that some of his points decision losses were "very controversial".

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Demetrice 1985 births Living people Heavyweight boxers Boxers from Michigan American male boxers Sportspeople from Jackson, Michigan African-American boxers 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen