Alfred Rudolph Cole (born April 21, 1964), best known as Al Cole, 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 ...

. He won the IBF cruiserweight title and was a major force in the division until moving up to

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

, where he had less success. In 2001, Cole portrayed boxer

Ernie Terrell Ernest Terrell (April 4, 1939 – December 16, 2014) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1957 to 1973. He held the World Boxing Association's heavyweight title from 1965 to 1967, and was one of the tallest heavyweights of his era ...

in the film '' Ali''.

Career

Cole, at 6'4", was a large and dominant cruiserweight boxer. Later in his career, he did not have the size or power to compete at the upper echelon of the heavyweight division when he moved up in weight class. He listed his hometown as

Spring Valley, New York Spring Valley is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the town of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo and Clarkstown, New York, Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is ...

. Cole began his career on a 20-1 tear and captured the cruiserweight title by defeating IBF champ James Warring after only three years as a professional. Cole went on to defend the title five times. His most notable defenses came against Uriah Grant (a fighter who beat

Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Detroit, Motor City Cobra", and more famously "the Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and long arms and shoulders al ...

). Cole defeated Grant twice by unanimous decision. Throughout his career Al Cole has appeared in movies with several big actors such as Robert De Niro, Will Smith, John Voight, Jamie Foxx, Jeffrey Wright & Catherine Zeta-Jones. In one of the movies Al Cole appeared in, ''Ali'', people got knocked out during the audition. Cole was cited -"People really got knocked out auditioning for the movie roles".

Heavyweight

Cole went up to heavyweight without losing his title. In his first heavyweight fight, Cole was nearly swept on all cards by Tim Witherspoon in a unanimous decision loss. A year later, Cole was TKO'd by Michael Grant in the 10th round. Cole then had brief success by drawing over ten rounds with up and coming, undefeated prospect Kirk Johnson. Johnson was to win the rematch via unanimous decision, a loss which began Cole's career downfall. Cole went on to lose to Corrie Sanders and Jameel McCline. Cole's career then had a brief resurgence with a victory over undefeated Vincent Maddalone, a unanimous decision over David Izonritei, and a draw with Jeremy Williams). Cole failed to build on the momentum though, dropping decisions to

Lance Whitaker Lance Whitaker (born May 29, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. As an amateur in the super heavyweight division, he won a bronze medal at the 1995 Pan American Games. Nicknamed "Mount", or more recently "Goofi", Whitaker was known f ...

, former heavyweight champion

Hasim Rahman Hasim Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified World Boxing Council, WBC, International Boxing Federation, ...

, and finally a TKO loss to

Sultan Ibragimov Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (, ; born 8 March 1975) is a Russian former professional boxer. He competed from 2002 to 2008, and held the WBO world heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He was ranked by '' The Ring'' as the world's s ...

. Cole then retired, but returned to defeat heavyweight prospect Joey "Minnesota Ice" Abell on September 5 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. A year later, he was defeated by fringe contender

Timur Ibragimov Timur Ibragimov (Тимур Ибрагимов; born January 15, 1975) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. As an amateur boxer, he competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Early life Ibragimov is from Uzbeki ...

. Cole had scheduled to fight a rematch with Abell in 2010 in Uganda, but that bout fell through. Reflecting on his long career in boxing, Cole noted "I gave people what they wanted to see-an action-packed fight."Up Close and Personal with Former IBF Cruiserweight Champion Alfred “Ice” Cole , Ringside Report
/ref>

Life as a trainer

Cole is now a professional boxing trainer. He is currently training USBA Heavyweight Champion Maurice Harris for Boxing 360.

Professional boxing record

References

External links