Derrick Lavon Jefferson (born March 10, 1968) 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 challenged once for the WBO title in 2001, and is perhaps best remembered for his brutal left hook-knockout of Maurice Harris in 1999.

Early life

Jefferson grew up in

Detroit, Michigan 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 ...

, having attended Martin Luther King High School. In high school, Jefferson played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and was a Division I basketball player during his college years. Jefferson dropped from college after being shot in the leg during an argument at a party store in November 1993, ending his basketball career. His brother Kenyatta, a football player, was shot in the head and ended up partially paralyzed.

Amateur career

Jefferson took up boxing in 1994, after a coach of the local boxing gym, Claude Strickland, spotted him shooting hoops at YMCA. That same year, Jefferson won the National Golden Gloves super heavyweight championship, defeating Michael Grant on points (and handling Grant his only amateur loss) in semifinals, and DaVarryl Williamson by TKO in the final. Overall, Jefferson spent 1.5 years at amateur level, before turning professional in 1995.

Professional career

Jefferson made his professional boxing debut on 19 June 1995 against Ismail Muhammad, knocking him out in the first round. Within three years Jefferson had won 16 fights, winning all but two of them by

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, ...

inside three rounds. Jefferson, at 6'6" and generally weighing 240 pounds, quickly rose to prominence by combining explosive power with furious combinations. In 1998, he faced his first formidable opponent Marion Wilson. With 11–27–3 record, Wilson was known for his durability and toughness, having never lost inside the distance and occasionally pulling upsets, such as wins over Corey Sanders and Paea Wolfgramm or split draw against Ray Mercer. Jefferson won the fight by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the bout 79–73 and one judge having a score 77–75. Having been described as a brawler and a fan friendly attraction, Jefferson became a frequently featured fighter on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. Jefferson then stepped up in competition, knocking out former world heavyweight title challenger Bert Cooper in the second round. Within two months, Jefferson faced once-highly regarded prospect

Obed Sullivan Obed Benjamin Sullivan (born January 17, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Fighting Marine", Sullivan was at times a highly ranked heavyweight who fought many significant fighters of his era. Sullivan turned pro in 1 ...

. This was the first twelve-round fight in Jefferson's professional career. He won the fight by split decision, with the scorecards being 117–112, 117–113 in favor of Jefferson and 115–114 in favor of Sullivan. Six months later, Jefferson was scheduled to face Maurice Harris. Despite having 16–9–2 record, Harris was considered a formidable fighter, with Jim Lampley describing him as "the best 16–9 fighter out there". Harris' record included wins over then-undefeated David Izon and popular gatekeeper Jimmy Thunder and a

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split de ...

loss against faded

Larry Holmes Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He is often considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. ...

. Coming into the bout, Harris was on a seven-fight winning streak, which included a wide UD win over Jeremy Williams. The fight took place at the Convention Hall in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, in the undercard of the fight between Oleg Maskaev and Hasim Rahman. The first round started with both fighters standing toe-to-toe and landing hard shots. In the second round, Jefferson dropped Harris twice. A few seconds after the second knockdown, Harris turned the tide, dropping Jefferson with a right hand. The round ended with fighters landing hard shots at each other. For the majority of the third round, Harris appeared to be more active, attacking Jefferson's body. At the end of the round, Jefferson landed an uppercut that knocked Harris' mouthpiece off. After relatively less action-packed fourth and fifth rounds, Jefferson dropped Harris again in the sixth with a series of body shots. Near the end of the round, Jefferson countered a left hand with the left hook of his own, knocking Harris unconscious. The fight was widely praised for being a slugfest. HBO commentator Larry Merchant called the second round "the best in heavyweight boxing since Bowe vs. Holyfield". The KO was voted by '' The Ring'' as "

Knockout of the Year '' The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922 and has named a Knockout of the Year since 1989, based on the magazine's writers' criteria. Knockouts of the Year by decade 1980s * 1989: Michael Nunn ''KO 1'' Sumbu Kalambay see Michael Nunn v ...

". At the conclusion of 1999, Jefferson was ranked No.9 in heavyweight rankings by ''The Ring''. This win lined up a shot against David Izon. Throughout the fight, Jefferson was soundly outboxing Izon, confidently winning rounds. By the seventh round, HBO commentators suggested the fight to be stopped due to Izon absorbing too much punishment. In the eighth round, however, Jefferson appeared to have punched himself out. With 42 seconds left, Izon dropped Jefferson with a right hook. It appeared as if Jefferson have fallen down mostly due to exhaustion rather than Izon's punch. Izon continued throwing unanswered shots on tired Jefferson, prompting the referee to stop the fight. At the time of the stoppade, Jefferson was unanimously winning on scorecards (78–72, 78–73 and 78–74). Four months later, Jefferson was scheduled to fight highly ranked contender Oleg Maskaev. In the first round, Maskaev dropped Jefferson with the right hand. During the fall, Jefferson broke his ankle and was limping for the rest of the fight, struggling to put weight on his left leg. Jefferson was dropped again in the second. He managed to hurt Maskaev with an overhand right in the third, but was unable to capitalize on it as he could not put weight behind most of his shots. Maskaev continued his assault on injured Jefferson, prompting the referee to stop the fight in the fourth round. After a quick knockout of an unknown journeyman Marcus Johnson, Jefferson, with 4–2 record in the last six fights, was given a shot at the WBO world heavyweight title against

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

. For the bout, Jefferson weighed in at 260.25 lbs, the heaviest in his professional career and 20 pounds heavier than in his previous bout. The additional weight appeared to be muscle. The fight lasted only two rounds. In the first round, Klitschko knocked Jefferson down with a short left hook. After the first round Jefferson's left eye was swollen. Jefferson was knocked down twice more in round two, once with a straight right hand and again with another left hook, with the fight being stopped after the last knockdown, declaring Klitschko the winner by TKO in the second round. Jefferson earned $400,000 for the fight. After defeating former WBC world heavyweight title challenger

Phil Jackson Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jackson is a 13-time NBA champion, having won two as a player and 11 as ...

(43–10 with 38 KOs coming into the bout) and Sedreck Fields, Jefferson was allowed to participate in Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament on November 30, 2002, promoted by Cedric Kushner. The tournament consisted of eight participants, which included two-time world heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon, former and future world heavyweight title challengers Tony Thompson, Ray Austin and Jeremy Williams, experienced journeyman Maurice Harris, who had entered the tournament after knocking out future world champion Siarhei Liakhovich, and undefeated, hard-hitting Gerald Nobles. Each boxer, including Jefferson, was guaranteed $5,000 and the purse for the tournament winner was $100,000. All bouts took place at Trump Taj Mahal in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

and were scheduled for three rounds. The bouts were aired in the UK on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. In the first round, Jefferson defeated Ray Austin by second-round stoppage, but was beaten by Tony Thompson on points in semifinals. Jefferson was scheduled to face Chris Byrd on April 17, 2004, at

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 ...

for the IBF world heavyweight championship, however he was forced to pull out of the fight due to a cut suffered in training. Jefferson made one last world heavyweight title run, facing DaVarryl Williamson in an IBF eliminator. Williamson made quick work of Jefferson, winning by TKO in the 2nd, effectively ending Jefferson's career.

Professional boxing record

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Derrick 1968 births National Golden Gloves champions Living people American male boxers People from Oak Park, Michigan Sportspeople from Oakland County, Michigan Boxers from Michigan Heavyweight boxers 20th-century American sportsmen