Jerome "Kid" Coffee (born March 16, 1958) 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 ...
in the bantamweight division.
Amateur career
Coffee had an outstanding amateur career and won several national championships, Amateur record 205 fights 193 wins (or 185–8 by the May 5, 1980 estimate) including:
*1977 National AAU Flyweight champion, decisioning Ronnie Clifford of Hickory Hills, Illinois, in the final.
*1978 National PAL Flyweight champion
*1979 National PAL Flyweight champion
*1979 Pan American Games bronze medalist
:*Defeated Gilberto Román (Mexico) points
:*Defeated Jorge Hernández (Cuba) points
:*Lost to Pedro Nolasco (Dominican Republic) points
*1979
National Golden Gloves Flyweight champion
This is a list of United States national Golden Gloves champions in the flyweight division, along with the state or region they represented. The weight limit for flyweights was first contested at , but was increased to in 2010.AIBA.Top-ranked amateur boxers to square off Friday ''The Jackson Sun'', February 3, 1980, p. 29.
Professional career
Coffee turned professional in 1980 and had great success. He won his first 26 bouts, leading up to a clash with
Jeff Fenech
Jeff Fenech (born 28 May 1964) is an Australians, Australian former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2008. He List of boxing triple champions, won world titles in three weight divisions, having held the International Boxing Feder ...
for the IBF bantamweight title in 1985 in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Fenech retained his title over Coffee via unanimous decision after the bout went the full 15 rounds. Coffee retired in 1994.