Jesse Hart (born August 14, 1989) is an American

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 has challenged twice for the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title; firstly in 2017 and again in 2018.

Early life and amateur career

Jesse Hart is the son of former Philly middleweight contender Eugene Hart. Eugene trains his son to this day. In 2011, Hart won the National Golden Gloves Championships, and the US National Championships at

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

. He was, at one time, the number one rated amateur boxer at Middleweight in the US. Hart failed to qualify to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, losing to Terrell Gausha on countback at the final match of the US Olympic Trials. Hart accumulated an 85-11 record as an amateur.

Professional career

Early career

Hart turned pro in June 2012, signing with promotional outfit

Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including M ...

. Hart won his first 16 fights against mediocre opposition, with 13 wins coming by way of knockout. In May 2015, Hart fought Mike Jimenez in the undercard of Mayweather-Pacquiao. Hart won in dominant fashion, breaking Jimenez down before winning by

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 ...

in round 6. With the win, Hart claimed the USBA and the NABO

titles. Hart defended his North American titles four times against the likes of Dashon Johnson and Andrew Hernandez. Johnson gave Hart an extremely tough fight, despite the former's 19-18-3 record going into the fight. Hart seemed to tire in the latter half of the fight and Johnson dropped Hart in the final round. In the end, Hart took the win by unanimous decision (98-91, 97-92, 95-94).

Ramírez vs. Hart

Jesse Hart reached an agreement to fight

world champion

Gilberto Ramírez Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez (born 19 June 1991) is a Mexican professional boxer and unified cruiserweight champion who has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) title since March 2024, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title since Nove ...

on September 22, 2017 in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. On August 22, the fight was made official and an announcement was made for the venue. The fight was to take place at the

Convention Center A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

. In front of 4,103 fans, Ramírez retained his WBO super middleweight title in a hard-fought battle against a game Hart, which went the 12 round distance. The final judges scorecards were 115-112, 115-112, and 114-113 in favour of Ramírez. He started off strong, dropping Hart in round 2 following a left uppercut, which Hart did not see coming. Hart beat the count and survived the round. In round 4, Hart took tremendous punishment, but managed to stay on his feet. The last 6 rounds saw the fight turnaround in favour of Hart. He landed many power shots to the head of Ramírez, who held his own. Ramírez seemed to have tired out during the closing rounds. Round 11 saw Hart rock Ramírez badly, but not realizing that his legs had given way, thus failing to go for the finish. Had Hart not been dropped in round 2, the fight would have ended via

majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (at ...

. After the fight, Ramírez said, "This one was for all the Dreamers, all the people of Mexico and what they are going through with the earthquake. The plan was push, push, push and put a lot of pressure on him and keep him off balance. I wanted to put on a really big body attack every round. There was nothing easy in this fight." Hart was humble in defeat, "I take nothing away from him. He's a good champ. He has my respect. The knockdown was my fault. Zurdo's a really good fighter." Ramírez landed 220 punches from 690 thrown (32%), this included 40 of his 70 power shots thrown. Hart landed 132 of his 497 thrown (27%). On December 14, 2018, Hart faced Ramirez in a rematch for the WBO super middleweight title. Ramirez was punishing Hart throughout the fight, especially being efficient on the inside. Hart was able to hurt Ramirez back in the final round, but it was too late to make any significant impact on the scoring. In the end, Ramirez won the fight via majority decision, with two judges seeing Ramirez as the winner, 115-113 and 115-113, and one scoring the fight a draw, 114-114. In his next fight, Hart battled veteran Sullivan Barrera. In what was his debut at light heavyweight, Hart managed to secure a win on points. It was a dirty fight in which referee Jay Nady had to intervene multiple times and threaten the boxers with a point deduction.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Jesse Hart - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Jesse Middleweight boxers 1989 births Living people Boxers from Dallas American male boxers