WBO super featherweight champ Jamel Herring’s (20-2) title defense this Saturday against undefeated Golden Boy prospect Lamont Roach (19-0-1) won’t be the first time he’s seen combat. Nicknamed “Semper Fi,” 33-year-old Herring served for two tours in Iraq as a Marine before he laced up gloves as a professional boxer. It’s only fitting that the New Yorker’s next fight lands on this upcoming Veteran’s Day weekend.
Herring isn’t the first world champion to serve his country with distinction. We would like to salute six boxers who fought for their country and inside the ring.
Ken Norton Sr.
Like Herring, heavyweight legend Ken Norton Sr. was a “jarhead,” serving in the Marines as a radioman from 1964 to 1967, which is where he picked up the sport. In fact, his first bout against his iconic nemesis Muhammad Ali, who famously refused to enlist during the Vietnam War, was billed as “Draft Dodger vs. Former Marine.” Norton and Ali would fight three times (Norton defeating Ali once, and barely losing two close matches). He held the world heavyweight champion from 1977 to 1978.
Ray Mercer
Before “Merciless” Ray Mercer waged war with Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko, the heavyweight champ was going 12 rounds in military time. Originally taking up the “sweet science” to make him the perfect army solider, the Floridian found his calling in the sport. After being honorably discharged, Mercer found a way to fight for his country in the ring, winning a gold medal for Team USA in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
“I think the military is a great place to start your life,” the former WBO heavyweight champ told Progress Index. “The military offers a lot of opportunities nowadays that we didn’t have back then.”
Rocky Marciano
“The Brockton Blockbuster” was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and was stationed in Wales where he ferried supplies across the English Channel to Normandy during WWII. Legend has it that he took up boxing because it helped him avoid “KP” (“kitchen police” duty). Although he’s known for his unparalleled 49-0 professional career, the late-blooming pugilist did take some “L’s” in a still stellar amateur career of 27-3, winning the Amateur Armed Forces boxing tournament.
Steve Cunningham
As his nickname “USS” suggests, former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham is a Navy vet. “Sailing the Seven Seas” likely prepared him for tumultuous waters of Tyson Fury, who he fought in 2013. While Cunningham ultimately lost to the “Gypsy King”, he almost sent the lineal heavyweight champion to the Davy Jones’ locker with a second-round knockdown courtesy over an overhand right.
While Fury says a lot of crazy sh**, we’ll take his word when he called Cunningham the toughest man he’s ever faced.
Sugar Ray Robinson/Joe Louis
We saved the best military-boxing connection for last. During World War II, Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis toured through military bases like real-life Captain Americas, serving as figureheads of freedom and patriotism.
The original “Sugar Ray, widely regarded as boxing’s pound-for-pound G.O.A.T., fought in exhibition matches with the legendary heavyweight Joe Louis to rally the troops before deployment. We’d trade cellphones and computers in a heartbeat to go back in time and see one of those bouts.
