Derrick Harmon

Derrick Harmon
Data
Birth Name	Curtis Derrick Harmon
Fight name	Royalty
Weight class	Light heavyweight , cruiserweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	January 21, 1970
place of birth	Evanston (Illinois)
style	Legal display
Combat Statistics
Struggles	32
Victories	25th
Knockout victories	12
Defeats	7th

Derrick Harmon (born January 21, 1970 in Evanston, Illinois as Curtis Derrick Harmon ) is a former boxer whose greatest success was winning the NABF light heavyweight title . In this weight class Harmon also gained a certain popularity when he fought against Roy Jones and Dariusz Michalczewski for the world titles of the WBA , WBC , IBF and WBO .

Career

Derrick Harmon made his professional light heavyweight debut on August 27, 1993. The southpaw in Countryside (Illinois) won by technical knockout in the first round against his compatriot Vernand Wright , who had lost his only two professional fights to date. Harmon also triumphed in the subsequent build-up battles , sometimes exceeding the prescribed weight limit for the light heavyweight division.

Because of his aggressive fighting style, Harmon quickly attracted attention and got the opportunity to challenge his compatriot Kenny Bowman for the rather insignificant NABF title. The match held on June 19, 1998 in Atlantic City , New Jersey , Harmon won by knockout in the second round. He then laid down his title and played two more victorious fights against Reggie Strickland and Gilberto Brown , in which he again failed to comply with the maximum weight limit in the light heavyweight division with just over 80 kilograms.

On April 3, 1998 Harmon suffered the first defeat of his professional career in his 18th professional fight, when he had to admit defeat on points after ten rounds in Las Vegas to Greg Wright, who was classified as mediocre sport . Against his compatriot of the same age - already defeated five times in 22 professional fights - Harmon never lived up to his role as favorite, although he was unable to take advantage of the opponent's alleged weak ability to take. In the end, two of the three judges voted against Harmon.

After this defeat, Harmon won the vacant WBC Continental Americas light heavyweight title against Ray Berry with a unanimous point win over twelve rounds , which he however resigned without a single title defense. After two more victorious fights, including in the cruiserweight division , Harmon was allowed to challenge Roy Jones, the world champion of the WBA , IBF and WBC . Tampa, Florida was chosen as the venue for the fight scheduled for February 24, 2001 . Already the division of the combat exchange - Harmon received 350,000 US dollars, Jones received four million US dollars - reflected the clear division of roles, according to which, according to many experts, Harmon was considered a clear outsider. In the end, as expected, he had no real chance of winning against the top favorite, at that time also one of the world's best boxers across weight classes . Before Harmon gave up after the tenth lap due to a torn eardrum, he had hardly had anything to counter the speed of his opponent, although in the opinion of many observers he had missed the final consequence in his attacks.

In December 2001 Harmon won the WBC Continental Americas title for the second time against Demetrius Jenking , again with a unanimous point victory over twelve rounds. After another victory over Glen Johnson in a non-title fight - Harmon brought it again not the light heavyweight limit - he lost his belt in July 2002 against Montell Griffin by a unanimous defeat on points. After his third defeat, Harmon fought again in the cruiserweight division, where he defeated Tim Littles on his comeback after more than six years of abstinence from the ring by technical knockout in the second round. Around five months later, Harmon again had the chance to challenge WBO world champion Dariusz Michalczewski in the light heavyweight division . Against the defending champion, who was unbeaten in 47 fights, outsider Harmon was knocked out in the tenth round for the first time in his career. Although he was also able to score effective hits, Harmon seemed not least due to the "boiling off" of three kilograms of body weight within the last Also weakened 24 hours before the fight.

Nine months after his second unsuccessful attack on a world title, Harmon challenged Jamaican O'Neil Bell for the NABF cruiserweight title, losing to a technical knockout in round eight. Harmon then started again a weight class lower and defeated his compatriot David Telesco in May 2004 , before he temporarily withdrew from active ring events. After a year Harmon made his comeback when he faced the WBA Fedelatin light heavyweight title holder, Jorge Fernando Castro, in May 2005 . Against the Argentine, who was much more experienced with 141 fights, Harmon was taken out of the fight after three knockdowns in the seventh round. After another one year break from fighting, Harmon defeated Vincent Harris in a build-up fight in the cruiserweight division in May 2006 and then retired for another two years. Another failed comeback attempt against Michael Simms in May 2008 meant the final end of his boxing career for Derrick Harmon.

Web links

• Derrick Harmon in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Boxing, edition of February 28, 2001, p. 23
2. ↑ Boxing, May 2003 edition, p. 12 ff.