Otis Grant
Otis Grant 
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|---|---|
| Data | |
| Birth Name | Otis Grant |
| Fight name | Magic |
| Weight class | medium weight |
| nationality |
 Canadian
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| birthday | December 23, 1967 |
| place of birth | Saint Ann Parish |
| style | Legal display |
| size | 1.77 m |
| Combat Statistics | |
| Struggles | 42 |
| Victories | 38 |
| Knockout victories | 17th |
| Defeats | 3 |
| draw | 1 |
Otis Grant (born December 23, 1967 in Saint Ann Parish ) is a former Canadian professional boxer of Jamaican origin and former world champion of the WBO middleweight division.
Amateur career
Grant came to Canada in 1977 and began boxing at the age of eleven. He was Canadian light middleweight champion in 1985 and Canadian middleweight champion in 1988. At the Pan American Games in Indianapolis in 1987 , he won the silver medal in the middleweight division. He was only defeated by the reigning world champion Ángel Espinosa from Cuba in the final .
Professional career
In 1988 he moved to the professional camp together with his brother and won 14 fights in a row against opponents , 11 of them by knockout. The defeated opponents included Art McCloud (11-3) and Jaime Ollenberger (19-5). On September 27, 1991 he was by giving up his opponent Dan Sherry (18-1) after the seventh round, Canadian middleweight champion. In March 1992 he defended the title early against Todd Nadon (13-2).
On September 28, 1992, he beat in Verdun, Canada, the US World Cup challenger Gilbert Baptist unanimously on points and thereby became the new North American champion ( NABF ) in the middleweight division. After defending his title against Ron Collins (21-3), Brett Lally (32-8) and Willie Monroe (19-1), he lost the title on March 15, 1994 after a knockout in the twelfth round at what would later become the WBC - World Champion Quincy Taylor .
After three subsequent build-up wins, including against the undefeated Undra White (11-0), he won the NABF middleweight title again on October 10, 1995 by an early win against Derrick James (13-1). After successful title defenses against James Green (22-9) and Rodney Toney (22-1), he received on March 4, 1997 in Las Vegas a world title fight of the WBO middleweight against the undefeated title holder Lonnie Bradley (25-0). The fight was tied after the full 12 rounds by the judges (113: 115-115: 113-114: 114), with which Bradley remained world champion.
Since Bradley, however, the title was withdrawn due to medical reasons in the same year, Grant received on December 13, 1997 in Sheffield another World Cup chance for the now vacant title. He finally prevailed unanimously on points against his undefeated British opponent Ryan Rhodes (16-0) and thus became the first black boxing world champion from Québec . On May 12, 1998 he defended the title prematurely against the Argentinean Ernesto Rafael Sena and then put down the title to move up to the light heavyweight division. He had in fact given the opportunity to the championship belt by the WBC and WBA of Roy Jones Jr. to box (37-1).
This major event on November 14, 1998 in Ledyard , however, Grant lost by tKo in the tenth round, after his coach threw in the towel after the second knockdown of his protégé.
In June 1999, Grant was critically injured in a traffic accident when his car was rammed by an oncoming vehicle. He suffered five rib fractures, a fracture of the shoulder blade and a lung injury and was in a coma for a week.
comeback
Although doctors predicted the end of his boxing career, he started a successful comeback on November 22, 2003 against the former WBO / WBA / IBO / WBC world champion Dingaan Thobela . After a subsequent points win against Prince Badi Ajamu (19-1), he was on September 11, 2004 by points victory against Mark Woolnough Canadian super middleweight champion.
On December 11, 2004 he defeated the Latin American champion Henry Porras (28-3) and thereby became the WBC International Super Middleweight Champion. He was then able to defend this title on March 12, 2005 against the Australian Nader Hamdan (38-2) and on June 18, 2005 against Charles Adamu (13-2). In October 2005 he was also able to beat the American Donnell Wiggins (24-5). These successes brought him to the top of the WBC world rankings, but there was no title chance against Markus Beyer .
On April 8, 2006 Grant finally played his last professional fight against the undefeated Mexican Librado Andrade (22-0). He went down twice in the fifth round and finally gave up the fight after the seventh round.
Others
Otis Grant is married and has two children. His older brother Howard Grant was also a successful boxer; Among other things, he was Canadian champion twice, won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in 1983 and was runner-up in 1986. He also represented Canada at the 1988 Olympic Games. As a professional, he was Canadian champion and fought for the Commonwealth Championship.
Together with his brother, he is the owner of the "Grant Brothers Boxing" fitness center in Québec and has been supporting families in need with his Otis Grant & Friends Foundation since 1999.
In 1991 he received the Montreal Association of Black Business Professionals Achievement of Excellence Award , as well as the Martin Luther King Jr Achievement of Excellence Award and the Jackie Robinson Professional of the Year Award in 1998 . In 2005 he also received the Outstanding Social & Humanitarian Services Award and was inducted into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Lonnie Bradley | World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) December 13, 1997 - November 14, 1998 |
Bert Schenk |
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Grant, Otis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian boxer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 23, 1967 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint Ann Parish , Jamaica |