William Guthrie

This article is about the boxer William Guthrie. For the classical scholar, see William Keith Chambers Guthrie .

William Guthrie
Data
Birth Name	William Douglas Guthrie
Fight name	KO King
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	17th January 1967
place of birth	Philadelphia
style	Southpaw
size	1.85 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	42
Victories	35
Knockout victories	28
Defeats	4th
draw	3
Profile in the BoxRec database

William Douglas Guthrie (born January 17, 1967 in Philadelphia ) is a former American professional boxer and world champion of the IBF light heavyweight.

Career

Guthrie grew up as the eldest of four siblings in difficult circumstances in St. Louis . He came into contact with drugs in his own family circles, but was also an extremely successful amateur boxer. At the National Golden Gloves he won silver in 1984 and 1986, and gold in the middleweight division in 1985. At the US championships he also won bronze in 1985 and 1988, and silver in 1986. He suffered his defeats against Darin Allen and Anthony Hembrick, among others . He was banned from participating in the 1988 Olympic Games because of a positive drug test . After being kicked out of the national team, he switched to the professionals in 1989.

He won 24 fights in a row, 21 of them prematurely. In the meantime he was also imprisoned for drug possession. In November 1995 he defeated Richard Frazier, a later world championship challenger to Roy Jones junior , by knockout in the fourth round in the fight for the US championship . In his next fight, he also defeated former US champion Tim Hillie on points. He won another early victory in June 1996 against Ramzi Hassan, ex-World Cup challenger to Virgil Hill and Michael Moorer .

On July 19, 1997, he won the vacant IBF World Championship title in California through an early victory in the third round against Darin Allen , amateur world champion from 1986. In his first title defense in February 1998, however, he lost to a difficult knockout the fifth round against Reggie Johnson and had to be carried out of the ring with a stretcher. He also lost his next fight against Michael Nunn prematurely. After four build-up wins, he lost in 2002 in the fight for the North American cruiserweight championship against world championship challenger Ravea Springs. He then remained unbeaten again in seven fights.

In July 2006, he won the IBF International Cruiserweight Championship against Luke Munsen. After a subsequent win, a loss and a draw, he ended his career in 2007.

predecessor	Office	successor
Dariusz Michalczewski	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) July 19, 1997 - February 6, 1998	Reggie Johnson

Web links

• The Redemption of William Guthrie