Johnny Bumphus
Encyclopedia
Johnny 'Bump City' Bumphus (born 17 August 1960 in Tacoma, WA), is a former boxer who was world light welterweight
Light welterweight
-Professional boxing:The light welterweight class is a weight division in professional boxing that has a limit of 63.5 kg or 140 pounds...

 champion.

Professional career

Dubbed "Bump City," Bumphus began his career as a hot prospect, winning his first 22 fights, including the Vacant WBA Light Welterweight Title with a decision win over Lorenzo Luis Garcia in 1984. Bumphus lost the belt in June of 1984 in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 to Gene Hatcher
Gene Hatcher
Ronald Hatcher Jr. , better known as "Gene Hatcher," is a former boxer who was world light welterweight champion. His nickname was "Mad Dog."-Amateur career:Hatcher was a United States Amateur Champion...

. Hatcher scored an 11th-round technical knockout that featured Hatcher knocking Bumphus down, then slipping and falling on a follow-up attempt, then throwing Bumphus down to the mat when both fighters clinched. A post-fight melee in the ring then ensued, as Hatcher was celebrating in triumph while the now-deposed champion was slugging away in frustration. The fight was named as Ring Magazine Upset of the year for 1984. In 1987 Bumphus took on Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan is a retired British boxer. Born in Jamaica, he was WBC/WBA & IBF welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987. and WBC welterweight champion from 1988 to 1989....

 for the WBC and IBF Welterweight Title, but lost a 2nd round TKO. He retired after the loss, with a record of 29-2-0.

Towards the end of his boxing career he developed an addiction to cocaine, which he briefly kicked. When he returned to Tacoma's drug infested Hilltop neighborhood in 1989, he quickly became addicted to crack cocaine. In 1995, he spent a year in rehab, and then left Tacoma to work as a trainer for his former manager Lou Duva
Lou Duva
Louis "Lou" Duva is a boxing trainer and manager who has handled some of the most famous boxers in the world including 19 World Champions. The Duva family have promoted boxing events in over 20 countries on six continents...

 in West Palm Beach, Floridahttp://www.boxingtalk.com/pages/free2202.htm.

As a trainer, he has worked with Kassim Ouma
Kassim Ouma
Kassim Ouma is a Ugandan boxer. He is currently the NABA middleweight champion.-Early life:Born into poverty, at the age of six he was kidnapped and forced to join the National Resistance Army and consequently did not see his family for five years. Ouma is the 7th of 13 children, which include 7...

 and Emmett Linton.

Amateur career

Bumphus began boxing as an amateur at the age of eight out of the Tacoma Boys Club, and claimed a career amateur record of 341-16. He was one of four World Champions to begin boxing in Tacoma; Freddie Steele
Freddie Steele
Freddie Steele was a boxer and film actor born Frederick Earle Burgett in Seattle, Washington. He was recognized as middleweight champion of the world between 1936 and 1938. Steele was nicknamed "The Tacoma Assassin" and was trained by Jack Connor, Johnny Babnick, and Ray Arcel, while in New York...

, Rocky Lockridge
Rocky Lockridge
Rocky Lockridge , is a former boxer and world champion. As a professional, he is perhaps best known for handing Roger Mayweather his first defeat, in a first-round knockout for the WBA super featherweight championship.-Amateur career:...

, and Leo Randolph
Leo Randolph
Leo Randolph is a former American boxer, who won the Flyweight Gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.-Amateur career:Randolph had an outstanding amateur career...

, were the others.
His amateur highlights were:
  • 1977 National AAU Featherweight Champion, decisioning Lee Simmons of Akron, OH, in the final.
  • 1979 National Golden Gloves
    Golden Gloves
    The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...

     Champion (132 lbs), defeating Efrain Nieves at Indianapolis

Olympics

Bumphus qualified at 139 pounds and was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team http://boxing.about.com/library/bl_oly_1980.htm that perished in an air crash in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, on 14 March 1980 http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/JOURNALS/FORENSIC/PAGES/JFS2002083_476.htm?E+mystore. The team was en route to Warsaw, Poland for the USA vs. Poland Box-off as part of "USA vs. the World." event. Bumphus was not with the team. Among the USA Boxing teammates who were killed in the plane crash were Lemuel Steeples from St. Louis; Calvin Anderson from Connecticut; Paul Palomino - the brother of Carlos Palomino
Carlos Palomino
Carlos Palomino a retired Mexican professional boxer. Palomino is a former WBC Welterweight Champion and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Palomino is also an actor who has been featured in several television shows and films...

 ; George Pimentel, and Olympic Coach, Sarge Johnson. Members of the team who were also not aboard included Bobby Czyz
Bobby Czyz
Robert Edward "Bobby" Czyz is a retired American boxer. A New Jersey native of mostly Polish and Italian descent, he is both a former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion.Czyz was born in Orange, New Jersey...

, Alex Ramos
Alex Ramos
Alex Ramos is a former middleweight boxer from the 1980s. A native of Manhattan, New York, he is Puerto Rican by his parents' side. He was nicknamed "The Bronx Bomber", after Joe Louis, whose nickname was "The Brown Bomber"....

, and James Shuler
James Shuler
James Shuler was a U.S. Olympic and professional boxer from Philadelphia known as "Black Gold."-Amateur career:Shuler was the 1979 and 1980 National Golden Gloves Light Middleweight Champion....

 http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/RBF.htm.

Bumphus earned his berth on the team with a win over Ronnie Shields
Ronnie Shields
Ronnie Shields was a professional boxer in the Featherweight division and is currently a boxing trainer.-Amateur career:...

. Bumphus did not compete in the Olympics, due to the U. S. boycott.
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