Mike Hunter (boxer)

Mike Hunter (born September 14, 1959 in Greenville, South Carolina – died February 8, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) was an American boxer who won the NABF Heavyweight title.

Professional career

Known as "The Bounty Hunter", Hunter was a colourful and erratic Heavyweight fringe contender during the early-to-mid 1990s, and was known for his unique boxing style, boxing skills, and good defense. Hunter's boxing career began in Maryland, after a seven-year stint in prison for armed robbery. Hunter's skills caught the attention of actor James Caan, who would manage Hunter for three years, before selling his contract to Bill Slayton. Hunter first became ranked by the major sanctioning bodies in 1990, and would defeat many notable boxers like Dwight Qawi, Pinklon Thomas, Tyrell Biggs, Oliver McCall, Jimmy Thunder, and Alexander Zolkin. During this long respectable run of results he lost a highly criticized points decision to fellow contender and future world champion Francois Botha, after dropping Botha in the first round.

Although he was a very talented fighter and had a promising run during the 90s, he largely squandered his talent. By the mid-1990s, drug problems had begun to catch up to Hunter, evident to all after his victory over Buster Mathis, Jr., which was turned to a No-Contest following a positive drug test.

Hunter would lose three fights in the last year and a half of his career, before retiring following a loss to Danish Heavyweight Brian Nielsen for the IBO version of the heavyweight title.

Professional boxing record

26 Wins (8 knockouts, 18 decisions), 7 Losses (1 knockout, 6 decisions), 2 Draws, 1 No Contest
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	26-7-2 (1)	"Super" Brian Nielsen	TKO	5	31/05/1996	Copenhagen, Denmark	IBO World Heavyweight Title.
Win	26-6-2 (1)	Arthur "Stormy" Weathers	PTS	10	03/11/1995	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss	25-6-2 (1)	Marion "The Creep" Wilson	SD	10	06/10/1995	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	94-96, 94-96, 97-93.
Win	25-5-2 (1)	Will "Hammer" Hinton	PTS	10	06/05/1995	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss	24-5-2 (1)	Aurelio "El Toyo" Perez	UD	10	24/03/1995	Sao Paulo, Brazil	89-97, 89-97, 89-97.
Loss	24-4-2 (1)	Alexander Zolkin	SD	10	16/12/1994	Chester, West Virginia, United States
Win	24-3-2 (1)	Keith "Sir Jabalot" McMurray	SD	10	01/09/1994	Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States	94-95, 99-92, 98-90.
Win	23-3-2 (1)	Craig Payne	PTS	10	19/05/1994	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
NC	22-3-2 (1)	Buster Mathis, Jr.	NC	12	04/12/1993	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States	USBA Heavyweight Title. MD for Hunter overturned due to positive drug tests.
Win	22-3-2	Cecil Coffee	UD	10	06/11/1993	Sun City, North West, South Africa	98-94, 98-92, 99-91.
Win	21-3-2	Alexander Zolkin	SD	12	05/08/1993	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	USBA Heavyweight Title.
Win	20-3-2	Tyrell Biggs	UD	12	17/01/1993	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	USBA Heavyweight Title. 118-109, 117-110, 117-110.
Loss	19-3-2	Francois "White Buffalo" Botha	MD	8	22/09/1992	El Paso, Texas, United States	77-77, 76-77, 75-76.
Win	19-2-2	David Jaco	TKO	3	14/02/1992	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	18-2-2	Ossie "Jaws" Ocasio	UD	10	14/12/1990	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	97-93, 99-93, 99-93.
Win	17-2-2	Jose Maria Flores Burlon	TKO	1	31/10/1990	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	Referee stopped the bout at 2:57 of the first round.
Win	16-2-2	Jimmy Thunder	KO	4	14/08/1990	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Win	15-2-2	Pinklon Thomas	UD	10	12/06/1990	Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States	99-91, 100-90, 99-91.
Win	14-2-2	"The Camden Buzzsaw" Dwight Muhammad Qawi	UD	12	16/03/1990	Newark, New Jersey, United States	WBC Continental Americas Cruiserweight Title. 117-111, 119-109, 116-112.
Win	13-2-2	Donald Coats	KO	3	31/01/1989	Irvine, California, United States
Win	12-2-2	Wade Parsons	UD	8	06/12/1988	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win	11-2-2	Dino Homsey	KO	4	26/07/1988	Reseda, California, United States
Win	10-2-2	Oliver "Atomic Bull" McCall	UD	10	22/01/1988	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Loss	9-2-2	Andre "The Giant" Smith	UD	8	05/11/1987	Reseda, California, United States
Win	9-1-2	Rodney Stockton	TKO	1	29/09/1987	Reseda, California, United States
Win	8-1-2	Gary Lightbourne	KO	1	25/08/1987	Reseda, California, United States	Gary knocked out at 2:12 of the first round.
Loss	7-1-2	Levi "Terminator" Billups	SD	8	18/05/1987	Inglewood, California, United States	76-77, 75-78, 78-75.
Win	7-0-2	Mike Gans	UD	8	28/04/1987	Reseda, California, United States
Draw	6-0-2	James Pritchard	PTS	6	20/02/1987	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	6-0-1	Kelvin Beatty	UD	6	02/01/1987	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	5-0-1	Ken Crosby	TKO	5	02/10/1986	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Draw	4-0-1	Woody Clark	PTS	6	23/08/1986	Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States
Win	4-0	Avery Rawls	UD	8	11/04/1986	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	3-0	Dominic Parker	UD	6	02/03/1986	Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	2-0	Donald "Duck" Vance	PTS	4	18/01/1986	Staunton, Virginia, United States
Win	1-0	Warren "Chico" Thompson	SD	4	14/12/1985	Largo, Maryland, United States

Life after boxing

Hunter returned to the sport in September 2005, working as an instructor and trainer at the Tru Boxing Gym in Hollywood.

Death

On February 8, 2006, Hunter was on the roof of the St. Moritz Hotel in Los Angeles, when he encountered two Los Angeles police officers, who had set up a buy/bust sting operation surveillance. The officers reported that Hunter, who was unprovoked, hit an officer on the head with a gun. The other officer tackled Hunter, with the previous officer eventually joining in the struggle. Hunter broke free, and pointed his gun at the officers, who promptly shot him twice, in the chest and the arm. Hunter was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where he died. The two officers involved stated that they did not feel that Hunter was aware that they were police officers. The officers announced several times during the struggle that they were officers. Hunter however had a serious base cocaine (crack) addiction problem.

Personal

His son Michael Hunter, Jr. became US amateur champ in 2007.

Links and sources

• The Knockout Shot (L.A. Weekly)

External links

• Professional boxing record for Mike Hunter from BoxRec