Monte Barrett

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Monte Barrett (born May 26, 1971, Greenville, North Carolina) is a professional boxer. Known as "Two Gunz", the American fighter has been a top rated heavyweight for the past five years, and recently dropped a lackluster decision to WBC Heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. Barrett is promoted by Don King, and as a result is still heavily in the heavyweight mix. Despite his loss, he fought WBA Heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in October at Madison Square Garden in what was billed as Valuev's "coming out party" to American boxing fans. Monte doesn't have a particularly distinct style or a lot of power, but finds ways to craftily win fights. Prior to his loss to Rahman, he defeated contenders Owen Beck and Dominick Guinn, both of whom were undefeated at the time, to line up the title shot. Monte got off to a fast start in his pro career, defeating his first 21 opponents, prior to dropping a close decision to Lance Whitaker. Monte later was dominated, but showed heart in rising five times, against future champion Wladimir Klitschko. Barrett also later locked horns in a memorable battle with Joe Mesi, which was an exciting see-saw battle in which Mesi almost had Barrett out, but Barrett battled back spiritedly and nearly took the undefeated Mesi out.

On Saturday 8 October 2006, Barrett challenged Nicolai Valuev for the WBA Heavyweight Title and lost via technical knockout in the 11th round. Barrett was knocked down in the eighth and eleventh rounds, but managed to get up. After being knocked down for the second time in the eleventh round, his trainer James Ali Basheer jumped into the ring to stop the fight.