Jesse Ferguson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jesse "Boogeyman" Ferguson is an American boxer who fought in several noteworthy boxing matches in the 1980's and 1990s.
[edit] Military service
He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
[edit] Boxing career
After a solid amateur career in the early 80s, Ferguson turned pro in 1983 at the 'late' age of 25. He reeled off 10 straight wins (all by knockout), the most notable being a 4-round K.O. of the dangerous Reggie Gross, who would later be defeated by a future opponent of Ferguson (Mike Tyson), by TKO in 1.
This earned him a place in ESPNs 1985 Young Heavyweight tournament. He made an explosive debut with a 4-round knockout of Richard Scott, and followed it up in the semi-finals with an excellent 10-round points win where he outpunched James "Buster" Douglas, a fight that would become more and more significant over the years, as Douglas of course went on to shockingly upset Mike Tyson in 1990 and win the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world (Ferguson himself would lose to a young, pre-champion Mike Tyson in a sixth-round TKO).
In the final he took on Tony Anthony and knocked him out in the 10th round, earning himself a world ranking.
His success was short lived however. He was matched up with Carl "The Truth" Williams, who was himself coming off a hotly disputed 15-round points loss to the legendary Larry Holmes. Williams experience won out, as he climbed off the floor twice to knock out Ferguson in 10 rounds.
In a theme that would continue throughout his long career, Ferguson was matched tough in his next fight. In 1986 he took on red hot prospect Mike Tyson who was 17-0, and making his national television debut. Tyson broke Ferguson's nose in the fifth round with a hard uppercut that sent him to the canvas. However, referee Louise Rivera was forced to disqualify Ferguson in the sixth round for holding after repeated warnings, thus giving him 2 distinctions against Tyson. He was the first man to lose to Tyson other than by knockout. And he became the first man to take Tyson into the sixth round.
Ferguson was then matched with James "Buster" Douglas and lost by a seventh-round TKO. Douglas would go on to defeat Tyson by a 10th round KO, and becoming champ.
From this point on Ferguson became a part-time boxer, finding it difficult to find meaningful fights but used regularly by all the top contenders as a sparring partner, who preferred training with him than risking fighting him.
In 1987 he fought only once, on the undercard of the Tyson/Tucker fight, knocking out the durable and very crafty ex-contender George Chaplin, sending him into retirement.
In 1988 he finally found a meaningful fight, as he took on 22-0 Orlin Norris for his NABF belt. Norris was a fast rising prospect with slick skills and some big wins under his belt already. Ferguson's ring rust showed as his heavy hitting hurt Norris and dealt Norris his first loss ever by knocking him out in the 11th round.
By the time he fought Oliver McCall in 1991, he had only had one fight in three years, a 6-round kayo of Terry Armstrong in 1990. Although rusty and overweight, Ferguson appeared to get the better of McCall. However McCall was seen as a heavyweight going places, and Ferguson had been relegated to 'trial horse' status. McCall was given the decision. Three years later in 1994, McCall would demolish Lennox Lewis by TKO in two rounds to become heavyweight champion of the world.
It may be said to be fair that by this point Ferguson's heart was no longer fully in the game. In 1992 he took on Bruce Seldon for an IBF Intercontinental belt. Seldon had been a red hot prospect until being derailed in his last two fights by Oliver McCall and Riddick Bowe. Ferguson made an effort early throwing some heavy leather, however when Seldon's highly regarded jab swoll one of his eyes shut, an indifferent Ferguson decided to retire on his stool after five rounds. Three years later, Seldon would win the vacant WBA heavyweight title and have a high profile fight with Tyson, in which he would perform disappointingly, losing by TKO in 1.
Ferguson was still overweight and uninterested later in 1992 as he dropped decisions to two ex-world champions, Michael "Dynamite" Dokes and Tony "TNT" Tubbs. In both these fights he was able to hurt his opponent, however failed to follow up or over-exert himself.
It all looked over for Ferguson, however 1993 would see a complete turnaround of his fortunes. He was brought in as an opponent for Ray Mercer at New York's Madison Square Garden on the undercard of a Riddick Bowe title defense against Michael Dokes. Mercer was the 1988 Olympic gold medallist in the heavyweight division, and had held the WBO belt. A dangerous brawler with a cement chin, he was expected to knock Ferguson out and fight Bowe for the title. Instead Mercer showed up ill prepared and Ferguson, perhaps motivated by the big stage, unexpectantly made a serious argument out of it. Round after round he teed off on Mercer with combination punches that couldn't miss. At one point Mercer infamously (and allegedly) offered Ferguson a bribe to "lay down", realising his big shot at Bowe was slipping away from him. Ferguson refused the money and punched out an exhausted Mercer in the later rounds to win a unanimous decision and shock the boxing world.
Although the bribe incident would be dragged through the courts (Mercer was later acquitted due to lack of evidence), for now Ferguson got to concentrate on a shot at the world title against Riddick Bowe in Washington DC.
For the first time in years Ferguson came in under 230 lbs. At 224 Ferguson was as cut and sinewy as he'd been since the mid-80s. Although he came to fight, his dream turned into a nightmare as Bowe was in awesome form yet again, his size, power, and variety of punches were too much for Ferguson. Bowe caught him with a left hook in the later part of round 1, putting him down for the first time. Knowing he could finish the fight soon, in the second round, Bowe unleashed an 8-punch combination that was too much for Ferguson. He had lost his golden chance.
Despite the crushing defeat, Ferguson was back in the ring shortly afterwards. He was matched against Mercer yet again, who this time came in at 223 and was in great shape. It didn't make much difference. Although the fight was closer, Ferguson still appeared to outpunch Mercer and get the better of him. Once again Ferguson was on the wrong end of a close decision as Mercer was awarded a split decision that was even jeered by his hometown crowd at Atlantic City.
In 1994 Ferguson travelled to the UK to fight Frank Bruno, who was returning after his loss to Lennox Lewis. Although not in great shape, Ferguson was so confident of knocking Bruno out that he bet several thousand of his own purse on that result. Unfortunately the power punching Brit rolled right over Ferguson, decking him twice in the opening round and scoring a first-round knockout. A year later Bruno would defeat Oliver McCall and win the WBC heavyweight title.
In his only other fight in 1994 Ferguson suffered more bad luck. Matched with aged Larry Holmes, the 44 year old former great who was on another comeback trail, Ferguson despite being out of shape had Holmes reeling in the second, and appeared to get the best of the ex-champ. Yet again Ferguson was on the wrong side of the points decision, and even the New York Times reported it as "A robbery. Larry Holmes came off second best against Jesse Ferguson."
Ferguson became quite cynical to boxing, and one cannot blame him after being robbed of so many clear victories. In 1995 he was frequently out of shape and made little effort in his fights. He had Jeremy Williams out on his feet but quit in the 7th with a swollen eye. He dropped Alex Stewart twice but was denied the decision. He did nothing against Danell Nicholson and pulled out after 8 rounds. In all three fights he looked distinctly uninterested.
In 1996 he was hired as chief sparring partner for champion Mike Tyson in the lead-up to his fight with Bruce Seldon. It was during this time, with a little encouragement from Team Tyson, Ferguson began to realise he was better than he gave himself credit for.
He returned late in 1996, now aged 39, and with his new positive attitude destroyed undefeated Bobby Harris. He followed this up with two more wins before a high profile fight on HBO with hard hitting Tongan Samson Po'uha, in 1997. He decked Po'uha several times before knocking him out in the 8th round.
This led to another big fight on HBO in 1998, where a now 40 year old Ferguson took on young and undefeated powerful punching contender Hasim Rahman for the USBA belt. Rahman's best right hands failed to budge the grizzled veteran, however his youth rather than skill got him by and he won a wide decision that didn't do justice to the struggle Ferguson gave him. Rahman would go on to defeat Lennox Lewis and thus become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
The revitalised Ferguson was still on a roll, he followed up the Rahman fight with an easy 10-round decision over ex-crusierweight champ Tyrone Booze, and then took on Obed Sullivan, ranked #4 in the world, and used his experience and skills to completely befuddle and outpunch Sullivan, breezing a perfect win.
In 1999 Jimmy Thunder, citing an injury, dropped out of a fight with the gargantuan and ferocious Polish contender Andrew Golota. True to form, Ferguson was tapped as Thunder's replacement and instantly accepted the bout on short notice. Upon learning that Fergsuon would now be his opponent, the always enigmatic and bizarre Golota locked himself in a room and wept profusely for several hours before his wife was finally able, after an exhaustive effort, to extricate him and consequently agree to the fight. Despite Golota's pre-fight trepidation, he completely shut out the crafty Ferguson, rocking him a couple of times and winning a lopsided decision.
After this loss Ferguson's manager handed him back his contract and stopped answering his calls. Ferguson could no longer find fights. His career ended in 1999 with a record of 26-18-0 with 16 knockouts.
He spoke of comebacks in 2000 and 2002 but each time nothing came of them. He complained of being "black balled" by the boxing establishment.
He has mentioned Real Estate, bowling, and billiards as his hobbies.
