Mark E. Ortega
Freelance
March 23, 2013
Years from now, most people will have forgotten about Darnell Boone.
I'm not talking 20 years from now. If last night's sixth-round TKO loss to Adonis Stevenson on WealthTV is the last we see of Boone, even a few years from now he will have faded from the memories of most. His 19-21-3 record, despite the level of competition and circumstances it has come against, won't standout as anything but subpar.
The first time I saw Darnell Boone was when I got ahold of the video of him nearly stopping currently undefeated super middleweight champion Andre Ward, early in the careers of both in 2005.
Boone lost the first three rounds handily, and was getting a boxing lesson. But as would be the case throughout his career, Boone's determination didn't wane even as he ate jabs and combinations from his more skilled opponent. Boone would remain patient, and the first time Ward's guard came down (quite literally, actually), Boone pounced. Boone caught his Olympic gold medal winning opponent with a devastating uppercut that took his legs and promptly deposited him on the canvas.
For Ward, it was his first, and probably most difficult taste of adversity in his career. This would be the case for many of the undefeated fighters who at one point or another were matched with Boone. Whether it be due to the contracted weight or the amount of time to prepare, the young unbeaten or once-beaten fighter always had the advantage against Boone, who often came in on a week's notice for these kinds of fights.
Like with Ward, Boone would often lose the early rounds as he is far from the most skilled operator inside a boxing ring. Boone only got involved with the sport on a whim at a late age when he took a younger sibling to a Youngstown gym, immediately issuing a challenge to spar despite no training.
As would be the common thread in Boone's career, he was thrown the toughest possible option: his first sparring partner was future middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, according to trainer Jack Loew.
Despite telling me for a May 2012 spread on Boone in Boxing Monthly that Boone got handed his ass by Pavlik, Loew was quick to point out that Boone didn't quit and was back at the gym the next day.
It was only before his last few fights that Boone had an actual team behind him. A local Ohio-based managerial company Lights Out Management took an interest in Boone and provided him the tools necessary to get as much preparation before a fight as possible.
For last night's fight with Stevenson, which was a rematch of a 2010 bout that saw Boone starch a then-undefeated Stevenson in two rounds, Boone had a seven-week training camp.
Had Boone taken the fight with Stevenson on a week or two's notice like most of his other big fights had been, he would have likely been stopped in the first two rounds. Stevenson laid a beating on him, particularly to the body, but Boone weathered the storm and forced Stevenson to remain on his game every second.
Even at the end of his rope, with proper training, Boone was not going to be an easy out for his more skilled opponent, who was on the verge of a June title challenge against light heavyweight kingpin Chad Dawson before the fight. He ate shots in the first few rounds that would have put out nearly anyone at 168 or 175 pounds, as WealthTV commentator Corey Erdman noted.
The thing that stood out from Boone last night was, even when he was getting battered, he was always throwing back, and was there to win the fight every second that he was in it.
When I first saw Boone drop and nearly stop Andre Ward, who is from near where I live in Oakland, Calif., I took an interest in his career. Whenever his name would pop up on a schedule at a moment's notice against an unbeaten prospect, I kept a lookout for the result. Often, it would be a majority or split decision loss. Whenever I was able to hunt down footage, I would often find you could make a case for a Boone victory, like his 2009 loss to Craig McEwan, then a prospect with Golden Boy Promotions.
It will be a wonder what Boone could have become if someone had taken an interest in him around the time he dropped Ward. Maybe his technique could have been refined. In essence, he was nothing more than a tough, hard-nosed guy that was sometimes able to outlast his opponents. But in reality, boxing needs more of these Darnell Boone types in order to help us find out what some of these young fighters are made of.
I've talked to a lot of fighters who have mixed it up with Boone as pros. More often than not, they've told me he provided them a tough test when they needed it. For Ward, he knows that he can climb off the canvas when hurt and survive two more rounds when he has no legs. That experience hasn't proven necessary yet, but maybe in the future, it'll come in handy.
A source told me that prior to the Stevenson fight last night, Boone had a standing offer to fight Daniel Jacobs. After a knockout loss, that now is likely an impossibility.
Who knows, maybe Boone would provide a good test for Jacobs at this stage. After seeing Boone go out on his shield while taking absurd punishment last night, I'm hoping with the payday he received he can opt for retirement.
Darnell Boone had an up-and-down career that will likely go without much mention once he decides to hang them up. For me, I'll always remember him as one of the toughest motherfuckers I've ever seen lace up a pair of gloves.
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