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Forgotten Warriors: Troy Dorsey


BoztheMadman
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Despite his record of 15-11-4, Troy Dorsey was no joke. Almost all of his losses came against top competition and some of them were questionable. Dorsey was a big puncher at featherweight who briefly captured the IBF title there and also fought as super featherweight and lightweight later on. He has fought 11 world champions in his 13-year career.

 

A native of Mansfield, Texas, Dorsey was born 19 November 1962. He first began training karate and taekwondo at the age of 10, before switching to full contact kickboxing and winning three world championships there, as well as a gold medal at the amateur championships in 1985 and 1987. He also debuted as a pro boxer in 1985, winning his first fight by TKO 2 but then losing the second by a first-round ko to Scott Phillips. After winning one fight on points and drawing one, he faced the future IBF featherweight champion Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson on 29 September 1987 and did surprisingly well against the slicker Johnson, in the end losing by split decision after 8 rounds. He continued kickboxing until 1990, when he decided to devote himself to boxing. After the loss to Johnson, he won 5 fights, 4 by knockout and then in 1989 first beat the undefeated Anthony Boyle by TKO 10 before facing Harold Rhodes in a fight for the NABF featherweight title. The fight was exciting and both guys landed many punches, but in the end Dorsey put Rhodes down in the tenth and the last round to win by TKO. This landed him a fight against the IBF champion Jorge "Maromero" Paez on 4 February 1990. Paez had problems making the weight and the fight was very even, but Dorsey got knocked down in round 2 and lost on a split decision in the end. The scores were very close. He then stopped the former WBA bantamweight champ Bernardo Pinango by TKO 8, only two months later on 7 April. It was Pinango's last fight. He then rematched Paez on 8 July and again the fight was very close and competitive, only to end in a draw. Judge Dalby Shirley gave Dorsey the fight by 116-112 while Jerry Roth favoured the champion by 115-113 and the third judge had it a draw.

 

Also in his next fight, a rematch with Tom Johnson, would he experience a draw. It was his first defense of the NABF belt. But then finally, after two close but unsuccessful attempts at winning the world title, he finally was successful as Paez vacated his belt to move up to super featherweight and challenge Tony Lopez. Dorsey faced Alfred Rangel, a fringe contender also from Texas, on 3 June 1991 and annihilated him in 1 round with a single right hand. He lost the title only 2 months later however, fighting against the slick technician Manuel Medina. Although he had Medina down in round 2, he was outboxed but still gave Medina a good fight, in the end losing by UD. After that he faced Kevin Kelley, the future WBC featherweight champion and dropped a unanimous decision to him in New York. Kelley later stated it was a "night spent in hell", and the decision was said to be influenced by the hometown factor. After winning one easy fight by TKO 4, in October 1992 he again faced an undefeated fighter and future world champ in Jesse James Leija, who gave him a beating for five rounds until Dorsey had to retire in his corner and was unable to come out for the sixth. It was only the second time he had been stopped. He was also down to one knee in the last round. The fight was in San Antonio, Leija's hometown. After this, he was obviously washed up. He was then soundly outboxed by technician Calvin Grove and lost by a shoutout UD and in June 1993 he faced the young Oscar De La Hoya and was cut over the right eye after one round, which brought forth a stoppage. Next year, he lost in a fight against the 24-0 Eddie Hopson for the NABF belt. In his last hoorah, on 18 October 1996 he faced the former WBO super feather champion Jimmi Bredahl, who lost his title to De La Hoya himself. The fight was in Vejle, Denmark and for the vacant IBO super feather title. Bredahl retired between rounds 7 and 8 and Dorsey won his second world title, even though at that time IBO belt was not very highly regarded. He also decisioned the former world super bantam title challenger Rudy Zavala after that, on 19 April 1997. But Zavala was not at his best weight or in his best shape anymore.

 

That October, he was forced to retire after 7 rounds by Jesus Chavez in a fight for the NABF title and next year on 11 July he faced Rafael Ruelas for IBA Intercontinental lightweight title fight and was dominated and stopped in 6 rounds. He was now almost 36 and retired after that, his only second lightweight fight. In his 15 wins, he scored 11 knockouts. In his best years, he was only stopped once, by Leija. Dorsey fought frequently and maybe this is a reason why he has as many losses as he does. In 1990, he had 3 fights against elite level opponents and 2 of them were for the world title. He also defended his world title only 2 months after he won it, which is a rarely heard of thing. Dorsey was obviously a tough and hardworking fighter with plenty of power. In 1994, he made a brief return to kickboxing and defeated Mechell Rochette by knockout to become the ISKA world lightweight full contact champion. He previously also won this title as a bantamweight. He had a very interesting and exciting career indeed; even though not too successful as a boxer, he still gave some fine fighters close fights and was entertaining to watch. He fought everyone, no matter how good they were. This makes him a Forgotten Warrior. Today, he has his own karate school in his hometown of Mansfield, which is a suburb of Fort Worth. He is known as a religious man and quit drinking and drugs in 1998.

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