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Forgotten Champions: Derrick Gainer


BoztheMadman
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Known as "Smoke", Derrick Gainer was a guy that could both box and brawl. He was one of the best featherweights at a time when that division was known for strong contenders and champions. His greatest triumph, albeit somewhat controversial, was when he wrested the WBA title from then-unbeaten Freddie Norwood (38-0-1 at the time) with a sensational performance in a dirty fight where Norwood retorted to wrestling tactics. Before that, he had a couple unsuccessful attempts at winning a world title, getting stopped by first Kevin Kelley and then Diego Corrales. Here is the story of Derrick Gainer, after Roy Jones the best and most famous Pensacola fighter.

 

As mentioned, he was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida, born 22 August 1972. He grew to be 5'9 and with a reach of 72 inches, which for a featherweight is of course impressive. There is no info on wether he boxed as amateur, but given that he turned pro at still 17, it is unlikely he had many fights. He was trained by Alton Merkerson, Roy Jones jr's trainer and later on in his career was also managed by RJJ. A slick southpaw with fast feet who could also hit, Gainer first lost in his third fight, by SD6 to Scott Phillips. He also dropped two decisions early on, first to Greg Torres and then to Roberto Garcia, future IBF super feather champion and today a successful trainer. Gainer put Garcia down in round 8 with the left hand, but lost a very close decision to then 16-0 Garcia. In 1995 he won the NABF title by outpointing Harold Warren. He then landed a fight for the lesser WBU (World Boxing Union) title against Kevin Kelley, the Flushing Flash. It was 15 June 1996 at the Coliseum in Jacksonville and the fight was a thrilling and fast-paced brawl, where Gainer put down Kelley once in round 4 but was down twice before getting knocked out in round 8 with a left hook after nearly swelling Kelley's right eye shut. Kelley was in danger of losing the fight due to that and had to go all out to win. The fight was aired on HBO. Gainer went back on track by first winning the WBC Continental Americas title with a KO2 against Patrick Simeon and then winning another minor title, NABU, this time at super featherweight, by TKO12 against Alric Johnson. On 7 August 1997 he made an impressive first defense of it by knocking out multiple world champion Manuel Medina in 9 rounds after pretty much dominating the fight. Medina was known as a slick technician and was only an inch shorter, so this was a very impressive performance. This was also the first time somebody had scored a clean knockout over him.

 

After beating the two-time world super featherweight title challenger Orlando Soto of Panama by TKO5, Gainer got his revenge against Kevin Kelley in a rematch on 18 July '98. Gainer put Kelley down in rounds 1 and 7 and coasted to a unanimous decision. Harold Lederman even scored it 99-89 for him. This fight was in Madison Square Garden and aired by HBO. He once again beat Harold Warren by UD12 to win another minor title, the USBA 130-pound one. He was then supposed to also rematch Roberto Garcia, but he pulled out shortly before the fight and Gainer instead beat Donovan Carey by KO6 to win the interim NABF super featherweight title, 5 June '99. He then challenged the IBF champion Diego "Chico" Corrales and got his shot against him 18 March 2000 at the MGM Grand. For perhaps the first time in his career, Gainer faced a guy who was taller than him, by about 2 inches. Corrales was also known for his power and durability and he put Gainer down twice in the third round to win by what many thought was a premature stoppage. Before that, Gainer had won a round on all three scorecards and was holding his own.

 

Finally, after 10 years as a pro, Gainer would realize his potential and his dream to become a true world champion when he fought the WBA featherweight champion, Freddie "Lil Hagler" Norwood. Norwood was as mentioned unbeaten in 39 fights, had class, boxing intelligence and power and was physically strong, though shorter by three inches. He was not in a good place in his life and had been in jail not too long before the fight, which happened on 9 September 2000 at the New Orleans Arena in "The Big Easy". Also, Norwood had failed to make the 126 limit. Norwood started using dirty tricks such as hitting below the belt, wrestling down Gainer and hitting him on the kidneys and behind the head. In the second round, Gainer landed a quick left which put Norwood on his ass. Norwood grinned as he quickly got up. In the sixth, after getting hit below the belt a few times too many, an angry Gainer retaliated and hit Norwood below the belt a couple times, which sent him to the canvas in pain. In the ninth, Gainer again sent Norwood down with a big right hand and a follow up left and this time, Norwood was hurt and took a bit longer to get up. Norwood threw Gainer to the canvas with a wrestling move in the next round and also hit him behind the head twice after that. In round 11 the same thing that happened in round 6 repeated: Norwood again low blowed Gainer and Gainer again retaliated, hitting him below the belt three times which sent Norwood down in agony again, this time unable to beat the count. The referee was useless and after counting to 18, he waved the fight off. The official decision was a TKO victory for Gainer, which was of course angrily protested by Norwood. There would be no rematch, as Norwood retired for almost 6 years following the fight.

 

This was not exactly the best and most honest way of becoming a world champ, but the title was his nonetheless. Also his first defense was controversial, as he scored a split decision victory over Victor Polo of Colombia, in a fight where also the vacant NBA title was on the line. The punchstats showed Polo outlanding Gainer with 268 punches to 200, even though Gainer connected at a higher percentage, 48 to 33. Harold Lederman had it clearly for the champion however, 117-110 and the fight was in Tampa, Florida, wth Roy Jones promoting. For unknown reasons, Gainer was then absent from the ring for 15 months, following a minor non-title fight in May of 2001, where he stopped journeyman Cedric Mingo by TKO2. It went exactly 18 months to his second defense of the WBA belt against 18-0 Daniel Seda, which happened 24 August 2002 in Seda's home country of Puerto Rico. Gainer got off to a quick start and put Seda down in the first round, but in the second an accidental head butt cut Gainer and the fight had to be stopped, ending as a technical draw. His third defense was against Oscar Leon, another Colombian and once again, like against Polo, Gainer won by a split decision, despite putting Leon down in rounds 8 and 10. It appears the judge Carol Castellano, who gave Leon the fight by 114-112, was watching a different fight than her other two colleagues, one of whom had it 117-110 for the champion. It was 12 April 2003 and on 1 November that year, Gainer had his second great showdown in a title unification fight against the IBF champion: Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez. Gainer performed poorly and only one judge gave him a round out of the first 7, when the fight had to be stopped because Gainer had again been cut by an accidental headbutt, late in round 7. He thus lost clearly by a technical decision and his reign had ended, after 3 years and 3 defenses.

 

He was again absent from the ring for over a year before landing another world title shot, for his old WBA belt, against Chris John of Indonesia. The fight happened in Jakarta, John's hometown, 22 April 2005 and Gainer started out well by knocking John down in the first round, but was outboxed for most of the rest of the match and in the end had to go home empty handed, only getting that first round on all scorecards. He had been killing himself to make the weight before the fight and needed 3 attempts to do it, which might have affected his performance. After this fight, Gainer only fought sporadically, returning in 2006 as a lightweight and winning his last belt, IBA Americas one, by SD12 against journeyman Phillip Payne. He ended his career as a light welterweight, also having one fight at the welterweight limit before that, when he beat debutant Antonio Santos by TKO5 29 September 2012 in Pensacola. He had now been a pro for 22 years and he retired at the age of 40 and a record of 43 victories, 25 by ko, 7 losses and 1 draw.

 

In 1999, he started a charter school for high risk kids which he named after his late grandmother, dr. Ruby J. Gainer. He also started a childhood-obesity program called Fit Nation which worked to improve the health of kids, that same year. It is a non-profit program located in Pensacola. Derrick Gainer was a boxer-puncher who was tricky to fight because of his height and reach and his boxing skills and sound defense. He still wasn't afraid of mixing it up, even against such hard-punching warriors as Kevin Kelley and Freddie Norwood. Inactivity ruined his career as a world champion and he was just a shadow of his old self against Marquez and John. At his best, he would have at least given them both close fights. It is known that he had some issues with Roy Jones and it seems managerial problems were to blame for his inactivity. Here's to you, Derrick SMOKE Gainer!

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Re: Forgotten Champions: Derrick Gainer

 

--- What were his issues with Roy? As I recall they were Mutt and Jeff buddies.

:mlol: What?? Lol...not sure, I just remember somebody posting something about them not being the best of friends anymore, after Gainer became the champ. Whoever posted that was blaming Gainer for it, but they likely were just Jones-fanboys.

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Re: Forgotten Champions: Derrick Gainer

 

You mean he became more offensive or he tried to move like him??

 

He definitely tried to copy Roy's moves - left hand slung low, feet spread wide, dipping in for an uppercut he virtually threw from the shoulder, bending at the waist and hen trying to angle a shot to the body etc. It looked good in spurts, but he didn't have anything like Roy's astonishing reflexes or instincts. The Marquez fight was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen in boxing.

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