Saturday, August 22, 2020

JERRY BROWN

 

 Nickname: "Downtown"

 
   Indiana's "Downtown" Jerry Brown turned professional on June 2, 1987 with a 3rd round tko over 24 fight veteran - George Reedy, and then followed that with a 7-fight win streak before tasting his first defeat at the hands of a much bigger Bill Robinson on the undercard of the Marlon Starling/Fujio Ozaki WBA Welterweight title bout held at the Atlantic City Convention Center. After that promising 8-0, 5 ko start, Brown stepped onto a pretty big stage only to taste an upset defeat. Brown followed his first loss with a draw, and then took his 2nd loss by decision to a young 1-0 midwest circuit upstart named Tim Dendy.  Starting 8-0 and then going 0-2-1, Brown's record now stood at 8-2-1.  Still promising and having shown plenty of good skills, Jerry battled on.
 
    The popular Indiana fighter battled on and ran off a nice 6-0-1 streak fighting on local midwest
Jerry Brown was a welcomed additon to every local card!
circuit cards.  Putting his record at 14-2-2 and earning him the call to travel to Denmark and face world ranked Mads Larsen (14-1) on the undercard of Brian Nielsen vs Larry Holmes for the IBO Heavyweight Title. Brown was fighting out of his weight division and was stopped by the much bigger Denmark hero in the first round.  That loss did nothing to tarnish the reputation of Brown. He was not expected to win against a world ranked contender, on the road, and against a fighter who held an 8 pound advantage. It came as no surprise that Brown lost that fight, but it did show his willingness to take on any fighter that would challenge him, and not only did it not hurt his reputation, but it actually strengthened it, and "Downtown" Jerry Brown got the call to take his 14-3-2 record into the ring to face Freeman Barr (14-1) for the vacant IBO middleweight world title. Again, Brown would travel to the country of the home-town favorite, which was Nassau in the Bahamas, but this time he was inoculated against the power of the big stage, and Brown gave Barr all he could handle for 12 action packed rounds.  The world ranked local favorite prevailed by a unanimous decision, but, the fight demonstrated Jerry Browns much improved skills and ring savvy.

   Brown returned to Indiana and dropped a surprising 4 round majority decision to fellow Indiana local Michael Smith, and then followed that with a 4 round win over "traveling road show" - Reggie Strickland, a veteran of over 240 professional fights!
 
   Jerry's reputation was cemented as one of the best boxers on the midwest circuit of boxing, and he was given a shot at highly respected Craig Cummings (40-3-1) for his WBA North American Super Middleweight title belt.  That fight was held Feb. 24, 1999 at the Station Casino in Kansas City, MO. The fight went the full 12 round distance, and it was Cummings successfully defending his title belt on a close Majority decision. Cummings also added the vacant Mid American title belt to his collection. Jerry Brown was unsuccessful for the 2nd time at winning a title belt, but he returned with a 6 round decision win over Reggie Strickland in their rematch. And after a convicing 6 round win over Donnie "The Spoiler" Penelton, Brown was offered one more chance to put a title belt around his waist.
 
   Oct. 2, 1999 was the date and Brown (17-6-2) would have to win a 3rd meeting with fellow Indiana fighter Reggie Strickland.  Strickland had many reasons to give this battle all he had, including wanting to prove that he could beat Brown after losing 2 decisions to him, and to get that cherished Indiana State Title belt. Brown had failed in two previous attempts at winning a title, and this could be his final shot, so he went in with intentions to come away with a title belt around his waist.  The bout was set for 8 rounds and the venue was the arena at the Aztar Casino in Evansville, Indiana. It was a raucous crowd who were there to root for their local favorites, and it was a great night for Jerry Brown who won the State title via unanimous decision in front of that appreciative crowd!
 
   Jerry Brown never defended that title, but he finished with 2 more pro fights, scoring a 2nd round tko over Larry Hyatt, and then finishing his pro campaign with an unsuccessful NABA Light Heavyweight title challenge against Robert Koon (21-8-1) in Mobile Alabama. 

   "Downtown" Jerry Brown ended with a final tally of 19 wins, 7 losses, and 2 draws, winning 9 by knockout.  He held the Indiana state Light-Heavyweight championship, and was a real crowd-pleaser in every one of those 28 pro fights!

Check out Jerry's complete pro ledger on boxrec: JERRY BROWN PRO LEDGER

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