Zuri Lawrence

Infobox Boxer


name=Zuri Lawrence
realname=Zuri Lawrence
nickname=
weight=Heavyweight
nationality=flagicon|USA American
birth_date=birth date and age|1970|06|22
birth_place=Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
death_date|=
death_place|=
home=Wappinger Falls, New York, USA
style=Orthodox
total=40
wins=24
losses=14
draws=4
no contests=1
KO=0|

Zuri Lawrence is a professional heavyweight boxer (born on June 22, 1970 in Poughkeepsie, New York) best known to score a few notable wins over famous boxers but never reaching contender status.

Career

He stands 6'4" (193 cm) and has a typical fight night weight of between 230 and 240 pounds. His professional record stands at 24 wins (22 by unanimous decision, 1 by disqualification), 14 loses (6 by unanimous decision, 5 by technical knockout, 1 by knockout) and 4 draws with 1 no contest (as of November 1, 2007). [ [http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=015802 boxer Zuri Lawrence ] ]

Lawrence has never fought for a major heavyweight title (WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO) but he is an important test for many up-and-coming prospects. Notable losses include a technical knockout loss in 11 (after being down 4 times) [ [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:933608 Sultan Ibragimov vs. Zuri Lawrence - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia ] ] to Russian prospect Sultan Ibragimov and being brutally rendered unconscious by Calvin "the Boxing Banker" Brock. [ [http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fighters/brock_calvin/bio.html HBO: Boxing: Fighters: Bio: CALVIN BROCK ] ]

Notable wins include upsetting the comeback trail of Jameel McCline after McCline's second heavyweight title loss and being the first to defeat highly touted Italian Olympic medallist [ [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=VIDOZPAO01 Paolo Vidoz Olympic medals and stats ] ] and prospect Paolo Vidoz.

Lawrence is a quick and skilled boxer who is rarely stopped and can give 12 rounds of technical boxing; this combined with his seeming lack of the ability to knock an opponent out (0 knockouts in 40 fights) makes Lawrence a popular opponent amongst matchmakers looking to get some notice for their prospects. Prior to their fight Calvin Brock gave an example of this thinking in an interview with Tiger Boxing: “Zuri Lawrence? Sure. He’s good, but he doesn’t have any power, so I wouldn’t call it a high-risk fight." [http://tigerboxing.com/articles/index.php?aid=1001245460]

In November 2007 Lawrence took on Hasim Rahman on short notice on the Versus Channel. In a close battle in which Versus' viewers had Lawrence leading, he was knocked out by Rahman in the 10th and final round. The scores at the time of stoppage were 86-84 Lawrence, 86-84 and 88-82 Rahman. In a rare feat, Lawrence was knocked out of the ring and onto the arena floor, only to return to the ring prior to the 20 count and continue fighting.

In July 2008 Lawrence won in a huge upset over heavyweight prospect Albert Sosnowski after taking the fight on late notice.

References

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