Terry McGroom

Terry McGroom (born March 16, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois) was a boxer in the Heavyweight division.

Amateur career

McGroom had a stellar amateur career prior to turning professional. He was a National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight champion in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1992 and a National Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion in 1991. McGroom also won a silver medal from the 1990 Goodwill Games in the 81KG division.

Professional career

McGroom turned pro in 1993 and started off his pro career going undefeated in his first 11 fights. He then faced Darrol Wilson in 1995, a heavy hitting heavyweight who would make a name for himself later on, and battled his way to a 10 round draw. McGroom's next big fight was a 8th round TKO loss to future contender Kirk Johnson. Johnson was much bigger than McGroom and slugged him to the canvas.

After the loss to Johnson, McGroom's impressive victory over Estaban Pizzarro in 1999 earned him the biggest fight of his career against James Toney in 2000. It was a close fight with Toney and some thought the decision should have been given to McGroom. In 2001 he challenged Vasily Jirov for his IBF Cruiserweight belt. The result was a shocking one round KO for Jirov, the result from one well place body shot.

McGroom then moved up to Heavyweight and had little success. He lost to future contenders Dominick Guinn, Malik Scott, and Timor Ibragimov before retiring in 2004.

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