To be a professional fighter itself speaks volumes about a man’s street credibility.
In a society where perceived ‘realness’ is both marketable and coveted, one would think with a perfect fighting record (20-0, 15 KOs) and the considerable time he’s done in a federal prison, U.S. heavyweight Amir “Hard Core” Mansour would have all the bragging rights in the world on the platform of toughness and ‘street cred’.
However, the man himself—wiser, and perhaps a bit battle-weary—sees it differently.
“I am not trying to scare or act like some sort of gangster or street thug. I despise the streets. I despise anyone who carries themselves like a thug or a gangster. I don’t brag about being incarcerated. I am ashamed of being incarcerated. I am disappointed in myself. I am not using prison to be a pedestal for my toughness. I don’t deny who I am as a person. I don’t deny my history, my present or my future,” said Mansour at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
This Friday in Philadelphia, 41-year old Mansour originally from Wilmington, Delaware, will get a chance to prove his mettle on the national stage as NBC Sports broadcasts his 10-round fight against Steve Cunningham, a two-time World Champion who has headlined Madison Square Garden in recent years.
With the recent retirement of WBC World Champion Vitali Klitschko, who has decided to pursue a political career in response to the recent turmoil in his home country of Ukraine, the Heavyweight Division of professional boxing is possibly at its biggest turning point in well over a decade. For too long, boxing purists and pundits have been clamoring for a new and marketable champion—preferably American—to take boxing to new heights in the mainstream consciousness.
“Mansour is the most marketable athlete to come up in some time,” says boxing enthusiast Osei Conley. “We hear about this elusive talent called ‘knockout power.’ Well, the man has that. He has a story. He has a message. He is articulate and educated. Not just for boxing, but for professional sports in general—he’s the total package.”
New Jersey-born sports historian Salvatore Puglisi agrees with this assessment: “The last boxer you saw capture the public imagination was Mike Tyson, and that was nearly 20 years ago. Amir Mansour is ducked and avoided not just to his KO rate, but also for the fact that he’s a southpaw (left handed stance) which makes more of a problem for any heavyweight out there. I believe he’s going to be the first American Heavyweight Champion we’ve had since Shannon Briggs, absolutely.”
With a nation watching, this Friday is certainly make or break time for Mansour. At 41, none could be blamed for questioning if he’s too old in what’s widely regarded as a young man’s sport. But prison preserved Mansour, who adheres to a strict Muslim lifestyle and abstains from unhealthy eating and alcohol. And he credits his faith and fanbase for giving him additional strength. Fans of professional boxing everywhere will soon see if that strength sustains him in the toughest fight of his career.
To watch: NBC Sports Net, 10 p.m. ET
Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University, Philadelphia PA.
