Nick Wells 61 years old today .Interesting article link found from 1972 .

You can see when Wells and Holmes were standing side by side why southpaw Wells straight left would reach Larry's jaw.

The article also mentioned Jesse Valdez plans not to turn pro.....and Marvin Johnson...who became LtHvy Champ.

Happy Birthday Nick !!!

 

He's got a record for 1st round KO's or close to it. At one point he had 16 or 17 1st round KO's in a row. a killing machine as an amateur and a washout as a pro.

 

As an amateur, Nick Wells twice beat Larry Holmes by knockout: once in a Golden Gloves national event in the 3rd round, and later that year in 1972 at the Olympic trials with a first round knockout. Wells had an opportunity to be trained by Lou Duva, but ended up going with local promoter Winky Groom, under whom he was not able to achieve contender status. His amateur record was 189-18 with 110 KOs, 72 of them in the 1st round. One of the most popular amateur boxers in Texas during the 1970s, Well was a five-time Fort Worth Golden Gloves champion and a two-time Star-telegram Texas State Golden Gloves champion.

Wells, a four-time All-Air Force champion was a runner-up in the 1972 Olympic Trials to Duane Bobick. During this year, Wells was also a National AAU champion and a gold medalist in the CISM Games -- better known as the World Military Games.

In the post boxing career, Wells is a fire captain for the Fort Worth Fire Department and a security officer.

 

71 KO's in first round:admin

 

He had amazing power as an amateur and his 2 KO's over Holmes at the height of Holmes amateur career were great examples of his power. I understand Holmes was taken out on a stretcher both times.

As a pro I have to say Nick was one of the most wasted and mismanaged prospects. He never had the advanced training or the build up he deserved. Nick tops my list as a talented guy who was mismanaged as a pro, Willie Dewitt of Canada is another along with his countryman Shawn O'Sullivan

His amateur wars with Bobick were legendary and that was the Bobick that beat Holmes and Stevenson the first time before the GOLD medal publicity got to his head.


Kolcade4 are there any films or articles concerning the Holmes fights?

 

..happy birthday to to the hardest hitting heavyweight i ever saw....and i've seen a lot of them...when he turned pro he suffered from the bob satterfield syndrome....if he didn't get you early you'd probably win....he ran out of gas after a few rounds....never looked really in shape.....but in the first round as an amateur he'd practically run from his corner and bang you with a bomb and few survived...

 

I want his 2 KOs of Larry Holmes bad .

 

That would be Great !!!

 

Ahhh, using my own documentation against me, you sir are pure evil!

 

It's a shame that his pro career was so dismal, I saw a few of his amateur fights on TV and couldn't wait to see him go pro. Well, by the time I know of his pro career I saw it on Boxrec and Nick was on to other career choices.
Never saw any of his pro fights and I am actually glad I never did.
If he'd had the career that I'd imagined, Mike tyson would have been called "The Black Nick Wells".

 

BTW- there was a poster here at ESB who's screen name was Nick Wells Jr. Do you think that was actually Nick's Son? He claimed to be.

 

...engaged in some PMs with nick junior and i have no doubt that he was nick's son. i lost touch with him after a hospital stay and should have tried to contact him again but i had a lot to catch up on when i got home and just didn't get caught up enough.

nick jr. ....if you're still around either make a post here or send me a PM? and i'll get back to you.