BoxRec

How good was James Broad? I've never seen him fight but I know he beat Bonecrusher in his pro debut and later ballooned to about 300 pounds... He seems to have been quite an amateur too.

james broad-axe broad was an excellent heavyweight. he was big at 6'5'', and could work well around 240 as long as it was a toned 240. he had a chunky, greg page type body(but much bigger) with gelled hair and a goatee. unlike todays big men, broad could really fight AND take a punch.

in the amateurs he was the only man to KO marvis frazier( a 2nd round KO). marvis beat the best in the amateurs his only other loss was on points to tony tubbs.

broad could punch pretty good and packed a heavy uppercut. he was a hot prospect in his early pro career, in about his 3rd fight he made bonecrusher smith quit(smith started fast, broad weathered the storm and smith dropped in 4).

he was always chunky but the first time he came in light, in the 220s he got beat on points easily by marvis frazier.

he came back with 2 good wins, on points over larry alexander where he won the nabf title, and a knockout of ranked eddie gregg.

then on the undercard of the tony tubbs-greg page world title fight he had the misfortune of running into the REAL tim witherspoon. despite having a granite chin(like most of the top, 80s heavies), an inshape and fired up witherspoon bombarded broad in the 2nd round with some 30 straight devastating heavy punches leaving broad face down and out, and without his nabf title.

he came back with a good 1st round knockout of joe fraziers nephew rodney frazier(a pretty good pro), but in 1986 lost to #1 tony tucker over 12 for the vacant usba title. a great fight at this time owuldve been with an up and coming mike tyson but it never happened.

after this it all went wrong. james got thrown to the wolves and lost a decision in italy to francesco damiani and to greg page on the tyson-thomas undercard.

james was not training, had a drink problem and was increasingly out of shape. he suffered an ugly knockout loss in south africa to johnny duplooy and a premature 1st round stoppage to razor ruddock in canada. he wasnt training, had lost his skills and was fighting people in their own back yards.

a misguided comeback in 1992 ended with an ancient broad losing on points to calvin jones.

he was genuinely dangerous and could have been so much more and fought for a title but was mismanaged and had his own bad habits too. a bit like an 80s jeff merritt. these days hes broke and has a serious liver disease from his drink problem. a sad story.

anyone else got any memorys of james broad?

Excellent Bio on JAMES BROAD OVERHAND RIGHT. The fight with "BONECRUSHER" SMITH was SMITH's pro debut. The amateur fight with MARVIS FRAZIER, where he knocked FRAZIER out, I remember as a 1st rd KO but if you say 2 I guess I'm wrong. FRAZIER was hit directly on the top of the head and it was jammed down pinching a nerve in his neck requiring surgery. MARVIS has a prominent surgical scar across the base of his head to this day. He got even with BROAD via a 10 rd decision in the pros. The NABF title fight with TIM WITHERSPOON saw BROAD coming in at a robust 261 lbs. Your right, JAMES "BROADAXE" BROAD had talent and is just another example of how a young man can throw it all away. I dont think he had a chance of winning the Heavyweight title but 23-10 doesnt even come close to defining his talents. Dan Coli

cheers dan. you maybe right, it may have been a 1st round KO over marvis.

i wonder if this could be used as a bio on james broads record? that would be great...

I remember watching Broad against Ruddock,he was overweight,slow,and gave up quickly.The result by the way a tko1 loss.He may of been a decent amateur but he didn't cut it as a pro.

no mate james broad was an overweight shot fighter by the time he fought ruddock. and it was a premature stoppage, the crowd booed the refs action and even ruddock and broad seemed suprised.

you cant judge a fighters worth and entire career on one performance when he was over the hill what are you thinking?

Let's not get too carried away here with James Board. Board was a good heavyweight, but as a pro he was a journey man. He didn't beat too many good heavyweights as a pro, but Bonecrusher is a good victory. Dare I say I would have put money on the Bone if they rematched a little later on.

im not gettin carried away with him im saying he was a good boxer and under rated, and couldve gone further was he matched better. sort of like david bey.

bone lost to witherspoon, frazier, holmes and tubbs in his peak years so why would he beat a man who'd already beat him?

he was an nabf champion and beat some good contenders of his day give him some respect thats all.


(overhand_right)

Bone would beat him in a rematch. True Bone lost to Holmes in his prime, Holmes was an all-time great what do you expect? Tubbs beat him, Tubbs is a cutie who could lay back and jab. Witherspoon also beat him by decision, but was KO'ed in one round in the rematch. Sure Witherspoon had out of ring problems, but you can not discredit a man for doing his job and winning. A win is a win.

Bone also crushed the deadly Mike Weaver in one round, and then bet him by decision in the rematch. He was the first to KO another deadly banger in Frank Bruno (who would also win a title). Gave a prime Razor Ruddock all he could handle, and Holmes all he could handle too. He beat David Bey aswell.

Over all I think BoneCrusher was a much better fighter. I give credit to Board for his win over Bone, who is a KO puncher and tough cookie, but he had few highlights after that. He faded away pretty quick soon after and Bone went on to establish himself as one of the division's elite. That is why I think Bone would have won had they rematched.

I always thought of Board as a bust. He was suppose to be better. He was an under acheiver,which is not that uncommon with '80s heavyweights. I don't really like guys who throw it away. I like the guys who are over acheivers like Bone.

i agree bone was an over achiever. he also beat my man jesse ferguson in a good performance in hawaii. 6pack what fights ahve you seen of broad im intrigued, you seem to have a low opinion of him.

a rematch im certain would see broad outbox bone but take some heavy punches along the way. i go for broad on points. he beat larry alexander who was good at the time and KOd rodney frazier in 1 which is a good result. he beat other guys i think he he would have dealt with bone in a rematch, going in there confident becaus ehe'd already beat the guy once.

overhand right

My buddy's dad had Board's fight with Razor on tape. He also had some other fight he lost on tape too, but the opponent doesn't stick in my mind. I will admit I saw Board in two losses which gives a bad impression. May be if I saw him win against a good heavy I would think otherwise. But looking at the facts, and his record, I don't see too many names. I honestly think he was lucky to get Bone while he was a novice. But we will never know, and I am sure neither of us will convince each other otherwise.

That was me who posted last.

Broad's best fight was with Eddie Gregg for the NABF title.Afterward, he fell off.Witherspoon took that title by ko and then, he was shut out by Tony Tucker for the USBA crown.

bone lost to witherspoon, frazier, holmes and tubbs in his peak years so why would he beat a man who'd already beat him?

BONECRUSHER lost to james broad in his debuT!!!!!!!!!!!!! he was very green. a prime bonercurhser beats a prime broad.


- and bonecrusher had holmes in trouble during there fight