Joppy Denies Assault Charges!

Recently I wrote an article for both Boxing Along The Beltway and Fightnews.com concerning recent assault charges against former three-time middleweight champion William Joppy.

After the story ran on Fightnews (which was a rehash of what The Washington Post printed earlier that day), Joppy's lawyers contacted me claiming there were inaccuracies in both stories. I talked to both Joppy and his lawyer Sander Davidson and the following article is a result of that conversation. I tried to get a hold of someone from Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan's camp but was unable to do so. Hopefully, someone from Buchanan's camp will contact me and I can give equal time to this situation.

This is the story as it will also appear on Fightnews.com


JOPPY ADDRESSES ASSAULT CHARGES; SAYS THEY’RE NOT TRUE!

Recently, the Washington Post reported (in a story that also appeared in part on Fightnews.com) that former three-time WBA Middleweight champion William Joppy was charged with first-degree assault in an incident on Sept. 8 in Capitol Heights, MD.

The Post and Fightnews reported that the victim of the alleged assault was undefeated middleweight prospect Henry “Sugar Poo” Buchanan of Capitol Heights.

However, in an exclusive Fightnews phone interview, Joppy and his attorney, Sander M. Davidson, said the report of the situation contained numerous inaccuracies and the charges are unfounded.

The Post, quoting a news release from the Prince George’s County Police Department, reported that on Sept. 8, Joppy approached an individual (reportedly Buchanan) around 5 pm at a traffic intersection. The release said the two began to argue and Joppy reached into the person’s vehicle and began to choke him before the person drove away. According to the release, Joppy then got into his own vehicle, chased the other car and hit it multiple times, causing it to spin out of control.

Joppy gave Fightnews a vastly different account of the situation, claiming he was the victim, not Buchanan.

“I was going over to look at Round One Gym (a recently closed gym in Capitol Heights where Joppy used to train). I was getting back into my car when Henry pulls up with three other guys in the car,” Joppy said. “Henry asked me, ‘what the ____are you doing around here looking for me?’”

“He struck me and hit me in my mouth and then he pulled off,” Joppy continued. “I jump into my car and he backed up into my car. He had a Navigator or Expedition, something like that. I guess he thought he wouldn’t damage the back of his car and he would damage the front of my car. He speeds off and I try to go to the side and tell him to get out of the car. He started to speed so fast, he loses control of his truck. When he lost control of his truck, I side swipe him, not purposely. He made it seem like I side swiped him purposely.”

“I was about to stop and get out of my car, but he had those guys with him. I didn’t know what they had. They could have had weapons. So I just kept going because if I had gotten out of the car, it would have really gotten ugly. So I went straight to the police station and pressed charges, but I got the warrant.”


According to Joppy and Davidson, this incident is the latest chapter in a two-year situation involving the two men. Joppy and Davidson claim the situation began in November of 2003 when Joppy was charged with assaulting James Ware at Round One Gym. Ware had come to the gym to repossess the car belonging to the gym owner’s wife. Joppy and Davidson say that it was actually Buchanan who hit Ware. At the time of this incident, Joppy was training at the gym getting ready for his December 13 contest against Bernard Hopkins.

On December 26, 2003, according to Davidson, Joppy was formally charged with assaulting Ware. In January of 2004, Ware filed a civil suit against Joppy. On August 12, 2004, Joppy was acquitted of all criminal charges. Ware’s civil suit against Joppy remains in litigation, but Davidson told Fightnews that in November of 2004, Ware filed another civil suit, this time against Buchanan because “all the evidence that came out in discovery pointed to Mr. Buchanan as the assailant.”

Davidson added that a Prince George’s County judge has combined the two civil suits and legal court proceedings will begin on the cases on October 25.

On June 16, 2005, Buchanan was scheduled to appear on a boxing card in Glen Burnie, MD. However, Buchanan did not participate in the weigh-in and was scratched from the card. Davidson and Joppy claim that Buchanan intentionally skipped the card because there was a warrant for his arrest because he failed to give a deposition concerning the civil suit.

On June 30, Buchanan gave a deposition in court in which he claimed the reason for his missing the weigh-in for the June 16th boxing card was that his scheduled opponent was injured and could not participate.

Representatives for Buchanan were unavailable to Fightnews for comment concerning these cases.