My Favorite Beltway Boxing Bouts -- Bout # 5!

Since we're in the top five and since I seem to be writing a lot about each bout, I decided to give each bout in the top five its own space. This is bout number five in the countdown.

5. Derrell "Too Sweet" Coley vs. Terrence Alli, July 5, 1994, Washington Convention Center


WHY IT MAKES THE LIST: The coming-out party for the boxer perceived (at that time) to be the Beltway’s brightest star.

To understand fully why this bout is on the list, you have to understand how highly Derrell Coley was thought of at this time of his career. In many people’s eyes, Coley was the flagship boxer of the area, the can’t-miss kid who was poised to lead the next wave of Beltway Boxers to championship glory.

He seemed to go about his career in the right way, taking baby steps with one minor hiccup – a 10-round draw with Lonnie Smith in May of 1993. Coley barely passed his first test, winning a 10-round unanimous decision over veteran Darryl Lattimore two months later.

But fortunes seemed to turn after Coley starched veteran Saoul Mamby in the first round in August of 1993. Coley had to wait eight months before his next bout because of managerial troubles. After Coley made the switch from Michael Marley to Barry Linde, he won two straight by devastating knockouts. The stage was set for Coley’s coming-out party.

On July 5, 1994 in front of his hometown crowd at the Washington Convention Center and a nationally televised USA Network audience, Coley faced the biggest and toughest name to date on his record, perennial world title contender Terrence Alli. The vacant NABF Welterweight title was on the line. Despite Alli claiming to be a “bad old man,” youth was served on this evening as Coley took everything Alli had to offer before stopping him in the 11th round. It was Coley’s best performance to date.

AFTERMATH: Unfortunately for Coley, the win over Alli proved to be the high point of his career. During the rest of his tenure, Coley fell victim to a combination of poor performance, poor timing and poor politics.

One example of poor performance was Coley’s first NABF title defense – a bout against a relatively unknown warrior from Mexico named Jaime “Rocky” Balboa on Sept. 20, 1994 at the DC Armory. Coming in on short notice, Balboa almost embarrassed Coley in front of another USA network audience, even dropping Coley once during the bout. Coley did just enough to salvage a draw.

In his second defense on January 31, 1995 at the Armory, Coley put on a much better performance in defeating undefeated challenger Ray Lovato. Looking back, that win may have been a sign of things to come for two reasons: One, the scoring. In a bout that I thought Coley won easily, he managed to get only a majority decision. In fact the scores were really screwed with one judge having the score 117-111 while another saw a draw. The third judge had Coley winning 115-113.

The second reason was the poor timing. Despite beating Lovato, Coley did not get a world title shot against any of the welterweight titleholders. Lovato (with Coley still the ONLY loss on his record) received a title shot against IBF champ Felix Trinidad a year later.

That situation can be explained by the poor politics Coley endured. This became evident when Coley defended his NABF title against Oba Carr on August 12, 1995 in Las Vegas in front of another nationally televised audience, this time on Showtime. This was a Don King show and Carr was a talented, exciting, DON KING fighter.

Coley was beautiful on this night, matching Carr speed for speed and punch for punch. It looked like another solid win and another step on the road to a world title. However, it wasn’t to be as Coley was victimized by one of the worst judge’s decisions I have ever seen. Carr won a close split decision and the NABF title. The loss, I believe, decimated Coley. He wasn’t the same boxer after that.

Two bouts after the loss to Carr (June 11, 1996), Coley tried for the vacated NABF title but was dominated by unknown Pat Coleman. However, the loss was changed to a no-contest when Coleman tested positive for drugs.

In his next contest, Coley had to come off the canvas twice to beat Kip Diggs for the NABF crown on March 25, 1997 in Oxnard, CA. Four fights later, on February 26, 2000, Coley finally made some real money as he faced Oscar De La Hoya for a minor title. Although he started the bout in strong fashion, the old Coley stamina wasn’t there and he was stopped in the seventh round.

Coley stopped his career after four straight wins against lackluster competition. There is continued talk that Coley will resume his career at some point.