Where did they go, what are they up to?

[JAB5239]

This thread is inspired by a board called "where are they now?" on another forum I use to frequent. Ask questions about past fighters you've lost track of and hopefully someone has some info to start a dialogue.

I'll start.....Where has David Reid gone and what is he doing now?

[Joey Giardello]

David Reid was one of my favourite fighters back in the day, they should of matched vargas and reid against each other instead of trinindad

[Heavy Bag]

David Reid's American Nightmare

Whatever happened to The American Dream?

David Reid isn't sure.

Reid won this fight with Keith Mullings, but his title reign was short-lived.At a time when he should be relevant -- it's an Olympic year, and on March 13 Shane Mosley and Winky Wright will battle for supremacy in his weight class -- Reid's career seems a distant memory.

Once it started to slip away, he never got it back.

"I miss boxing a lot, getting in the ring and fighting," Reid said from his dorm in Marquette, Mich. "But now I can't do it anymore."

Reid is 30, an age when many boxers enjoy their primes. But 2 1/2 years ago the exuberant kid who produced one of the most spectacular moments in pugilistic history quietly faded from the public's consciousness after just 19 fights.

"Some people look at him like they're so sorry for him," said Reid's trainer and surrogate father, Al Mitchell. "But he's living comfortable and he's happy."

Reid is a volunteer coach in Mitchell's boxing program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center on the Northern Michigan University campus. Reid is taking classes, but not toward a degree. He is attending Marquette Senior High to obtain the diploma he never received from Vaux High in his hometown of Philadelphia.

His former promoter estimated Reid made between $6 million and $8 million in the ring, and Mitchell claimed Reid has made the money last.

Boxing has been very kind to Reid, and yet it has been so very cruel.

There's no way he'll let his 6-year-old son, David Jr., lace up a pair of Everlasts.

"He was at that stage of his a career where things were going wrong, and he had people telling him he was still the champ. People have a tendency to listen to people who know what you want to hear."
Promoter Dan Goossen


"I don't want him to box," Reid said. "I don't want his eye to end up being like mine. At some point you end up lonely."

What do you mean by lonely?

"I don't know," Reid replied, his words tailing off to a whisper. Then he politely ended the conversation.

Reid was known as The American Dream for good reason.

He was the only boxer from the ultra-talented 1996 U.S. Olympic squad to reach the gold-medal round. Floyd Mayweather, Antonio Tarver and Fernando Vargas had to settle for bronze. If Reid didn't come through against highly favored Cuban Alfredo Duvergel the Americans would leave without a boxing gold for the first time since 1948.

Reid entered the final round hopelessly behind in the scoring. He needed a knockout to win, but that seemed impossible based on the fact he failed to register a single point in the previous round.

Mere seconds into the final round Reid absorbed Duvergel's left hand yet again, but this time Reid countered with a short overhand right that landed flush on Duvergel's cheek and nose. The mighty Cuban fell face-first at Reid's feet and was counted out.

"Everything that 'Rocky' was built on," recalled Dan Goossen, the promoter who helped Reid turn pro with a multimillion-dollar contract.

As much as everyone rooted for Reid to have a storybook career, however, he was neither good enough nor lucky enough to fulfill the hype loaded upon him.

Reid's career didn't finish as gloriously as it began. The American Dream was snuffed by The Punching Policeman, a club fighter named Sam Hill, who had gone 1-3 in his previous four bouts.

It was an unbecoming end to a career that seemed destined for greatness.

"He was a shooting star," said Lou DiBella, the vice president of HBO Sports when Reid fought for the network. "He had that great win at the Olympics, had a brief run that was both quality and interesting.

"But he flared out very quickly because of some very bad beatings early in his career and his eyelid."

That damned eyelid

A freak injury was the bane of Reid's career. A punch from Daniel Santos in the final of the 1995 Pan American Games damaged Reid's left eyelid. The muscle lost its elasticity, making it sag. Doctors estimated he would have about a year before the eyelid impeded his vision enough to make boxing too dangerous.

Reid, because his window of opportunity had gotten smaller and his Olympic heroics made him a hot commodity, was placed on the fast track for fast money.

"Some people can say I moved him too fast," Goossen said. "Some people could say I moved him just right."

Reid became the first fighter to make his pro debut on HBO, earning $200,000 for a four rounder. He won the WBA junior middleweight title in his 12th fight and defended it twice before landing a blockbuster bout with Felix Trinidad in March 2000.

"He accomplished quite a bit in a short period of time," Goossen said. "He had a chance for greatness when he went into the Trinidad fight."

Trinidad-Reid was a significant matchup. Both fighters were unbeaten yet viewed with skepticism. Trinidad was moving up in weight and was fighting for the first time since his controversial decision over Oscar De La Hoya.

Reid, from the time he graduated to 12-round bouts, had developed the habit of starting incredibly well and then wilting in the later rounds.

He had registered seven KOs in his first 10 outings, but none thereafter. In his 11th bout he was knocked down in each of the last two rounds against James Coker, but hung on to win. That set up Reid's victory over Laurent Boudouani for the WBA belt. Reid was booed in lackluster title defenses against Kevin Kelly and Keith Mullings before meeting Trinidad.

"It seemed like he was having a trend of being a world-class fighter in the first half of the fight," Goossen said, "and in the second half of the fight he was losing steam, losing power. It was like night and day. It never made sense to me, to see dominance go down the drain."

Reid's maddening trend continued against Trinidad. Reid began the bout with fury and floored Trinidad in the third round to build a respectable early lead. But Trinidad imposed himself as the fight wore on. Reid went down once in the seventh round and three more times in the 11th en route to losing a lopsided unanimous decision.

Reid's sagging left eyelid continued to worsen. It couldn't be corrected with plastic surgery, although Mitchell recounted at least four futile operations. The more Reid's eye got punched, the lower it drooped, rendering him a one-eyed fighter.

His next three fights -- against pugs Kirino Garcia, Urbano Gurrola and Maurice Bentley -- were unimpressive victories that went the bitter distance.

Those closest to Reid started to lobby for retirement. Mitchell, who introduced a 10-year-old Reid to boxing, who took a teenaged Reid into his home, who wept when Reid stood on the Olympic podium for the "Star Spangled Banner," feared for his boy's safety.

Reid was in denial. He was a former WBA champion. He won numerous amateur titles. He had a gold medal, for crying out loud! No way he was going to walk away at 27 years old and after 18 pro fights.

"He was at that stage of his a career where things were going wrong, and he had people telling him he was still the champ," Goossen said. "People have a tendency to listen to people who know what you want to hear."

Mitchell made the painful decision to sever ties. He wasn't going to stand witness to Reid's demise.

"I thought (retirement) was the best for him," Mitchell said. "I asked him to quit and he wouldn't quit. I just walked off. He asked me if it was about money, and I told him it was about the eye.

"I knew he was young and he felt as though life was snatched away from him. I was just hoping he wouldn't get hurt. I figured down the line he'd realize he was a guy who could keep getting fights from people just using his name. ... You don't need to be a genius to know what's going on."

Reality finally dawned on Reid in November 2001. A career that began on HBO at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City came to an end on a riverboat casino in Indiana.

Reid, looking for a cheap victory to justify a big-money showdown against middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins, was embarrassed against Hill, a full-time cop who boxed on the side.

"I've never seen a quicker, more pronounced downward trajectory of a major prospect at such a young age," DiBella said after the fight.

Reid quietly shuffled off without announcing his retirement or scheduling a farewell fight as so many other prideful fighters are tempted to try. His record will stand at 17-2 with 7 KOs.

"What can I do?" Reid said. "I can't do anything but hold all my emotions in."

So many of Reid's contemporaries, and several more who preceded him, are still active.

"It's hard to see other guys still in the ring, guys who fought before me," Reid said. "It's real hard."

[Heavy Bag]

Olympic classmates Mayweather, Vargas, Tarver, Wladimir Klitschko, Vassiliy Jirov and Sven Ottke remain major players. As do previous Olympians De La Hoya, Joel Casamayor and Kostya Tszyu.

"Ten or 15 years from now people will realize what he did in a short career," Mitchell said. "Life just dealt him a cruel blow.

"He did everything. He got a Pan American gold, an Olympic gold and a world championship and he made a little money. But the most important thing is he got memories."

Tim Graham covers boxing for The Buffalo News and is a contributor to ESPN.com.

Shame how Reid's pro career ended up. Had alot of potential & talent. He should of never been put in with Trinidad so quickly. His career is farily similar to 1980's WBA 154lb Champion Davey Moore.

[Holtol]

Good to hear he has made his money last. And that he is training boxing. Sounds like he is still upset about things though which is to bad. I found it strange that he said that "you end up lonely" and then ended the conversation. Thanks for posting I was wondering how he ended up sounds pretty good.

[1SILVA]

This thread is inspired by a board called "where are they now?" on another forum I use to frequent. Ask questions about past fighters you've lost track of and hopefully someone has some info to start a dialogue.

I'll start.....Where has David Reid gone and what is he doing now?

Whatever happened to Aaron Davis? He was on a winning streak at 168 and 175 when he dropped out of sight several years ago.

[JAB5239]

Whatever happened to Aaron Davis? He was on a winning streak at 168 and 175 when he dropped out of sight several years ago.

I was at his fight against Vinny Pazienze and he diced Paz up and gave him the second worst beating I saw after Jones. Not sure what happened to his career. He beat Ross Thompson (former title challenger) in his next fight and just fell off the scene and didn't fight again. Don't know much about it but he did open up his own gym in the Bronx last April.

[1SILVA]

I was at his fight against Vinny Pazienze and he diced Paz up and gave him the second worst beating I saw after Jones. Not sure what happened to his career. He beat Ross Thompson (former title challenger) in his next fight and just fell off the scene and didn't fight again. Don't know much about it but he did open up his own gym in the Bronx last April.

We grew up in the same neighborhood. Will look up his gym. Thanks for the info.

[JAB5239]

We grew up in the same neighborhood. Will look up his gym. Thanks for the info.

Wiki it, its got the address and phone number.

Kind of funny, but I grew up in the same neighborhood as Pazienza.

[1SILVA]

I was at his fight against Vinny Pazienze and he diced Paz up and gave him the second worst beating I saw after Jones. Not sure what happened to his career. He beat Ross Thompson (former title challenger) in his next fight and just fell off the scene and didn't fight again. Don't know much about it but he did open up his own gym in the Bronx last April.

Link to his website: