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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeNewsLocal sportsJulian Jackson Receives Replica of First, Stolen Title Belt

Julian Jackson Receives Replica of First, Stolen Title Belt

Three-time world boxing champion Julian 'The Hawk' Jackson receives a replica of his first world title belt at Saturday's boxing event. (Photo by Max Schanfarber)
Three-time world boxing champion Julian ‘The Hawk’ Jackson receives a replica of his first world title belt at Saturday’s boxing event. (Photo by Max Schanfarber)

In the midst of Saturday’s professional boxing card, Julian “The Hawk” Jackson’s camp took time between matches to honor the Boxing Hall of Famer with a replica of his first title belt, which was stolen after he won it in the late 1980s.

Jackson is the trainer and step-father of V.I. boxer Clayton Laurent, Jr., who headlined the four-bout card at the Antilles School’s Mark C. Marin Center. Laurent had been planning the surprise for months, and reached out to managers Matt Clark and Phillipe Fondu to get the process started with the World Boxing Association.

“The belt was stolen,” fight announcer Rashidi Clenance said Saturday night to the applause of the packed gym crowd. “But now, the belt is back.”

Clenance helped Jackson put on the belt after it was presented by WBA P{resident Aurelio Fiengo, who traveled to the Virgin Islands from Panama to officiate the fights and to begin the process of meeting with Jackson and other sports officials about the development of a local sanctioning body that could help turn the territory into a hub for boxing within the Caribbean.

“I am just amazed,” Jackson said. “This was the first belt that I won in Las Vegas, but I never had the opportunity to keep it. In fact, I had even spoken to Clayton about talking to the WBA to see if something could be done, but I had no idea that he would remember and that this would happen.”

Jackson won the WBA super welterweight world title in 1987 after he knocked out South Korea’s In Chul Baek in three rounds in Las Vegas. He then defended the belt against Buster Drayton, Francisco De Jesus and future Boxing Hall of Famer “Terrible” Terry Norris.

Over the course of his career, Jackson racked up 55 wins – 49 by knockout – and six losses. Rated one of the greatest super welterweights of all time by Ring Magazine, Jackson, a three-time world boxing champion, was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016.

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