Juin 4, 2021, Fort Smith, Arkansas—In a year of surprising boxing returns, nothing is more surprising than the return of retired heavyweight contender JD “The Natural” Chapman (29-0).
Né John David Chapman en mars 1983, Chapman did not fight as an amateur. Plutôt, il a commencé à se battre dans les compétitions du concours Toughman avant de devenir pro 2002. He chose the name “The Natural” as Chapman hails from Arkansas, “L'État naturel”.
JD did many of his early professional fights close to home, namely as part of the Slugout Series promoted by Stacy “Goodnight” Goodson. Goodson and Scott Hirsch, who were managing Chapman, built Chapman into a heavyweight contender.
In the process, Chapaman accumulated 29 victoires et 26 KO. He beat several notable contenders and gatekeepers. Ses adversaires les plus notables étaient Edward Gutierrez, basé à Chicago, qui était 15-0-1 entrer dans le combat, New York veteran John Carlo who possessed a 14-1 record, and fellow undefeated Mid-West prospect Matt Hicks 7-0.
Chapman also captured several regional heavyweight titles including the IBF Southern Regional title, le titre du Conseil nord-américain de boxe, le titre WBC Latino et le titre Arkansas State. Juste au moment où il semblait que Chapman était à l'aube de la célébrité, il a tout raccroché et est monté au coucher du soleil.
At the time of his retirement Chapman was an up and coming contender, and a darling of the boxing press. He received tremendous coverage and exposure in the boxing press as a heavyweight prospect, and was featured on national television. Plus, Chapman was rated by just about every major sanctioning body including the lineal sanction body, le WB, ce qui lui a valu une cote mondiale de 14.
Chapman will return on an untelevised club show this Saturday, Juin 5, 2021, and in a fight close to where it all begun in his home state of Arkansas. Chapman was called in as a last minute replacement opponent to fight Tony “Kryptonite” Lopez at the Springdale Convention Center.
It will be a clash of big men. Chapman weighed in at 294 lbs, while his opponent Lopez weighed in at 259. It will be a battle of big men as Chapman is 6’5” while Lopez is 6’6”.
Although he has had only two professional boxing fights, Lopez is a veteran pugilist with nearly a 100 combats à son actif, spanning multiple combat sports disciplines, Arts martiaux mixtes, kickboxing and bare knuckle fighting.
Said JD, “I was only offered the fight on Thursday but decided to take it anyway. Even though I’ve been off for so long, I was already training for a July event, and I think I’m ready enough. I accepted the fight with such short notice because I just could not pass on the opportunity to get back in the ring. I did not realize how much I missed fighting.”
In his prime, Chapman had some high profile trainers, y compris Michael Moorer, Jeff Mayweather and Norman Wilson. Actuellement, he is trained by former MMA fighter Brian Foster and Chapman’s return is being guided by Edward Mendy of Lion Heart Boxing Productions.