John Mugabi

John Mugabi, also known as "The Beast," is a retired Ugandan professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991 and 1996 to 1999. Mugabi's professional boxing career spanned more than 18 years, during which he fought in a variety of weight classes, including light-middleweight, middleweight, super-middleweight, and light-heavyweight.

Mugabi had an impressive record of 42 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw, and 0 no-contests in his 50 total fights. His record includes 39 knockout wins, one title win, and no title defenses. He also suffered six losses via knockout.

With 24 consecutive wins via stoppage after his professional debut, Mugabi became a favorite of the American TV networks with his sensational knockouts of contenders such as Curtis Ramsey, Gary Guiden, former world champion Eddie Gazo, Curtis Parker, Frank The Animal Fletcher, Nino Gonzalez, and Earl Hargrove. Mugabi was a master at fluctuating between middleweight and junior middleweight, and he was able to knock out every opponent he faced in his early career.

In 1982, Mugabi took on veteran Curtis Ramsey, and he won the bout in two rounds in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mugabi's first victory of note came from that fight, and boxing fans began to speculate about his role in the future of the junior middleweight and middleweight divisions. Mugabi's ability to fight at both divisions made him more intriguing than most prospects.

Mugabi faced Eddie Gazo in what was considered to be his first real test, as Gazo was a former WBA Junior Middleweight Champion. Mugabi went rounds with Gazo, but in the end, it was The Beast who overpowered his opponent. The fact that Mugabi could easily make the weight at both divisions made him an even more interesting fighter. In the same year, Mugabi took on Curtis Parker, a former Pennsylvania Golden Gloves amateur champion. Mugabi's destruction of Parker was savage, and it was the first time that Parker had lost a bout by knockout.

On his way to becoming the number one contender for the middleweight title of each of the three major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, and IBF), Mugabi ran roughshod over the division and finished each of his opponents inside the distance. His ferocity was legendary, and Phil Berger wrote in the New York Times in 1986 that Mugabi's training left his sparring partners in a "woebegone condition."

In 1986, Mugabi's first world-title fight was against Marvelous Marvin Hagler, who was the reigning WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring middleweight champion. Mugabi was undefeated and had won all of his previous contests by knockout. Hagler, on the other hand, was already a veteran and had fought some of the best boxers of his generation, such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Durán, and Tommy Hearns. Despite Mugabi being a mandatory contender for some time, a Hearns-Mugabi title match never materialized, as Hearns elected to move to middleweight to challenge Hagler.

On March 10, 1986, Marvin 'Marvelous' Hagler rose to a very stiff challenge. Mugabi had won all of his contests by knockout, many in the first few rounds of the fight. Mugabi possessed incredible knockout power, and he provided the boxing world with an epic encounter. Mugabi landed his share of blows to Hagler's head during the early rounds. The turning point came in the sixth round when Hagler landed many heavy blows and staggered Mugabi. Mugabi fought back gamely but his early knockout wins left him ill-prepared for a long, tough fight. In the end, it was Hagler who came out the victor with a knockout in the eleventh round.

After his first loss, Mugabi retired to Uganda and ballooned to 190 lbs. In September 1986, he contacted his old promoter, Mickey Duff, stating that he was ready to fight again. Mugabi went down in weight and was given an opportunity by the WBC to win their world light-middleweight title, vacated by Hearns. Once again, many fans favored him, this time against Duane Thomas, on December 5 of '86. However, Mugabi suffered a broken eye socket, the consequence of a punch in round three, and the fight had to be stopped. Mugabi underwent optical surgery the next day to repair his injury.

Discouraged by two consecutive losses, Mugabi gained weight and did not fight for nearly 14 months. In January 1988, he came back to fight Bryan Grant on the undercard of Mike Tyson's title defense against Larry Holmes. Mugabi won by quick knockout and set off on another knockout winning streak. He became the number one contender for the WBC 154 lb title in August 1988 but could not land a fight with then-champion Donald Curry. After Curry lost his title in an upset in early 1989, Mugabi was given another opportunity to become world champion by the WBC.

On July 8, 1989, Mugabi won the WBC super-welterweight title by beating René Jacquot via 1st round TKO. Mugabi defended the title once in a rematch against Jacquot, which he won via knockout in the third round.

Mugabi had a total of seven losses in his professional boxing career - four of them in title bouts and three in non-title bouts. He suffered his first loss against Marvelous Marvin Hagler via 11th round KO on March 10, 1986, which ended his 25-fight win streak. He has been stopped six times and lost once via decision.

Mugabi retired from professional boxing with a record of 42-7-1, which included 39 knockout wins and six losses via knockout and one title win.

Throughout his professional boxing career, Mugabi was part of an exceptionally talented group of light-middleweights and middleweights during a "golden era" of the 1980s which included Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray

John Mugabi Fight Record