JEFF LAMPKIN Champ shares tools of trade

Jeff Lampkin began his career in the square jungle at the Buckeye Elks. AUSTINTOWN -- There is a storefront at 4162 Mahoning Ave. that if someone taking a stroll past, especially between the hours of 4 to 6 p.m., peers in, they will see Jeff Lampkin, the former cruiserweight champion of the world, training young boxers. The ring and all the equipment is new with photographs of boxers locally and nationally, the past and present, decorating both walls. Everything about this gym, which is called The Youngstown Boxing Club, is new. The oldest thing in it is Lampkin, who is 42 and the father of a 17-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. Looking back It seems just like yesterday that Lampkin was a 15-year-old, 147-pounder, winning 1977 Golden Glove Novice titles in Youngstown and Cleveland. The next year he won the Open 165 pound titles in Youngstown and Cleveland and went to the nationals, where he lost in the first round, which also was his first amateur loss. "I was nervous," recalled Lampkin of that loss. He recalled how he started to box when his father took him to Pedro Tomez at the Buckeye Elks because he had been fighting in school. "My dad said, 'If you want to fight do it the right way,'" said Lampkin. Under Tomez's tutelage, Lampkin went to the nationals again in 1979 as a 178-pounder after again winning Youngstown and Cleveland crowns. He lost after the second round. In 1980, at 18, nothing stopped Lampkin. He won titles in Youngstown and Cleveland and won the nationals in Las Vegas and an Amateur Athletic Union title in Boston. Lampkin then turned pro. His first fight was June 11, 1980, when he stopped Jimmy Hearn in the first round. Lampkin won his first 16 pro fights, six by knockouts in the first round, until Willie Edwards won a controversial 10-round decision. For the record His last pro fight was June 27, 1997, and when Lampkin hung up his gloves because of a bad knee his final record was 39-19-1 with 34 knockouts. He won the USBA cruiserweight championship in June 1988 with a fifth-round TKO over Alfonso Ratliff. Nearly two years later, in March 1990, at Leisure Center Gateshead, England, Lampkin became a world champion when he used a devastating left hook to the body to knock out Glenn McCrory at 2:27 of the third round to capture the IBF cruiserweight championship. He defended that belt for the first and only time in July 1990, when he put away Siza Makathini in the eighth round in St. Petersburg, Fla. Managerial problems haunted Lampkin throughout his professional career. He was stripped of his crown because he was not fighting the proper contender. Team effort Lampkin and Tony Porrazzo, a 1988 Chaney High graduate, run the gym, where Lampkin trains about a dozen prospective fighters. "In time, we hope to have a boxing team coming out of here, and I am hoping I can get people to do what I did," Lampkin said. "Boxing is a great sport that, with the time spent working at it, should keep young people out of trouble," he added. Lampkin paid tribute to his mentor. "Pedro Tomez was the best ever, and if I can be half as good as him as a trainer I would be satisfied." Porrazzo said, "Jeff and I have the same concepts of what we want to do with the gym and local boxing. The opportunity is there for him to put his ring talent to work, and we can develop fighters to become good amateurs and hopefully good professionals."