Ed "Thoroughbred" Williams, an Eastern Michigan University
junior majoring in industrial distribution, will go pro
Oct. 26, boxing in his professional debut at the EMU Convocation
Center
Bob Teehan, coordinator of EMU's industrial distribution
program, has turned the event into a professional debut
of sorts for two of his classes as well, encouraging students
to apply what they've learned about marketing and business
relationships to help promote the fight.
 |
GO THE DISTANCE: Ed "Thoroughbred" Williams,
an
Eastern Michigan University junior majoring
in
industrial distribution, debuts as a professional
boxer
Oct. 26 at the Convocation Center. Williams'
classmates, in classes taught by Bob Teehan, have
applied their course knowledge into real-world
use,
helping promote and market Williams' upcoming
fight. |
Williams, of Detroit, will fight Mike Fitzgerald, of Battle
Creek, in a junior welterweight bout — part
of the Convocation Center's first boxing event. Fights
start at 7:30 p.m. Williams won more than 50 fights as
an amateur.
"I didn't want to force the students to do something,
so I said 'We can continue with theory or we can apply
this stuff in the real world and help a friend,'" Teehan
said.
His students — Williams' classmates in the close-knit
industrial distribution program — took it from there.
Through the Professional Association of Industrial Distribution
(PAID), students in Teehan's relationships in wholesaling
and industrial direct response classes designed posters
for the fight promoter. They also worked with sororities
and fraternities, and other campus groups to publicize
the fight and the Greek step show that shares the venue
that night.
Williams, 23, has been boxing as an amateur for six years.
His "Thoroughbred" nickname is a nod to his family's boxing
history, in particular his uncle, Duane Thomas, who was
a WBC middleweight world champion in 1985.
As a child, Williams remembers visits to Detroit's Kronk
Gym and going to a Christmas party at legendary boxing
trainer and Kronk Gym founder Emanuel Steward's house when
he was six or seven years old. Seven-time world champion
Thomas Hearns was there, along with a host of boxing's
other household names. But to Williams, they were just
his uncle's friends from the gym; it would be several years
before he understood their place in boxing history.
It would be even longer before he laced up a pair of gloves.
Though some fighters start training as young as seven years
old and his uncle started at eight, Williams' mother —
Thomas's sister — wouldn't let her son box until he was
16. It started for Williams when he was in high school
at Detroit Denby, and his uncle started training to make
a comeback
"I was playing high school basketball and I was on the
cross country team, so he'd get me to run with him," said
Williams. "He showed me the hand movements just a little
and I was hooked from there. I purchased some gloves and
started training."
In six years fighting as an amateur, Williams took the
silver medal at the 2004 National Ringside Tournament,
won two state titles and two Detroit Golden Gloves championships.
In the meantime, his life took a few unexpected turns.
Williams became a father after his freshman year at EMU.
He left the university and went to barber college. Now,
in addition to school and training, he works at a barber
shop to support his daughter and pay his bills.
Williams' trainer, Kronk Gym's Javan "Sugar" Hill, said
they considered waiting until after the next Olympic cycle
to start Williams' pro career, but the timing wasn't right.
"He's more focused right now," said Hill."He's been boxing
for quite some time and there's nothing else for him to
really accomplish as an amateur."
He's looking forward to starting fresh as a pro, though
he knows the stakes are high.
"When you're an amateur, you have room for error,
he said. "Once you turn pro, your slate is clean again,
and you might be an amateur world champion, you might be
an Olympian and be nationally known, but you can mess around
and not make a dent in the pro world."
Though there's no knowing where Williams' boxing career
will take him, he starts his pro career with a lot of friends
in his corner.
Teehan, a former businessman who's taught at EMU for just
a year, likes putting his students in real-world situations.
Last winter, his account sales class sold and promoted
coffee for a local coffee shop. This venture, though, hits
much closer to home.
"The groups have had a lot of fun coming up with great
ideas to promote Eddie," said senior Bonnie Fitch, president
of PAID. "It's rewarding because he not only is a student
at EMU, but he's also part our program, so we want to lift
up our guy and help him succeed."
