Jamaica has had its share of world boxing champions, but the first man to win the heavyweight world title is the late Trevor Berbick.
Born in Norwich, Port Antonio, Portland on August 1, 1954, Berbick reached the pinnacle of his 24-year professional career on March 22, 1986, when he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title by upsetting Pinklon Thomas with an easy, unanimous decision.
Unfortunately, his reign was short as he lost on his first title defense on November 22 that year to the then-fast rising star Mike Tyson, who became the youngest-ever world heavyweight champion at 20 years old.
Berbick lost on a second-round knockout, having picked himself up off the canvas twice before falling back on the canvas, prompting referee Mills Lane to stop the fight.
Berbick is the last man to defeat the all-time great Mohammad Ali, who was 39 at the time, on a unanimous decision in the American great’s final fight in 1981.
Berbick had also lost to Larry Holmes in the same year.
The man who also worked as a preacher had a professional ring record of 61 fights, 39 wins, 11 losses and one draw. Thirty-three of his wins were by knockouts.
As an amateur, Berbick won a bronze medal for Jamaica at the 1975 Pan American Games in the heavyweight division in Mexico and represented Jamaica at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in Canada with only 11 bouts under his belt.
In both his early and late professional career, he held the Canadian heavyweight title twice, from 1979 to 1986 and 1999 to 2001. Berbick is the only boxer to have fought Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, and Mike Tyson.
On October 28, 2006, the former world heavyweight boxing champion was murdered by his 20-year-old nephew and an accomplice at a church in his hometown of Norwich.
