Michael Rush got into boxing to lose some weight.<\/p>\n
Rush, who has lived in Tampa for 23 years, was a college student in Florida at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to a gym, not to box, but to lose weight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rush, 21 at the time and a late starter for a boxer, took to the sport. Within a year, he entered the Golden Gloves, and with only a few amateur bouts behind him he set his sights on the 1992 Olympics. That dream ended when training partner Ken McCullough beat him in the finals and advanced to the Olympic Trials.<\/p>\n
Rush compiled an amateur record of 9-2, but the confident 22-year-old decided boxing was his future and turned pro.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 22. I didn\u2019t want to wait around and try for the next Olympics,\u201d said Rush, now 58.<\/p>\n
Over the ensuing years, Rush climbed from a 160-pound middleweight to heavyweight, building a record of 27-7-1 with 13 knockouts. That body of work earned him election to the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame, which inducted its 2026 class \u2014 including several fighters from the Tampa Bay area \u2014 on June 6.<\/p>\n
At 6-foot-2, Rush was a big man for the middleweight division, where he spent his early fights. He made his pro debut in July 1992, a draw with Ronald Lewis, then won eight of his next nine bouts and four of the five after that. The 12-2-1 start was impressive for a fighter who had come to the sport so late.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I could have cleaned up if I stayed a middleweight,\u201d Rush said. But a sparring session with future heavyweight champion Michael Moorer \u2014 undersized for the division \u2014 changed his thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in the gym where Moorer was training and his trainer Teddy Atlas said they needed a sparring partner and I said I\u2019d do it,\u201d Rush said. \u201cSo I sparred with him and he was moving around and taking it easy. I said, \u2018let\u2019s pick it up.\u2019 When he did, something changed for me and after that I went all the way up to heavyweight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heavyweight boxers Harold Sconiers, green pants, Michael Rush, green shirt, and Mike Harris work out along South Greenwood in Clearwater in September 1997. The trio would regularly use the telephone pole as a punching bag. Rush will be inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame on June 6. [\u00a0BRUCE HOSKING | Tampa Bay Times file photo\u00a0]<\/p>\n
Rush\u2019s first major heavyweight test came in July 1997 against Sam Hampton, an ESPN bout he took on two weeks\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was in the Top 20, a big Indian guy and I was expected to lose,\u201d Rush said. \u201cI dropped him in the fifth.\u201d Rush won by split decision.<\/p>\n
Along the way, Rush faced \u2014 and lost to \u2014 nationally ranked contenders James Toney and Hasim Rahman.<\/p>\n
In one of the most memorable matches the Tampa Bay area has seen, Rush faced kickboxing champion Orlando Rivera of Tampa in March 2002. Rivera came in 5-0, and the fight was supposed to launch him toward bigger things. It did not work out that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hadn\u2019t lost, but I was like, \u2018cool, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Rush said. \u201cIt was one of those back-and-forth fights. I dropped him in the 10th round and won by decision. A lot of people said it was the best fight they\u2019d ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years earlier, in July 1998, Rush had a fight he would rather forget \u2014 a grueling battle with Terrence Lewis. With Rush ahead on all three scorecards, Lewis sucker-punched him as the two went to touch gloves before the 10th and final round. Rush went down, and after several minutes Lewis was disqualified, handing Rush the win.<\/p>\n
Rush\u2019s last fight came in April 2006, a unanimous decision over Carl Handy at the USF Sun Dome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really retired,\u201d Rush said. But that was his last bout. He stayed in the sport, training amateurs for some 12 years at his gym, Gold Rush for Fitness.<\/p>\n
When the call came informing him of his selection, Rush was confused at first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was some business calling me about a job,\u201d he said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
Once it sank in, he was thrilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery exciting,\u201d Rush said. \u201cGood news. I was elated.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the full list of 2026 inductees, visit floridaboxinghalloffame.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Rush got into boxing to lose some weight. Rush, who has lived in Tampa for 23 years,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,347185,85],"class_list":["post-715337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-migration2017pt2","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}