Career
Bush was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1962. In 1976, at the age of 13, Bush began practicing karate. At the age of 17, he began learning kickboxing. His fighting career lasted from 1979 to 1999. He fought 22 times outside of the United States. As a professional kickboxer and boxer, he had a total of 75 fights, including 54 wins with 40 knockouts, 15 of which came in the first round. After a successful amateur kickboxing career (1979–1983), Bush turned professional on June 11, 1983 in Memphis, Tennessee. In a bout televised on ESPN, he knocked out undefeated Jackie "Hollywood" Dixon (8-0 with 5 KOs) in the second round. Bush became the PKA #9 world light-welterweight contender when he knocked out #5 PKA world contender Ken Comer with a roundkick to the head in the fifth round in Hull, Quebec. Bush made his professional boxing debut on February 16, 1984. He knocked out Charles Carter in the second round in Virginia Beach.
He was picked by Muhammad Ali in 1984 to box on his Champion Sports Pro Boxing Team in the Cayman Islands. Ali had watched Bush in a kickboxing match on ESPN in which he had knocked out George Morrisey with head kick in the sixth round. Bush won his boxing fight by a fourth-round knockout, which gave him a record of 3-0 with 3 KOs as a professional boxer. Bush signed a six-fight contract with Ali's lawyer, Richard Hirschfeld, to box in the Caribbean with a final bout in London, England, for a minor title. However, the company folded soon after Bush's Cayman Islands fight because of stock fraud. In 2005, captured fugitive Richard Hirschfeld committed suicide.
In 1985, Bush fought PKA 4-time World Kickboxing Champion Cliff "Magic" Thomas in Atlanta, Georgia. Bush won the fight by unanimous decision. The bout was televised on ESPN, and the win moved Bush to #4 in the PKA rankings. A month later, Bush knocked out Canadian welterweight champion Raynald "Courage of the Lion" Lamarre in Montreal, Canada. Those two wins pushed Bush to #2 in the ISKA world ratings after the demise of the PKA. He became the ISKA #1 world welterweight contender after knocking out then current #1 contender Paul Biafore in Toronto, Canada in 1987. Bush won with fifth-round knockout. Bush won his first world title in 1990 against #3 ISKA world contender Emmanuel Essissima in Paris, France. He won a 12-round split-decision over the Camaroon fighter for the ISKA light-middleweight title. Bush was now 34-4-2 (25 KOs) as a professional kickboxer. He won his other three world titles against the ISKA/WKKO #1 world contenders. As a professional boxer, Bush became the International Boxing Federation (IBF) #1 Intercontinental contender after winning the USBA Jr. Middleweight title with a 10th KO over Lynn Jackson in 1994. He captured his second USBA title with a 12 round decision over Kevin "Hitman" Hall for the Middleweight title in 1997. Bush appeared on ESPN/ESPN2 ten times, on ESPN Classics four times and on Eurosport Television three times. Bush retired on June 30, 1999 (age 37) after being stopped in the ninth round for the NBA World Middleweight Boxing Championship.
Read more about this topic: Curtis Bush
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