Amateur Career
Nate James compiled an impressive record of 83-11 during his amateur career, winning several US State Championships and the National Golden Gloves tournament in 2007, his last year as an amateur. James was nationally ranked in the top 10 at Heavyweight for his entire amateur career (2001–2007), retiring from the amateur circuit the number 2 ranked Heavyweight in the United States.
After winning four New England Golden Gloves championships, Nate moved to Marquette, Michigan, on a full scholarship to Northern Michigan University. The decorated amateur showed constant improvement while training at the US Olympic Education Center, winning the Bronze medal at the 2005 National Golden Gloves and a silver medal at the 2006 National Golden Gloves.
Determined to win the National Golden Gloves tournament before turning professional, James enlisted the services of notable trainer Al Mitchell and trimmed his weight down from 350 lbs to 240 lbs. The hard work paid off, as James first won the Wisconsin Golden Gloves and later the National Golden Gloves tournament against favorite Tyler Turner of Washington, D.C. James perfectly executed the game plan for the bout: after patiently stalking Turner in round one, a right jab followed by a massive straight left knocked Turner out cold only 20 seconds into round two . The victory served as the perfect ending to a successful amateur career as it put the heavyweight division on notice that the talented New Englander could rise to the occasion on the biggest of stages.
Read more about this topic: Nathaniel James
Famous quotes containing the words amateur and/or career:
“The true gardener then brushes over the ground with slow and gentle hand, to liberate a space for breath round some favourite; but he is not thinking about destruction except incidentally. It is only the amateur like myself who becomes obsessed and rejoices with a sadistic pleasure in weeds that are big and bad enough to pull, and at last, almost forgetting the flowers altogether, turns into a Reformer.”
—Freya Stark (1893–1993)
“Work-family conflicts—the trade-offs of your money or your life, your job or your child—would not be forced upon women with such sanguine disregard if men experienced the same career stalls caused by the-buck-stops-here responsibility for children.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)