Ringside Report Looks Back at Former Heavyweight Contender Clifford “The Black Rhino” Etienne – Boxing News

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Not many can boast a career which is pugilist, WBA intercontinental titlist, convicted con and artist, but Clifford “The Black Rhino” Etienne 29-4-2, 20 KOs can. The man from Louisiana has had a journey that would challenge a travelogue writer of renown.

Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, Etienne was a standout on the American football field (my apologies to American readers but some of us cannot call your rugby hybrid, football as we follow something you call “soccer” which is real football – so apologies if I offend…). During his senior year, however, Etienne got into trouble. Serious trouble, and he was sent to prison for 40 years for armed robbery at a shopping mall. He was 18 years old.

This experience brought him into contact with the sweet science within those Angola prison walls and his abilities were soon being recognized – after he won the state prison boxing championships. After 10 years served, Etienne was released with what was claimed to be an unbeaten prison record, in the ring. Also, whilst in prison Etienne studied and achieved a degree, meaning he was no idiot, though a 40-year sentence for armed robbery would challenge that assertion!

Once out, his pathway became one where he took his boxing skills and turned professional. His debut, a one round knockout of John Randall on the 3rd of December 1988 in St. Louis was the kind of start he wanted. 18 months later, he got his hands on his first belt – the vacant IBA continental heavyweight title – when he knocked out Joey Guy on the 3rd round of a scheduled 12 in Baton Rouge. What followed was, on the 9th of September, another stoppage, again in the 3rd round against Cliff Couser for the vacant NABF heavyweight title in Chester. By November he was in Vegas, at the Mandela Bay resort beating Lawrence Clay-Bey on points. But his most significant win in 2000, was the win he registered in May, in Pittsburgh. A points win against an unbeaten fighter – Lamon Brewster in a dominant 10 round points win. In 2000, Ring Magazine took notice of his rise towards the summit by pronouncing him the “Most Exciting Fighter to Watch”. At the time many felt this was down to the war he was involved in with the unbeaten Lawrence Clay-Bey, though it was not insignificant that Etienne had beaten Lamon Brewster.

He then got his contract with Showtime and people really noticed him. Unfortunately, it was a flash in the pan as he lost to Fres Oquendo in March 2001 back in Vegas and that stoppage loss would derail bigger plans. He then did what most boxers do after a loss, but who still have ambition and rebuild. His rebuilding led to a fight in 2003, against “Iron” Mike Tyson. On the way he was to meet Frans Botha in New Orleans in 2002 and end with a Majority decision draw which did not totally derail his fight plans but the fight with Tyson was the one most people are drawn to in the Etienne story.

On the 22nd of February 2003, in Memphis, Clifford Etienne went in against Iron Mike and was blasted out in less than one round. The knockout was so devastating that Tyson is seen in the footage going to help Etienne get up off the canvass.

But the circus that was Tyson was in full swing and aside from the punch that knocked him out, Etienne would find himself at the center of all the looping fighting that went on outside of the contest.

On the Monday of fight week Tyson allegedly withdrew. Then he got on a plane and announced he was back in. Then he had a face tattoo that was new and was allegedly infected. Then a fake Tyson in a private plane arrived to fool the press. Then Tyson turned up at a press conference with his son sitting on the table. His overweight issues, his bad back, wanting to go to Nepal to sort his tattoo, and all sort of crazy rumors were flying around until he was ready to prove that he was ready to fight – and he was.

Etienne was apparently being monitored, outraged that there were two other heavyweights, he was being told, lined up instead of him, that his big payday against Tyson was looking less and less likely to happen and he was threatening to pull out himself. People thought he was scared, and he was allegedly upset at the suggestions.

But then in the fight, Tyson had a very easy night of it. There were no “phantom” punches but the sight of Etienne taking out his gumshield whilst lying flat on his back after 49 seconds was not a good look. In fairness, Etienne did try and let his fists fly but Tyson was in no mood to take Etienne into the second round and simply took him out.

It led to a painful demise as he began to be seen less as a contender and more as just a guy to get through. His final fight however was a 5th round stoppage loss to future WBA champion, Nicolay Valuev in Bayreuth, Germany on the 14th of May 2005. Valuev was undefeated after 40 contests at the time.

It was a less than colorful end to a highly colorful personality, but worse was to follow. On the 11th of August 2005, Etienne was arrested on charges that included kidnap, armed robbery and the attempted murder of a police officer. He had been implicated in the car jacking of a woman and her children as well as pulling a gun on officers who intervened. These were offences for which he was found guilty in 2006 and given an eye watering 160-year prison sentence – dropped to 105 years in 2013.

No matter your feelings towards incarceration and the penal codes, and how rehabilitation can or cannot help convicts, Etienne has not let the time he is spending within prison prove idle. Away from the cocaine that fueled his crime spree, he has become both a prison barber and an artist of some renown, picking up some of the intelligence he was developing when first in prison all those years ago.

But between those two prison sentences, he did dazzle and dance into the history books of the sport, providing it with yet another example of how the sport can raise you up, but sometimes expectations and the lack of the excitement can lead you down the wrong pathway in life. If Etienne reminds us of anything it is, to my mind, that boxing attracts those on the wrong side of the tracks, it can give them a platform for change, but your formative years are a very difficult place to leave behind and escape – for Clifford Etienne they proved far too seductive and far too attractive for him to make that clean break.

Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt