Ringside Report Looks Back at Oba Carr

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By Daniel Sisneros

Oba Carr was a wonderfully skilled boxer/puncher who came out of Detroit, Michigan. After building an incredible record of 168-8 as an amateur, he turned professional at age 17. December 22, 1989 was the night that Carr served notice of his presence with a 1st round knockout over Cincinnati Ohio’s Marcus Reed. He built up a record of 20-0 with 14 ko’s before stepping in against former world champion Livingstone Bramble on Oct. 8, 1991 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was a wild bout with Carr going down twice in the first round. He showed heart and got off of the canvas to battle back and win a 10 round split decision. He continued his winning ways and after 32 straight victories in Dec. of 1994, 5 years after turning professional, he finally got his chance to fight for the IBF World Welterweight Title against undefeated champion Felix “Tito” Trinidad (24-0, 20 ko).

It was an exciting showdown of unbeaten fighters. Carr dropped Trinidad in the 2nd round, but Tito rose up to battle back and drop Carr twice in round 8 en route to a tko victory. After tasting defeat for the first time, Carr scored 3 straight impressive KO victories and challenged undefeated Derrell “Too Sweet” Coley for his NABF Welterweight Title belt. Carr won a very close split decision that night, and picked up his first title belt. It was Oct. 4, 1996 when he would take another shot at a world title, this time it was the WBA Welter title, and it was in the hands of undefeated champion Ike Quartey (32-0, 28 ko’s).

Carr lost a Majority decision that night on scores of 112-112, 109-117, and 109-116. He then ran off another undefeated streak of 10 straight fights including wins over Jaime “Rocky” Balboa, Ross “The Boss” Thompson, Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall, and a draw against fellow Detroit star Anthony “Baby” Jones. It was May 22, 1999 when Carr took his record of 48-2-1, 28 ko’s into his 3rd and final World Title Challenge, this time against undefeated WBC Welterweight Champion Oscar Delahoya (30-0, 24 ko’s). It was an impressive performance but Carr was stopped by Delahoya in round 11. It was 2 fights later that Carr would score a big win over former world champion Luis Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas (74-3, 63 ko’s), stopping him in 8 rounds. 12 1/2 years after his first pro fight, Oba fought his last professional bout on May 18, 2002 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, NV. He dropped a 10 round decision to Kuvanych Toygonbayev (17-1, 12 ko’s).

Kronk Gym’s Oba “Motor City” Carr finished his career with a great professional record of 54 wins, 6 defeats, 1 draw, with 31 of his victories by knockout.

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