Terry McGroom

Terry McGroom (March 16, 1966 – April 17, 2016) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2004. He challenged for the IBF cruiserweight title in 2001.

McGroom attended Wells High School in Chicago, which was "full of gangbangers." Tom O'Shea, an English teacher at the school, said he was "an arrogant, nasty kid who was always in trouble with his teachers," apart from the fact that he did not earn a single credit in his freshman year. When O'Shea caught McGroom fighting in the hallways, he was given a choice: follow him to the principal's office or to the boxing gym. O'Shea became his coach, a position he held throughout McGroom's amateur career.^[1]

He later graduated from Wells as an honor student, earning a boxing scholarship to Northern Michigan University.^[1]

McGroom had a stellar amateur career prior to turning professional, going 63-11.^[1] He was a National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight champion in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1992 and a National Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion in 1991. McGroom also won a silver medal from the 1990 Goodwill Games in the 81 kg division.

He also competed at the 1989 World Championships in Moscow.^[1]

McGroom turned pro in 1993 and started off his career going undefeated in his first 11 fights. He then faced Darrol Wilson, a heavy hitting heavyweight who would make a name for himself later on, in 1995, and battled his way to a 10-round draw. McGroom's next big fight was an 8th-round TKO loss to future contender Kirk Johnson. Johnson was much bigger than McGroom and slugged him to the canvas.

After the loss to Johnson, McGroom's impressive victory over Esteban Pizzarro in 1999 earned him the biggest fight of his career against James Toney in 2000. It was a close fight with Toney and some thought the decision should have been given to McGroom.^{[citation needed]} In 2001 he challenged Vasily Jirov for his IBF Cruiserweight belt. The result was a shocking one-round KO for Jirov, the result from one well place body shot.

McGroom then moved up to Heavyweight and had little success. He lost to future contenders Dominick Guinn, Malik Scott, and Timor Ibragimov before retiring in 2004.

McGroom died from bone cancer on April 17, 2016.^[2]

19 Wins (10 knockouts, 9 decisions), 9 Losses (4 knockouts, 5 decisions), 3 Draws [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	19–9–3	Cengiz Koc	UD	6	24/07/2004	Frankfurt, Germany
Loss	19–8–3	Timur Ibragimov	UD	8	22/04/2004	Moscow, Russia
Loss	19–7–3	Johny Jensen	SD	6	28/02/2004	Aalborg, Denmark
Draw	19–6–3	Johny Jensen	PTS	6	24/10/2003	Copenhagen, Denmark
Loss	19–6–2	Steve Cunningham	UD	8	20/09/2003	Uncasville, Connecticut, U.S.
Loss	19–5–2	Malik Scott	TKO	2	01/02/2003	Uncasville, Connecticut, U.S.	Referee stopped the bout at 2:58 of the second round.
Loss	19–4–2	Dominick Guinn	TKO	7	08/09/2002	Lawton, Oklahoma, U.S.
Loss	19–3–2	Vassiliy Jirov	KO	1	24/03/2001	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	For IBF cruiserweight title. McGroom knocked out at 1:22 of the first round.
Win	19–2–2	Ed Strickland	KO	1	21/02/2001	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	Strickland knocked out at 2:59 of the first round.
Loss	18–2–2	James Toney	MD	10	21/01/2000	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Win	18–1–2	Esteban Pizzarro	UD	12	26/06/1999	Cicero, Illinois, U.S.	Won WBO–NABO cruiserweight title
Win	17–1–2	Jesse Corona	UD	10	05/03/1999	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Win	16–1–2	Vinson Durham	UD	10	29/01/1999	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Win	15–1–2	Mike Acklie	TKO	2	13/11/1998	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	Referee stopped the bout at 0:50 of the second round.
Win	14–1–2	Brian Yates	UD	6	01/10/1997	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Loss	13–1–2	Kirk Johnson	TKO	8	16/11/1996	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Draw	13–0–2	Anthony Hembrick	PTS	10	23/04/1996	Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S.
Win	13–0–1	Arthur Saribekian	UD	8	21/11/1995	Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S.
Win	12–0–1	Ron Preston	UD	8	03/10/1995	Flint, Michigan, U.S.
Draw	11–0–1	Darroll Wilson	PTS	10	17/08/1995	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Win	11–0	Exum Speight	TKO	2	28/03/1995	Flint, Michigan, U.S.
Win	10–0	Ken Jackson	TKO	2	20/08/1994	Athens, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	9–0	Randy McGee	UD	8	21/05/1994	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	8–0	Tim St Clair	UD	8	05/02/1994	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	7–0	Morris Young	TKO	4	18/12/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	6–0	Aaron Green	KO	4	13/11/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	5–0	Leonard Lamar Long	PTS	6	28/08/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	4–0	Darren Jewell	KO	2	17/07/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	3–0	Ricardo Estrada	TKO	3	12/06/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	2–0	Donald Johnson	TKO	2	27/03/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Win	1–0	William Yates	TKO	1	16/01/1993	Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.

• Boxing record for Terry McGroom from BoxRec (registration required)