Marvin Camel

Marvin Camel (born December 24, 1951) is a boxer and member of the Salish Kootenai Nation of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Northwestern Montana. He was born in Ronan and fought out of Missoula. He holds the distinction of being the first person recognized as Cruiserweight boxing champion of the world by two different professional sanctioning bodies.

Camel fought Mate Parlov in Yugoslavia to a draw in the first ever cruiserweight world title bout. In the rematch, in Las Vegas, Camel beat Mate Parlov for the vacant WBC world Cruiserweight title in 1980, losing the title in his first defense, to Carlos De León. After losing in a rematch to De Leon, he became, in 1983, the IBF's first world champion, beating Roddy McDonald, by becoming world Cruiserweight champion for the second time when he claimed that organization's title. He lost the title to Lee Roy Murphy. He is the subject of a biography released in December 2014, titled 'Warrior in the Ring' by Brian D'Ambrosio, as well as a documentary. Called "gritty ringside prose," "Warrior in the Ring" re-establishes Marvin's position in boxing as a forgotten, colorful figure who won titles in an unfamiliar weight class. Camel’s journey was an amazing example of gritty determination: punishing runs on Montana’s back roads, relentless training in makeshift gyms, sleeping in beat-up cars before fights in glittering Las Vegas, and even training and fighting for a world championship in a foreign country, alone. Camel’s victory over Parlov 35 years ago raised his professional record to 35-2-2. He lost his final bout in June 1990 against Eddie “Young Joe Louis” Taylor in Minneapolis. The 10-round decision left his lifetime mark at 45-13-5.

Camel's pro career took the rangy southpaw from Ronan to 13 states and seven foreign nations on three continents.

“I’ve had a good life, as far as boxing is concerned, winning two world titles, losing world titles, seeing the world,” Camel said in 2015. “Some things people only dream about having, I did it. I’ve been there. I’ve been to the top of the mountain. But I feel there’s still something out there that I’ve got to have, and I don’t know what it is.”

In December 2014, as part of Camel's "return from the dead," D'Ambrosio and Camel attended the 52nd Annual World Boxing Convention.

Professional boxing record

45 Wins (21 knockouts, 24 decisions), 13 Losses (8 knockouts, 5 decisions), 4 Draws [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	30-9-1	Eddie "Young Joe Louis" Taylor	MD	10	11/06/1990	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States	93-99, 94-97, 99-99.
Loss	9-1	Joe "The Boss" Hipp	TKO	6	02/12/1989	Lacey, Washington, United States
Win	4-1-1	Jerome "Mole" Hill	PTS	8	06/11/1989	Butte, Montana, United States
Win	23-25-4	J.J. Cottrell	UD	10	25/09/1989	Billings, Montana, United States
Draw	4-15	Trent Surratt	TD	1	10/08/1989	Billings, Montana, United States
Loss	36-8	James Salerno	TKO	6	31/05/1988	Milan, Lombardia, Italy
Loss	21-2-5	Ralf "Rocky II" Rocchigiani	PTS	10	26/04/1988	Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Loss	21-1	Taoufik Belbouli	TKO	4	10/10/1987	Paris, France
Loss	15-0	Virgil "Quicksilver" Hill	KO	1	01/05/1987	Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States	Camel knocked out at 2:52 of the first round.
Loss	79-9-6	Jose Maria Flores Burlon	UD	10	08/08/1986	Pergamino, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Draw	8-4-3	Jimmy "Million Dollar" Bills	PTS	10	22/05/1986	Boise, Idaho, United States
Loss	20-0	Lee Roy "Solid Gold" Murphy	TKO	14	06/10/1984	Billings, Montana, United States	IBF World Cruiserweight Title.
Win	25-3	Roddy MacDonald	TKO	5	13/12/1983	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada	IBF World Cruiserweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:49 of the fifth round.
Win	13-0	Rocky Sekorski	KO	9	21/05/1983	Billings, Montana, United States	IBF USBA Cruiserweight Title.
Loss	14-0	John Odhiambho	TKO	2	11/02/1983	Copenhagen, Denmark
Win	10-7	Leonardo Rodgers	TKO	5	30/06/1982	Omaha, Nebraska, United States	IBF USBA Cruiserweight Title.
Loss	31-2	Carlos "Sugar" De Leon	TKO	8	24/02/1982	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Cruiserweight Title.
Win	14-5	Bash Ali	PTS	12	02/10/1981	San Francisco, California, United States	IBF USBA Cruiserweight Title.
Win	17-1	Willie "The Cannon" Shannon	TKO	3	11/08/1981	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Nevada Cruiserweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 0:27 of the third round.
Win	7-6	Rahim Muhammad	UD	12	05/05/1981	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Nevada Cruiserweight Title. 120-107, 120-108, 120-107.
Win	7-21-1	Ron Draper	TKO	6	24/04/1981	Billings, Montana, United States
Loss	29-2	Carlos "Sugar" De Leon	MD	15	25/11/1980	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States	WBC World Cruiserweight Title. 142-145, 145-145, 141-145.
Win	24-2-2	Mate Parlov	UD	15	31/03/1980	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	WBC World Cruiserweight Title. 144-141, 148-141, 149-141.
Draw	24-2-1	Mate Parlov	PTS	15	08/12/1979	Split, Croatia	WBC World Cruiserweight Title. 147-142, 143-143, 144-144.
Win	14-4	David "Maceton" Cabrera	KO	3	30/08/1979	McAllen, Texas, United States
Win	33-19-1	Macka Foley	TKO	2	01/08/1979	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	17-3-1	Bill Sharkey	UD	12	05/06/1979	Missoula, Montana, United States	NABF Cruiserweight Title.
Win	10-17-5	David "The King" Smith	KO	9	24/04/1979	Missoula, Montana, United States
Win	8-4-1	Jim "Beam" Ingram	PTS	10	28/02/1979	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	5-3	Bob Heflin	KO	2	03/01/1979	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	22-20-3	Tom "Bomb" Bethea	KO	2	11/11/1978	Missoula, Montana, United States
Win	18-4-1	Dale Grant	PTS	12	13/09/1978	Butte, Montana, United States
Win	26-4-1	Ibar Arrington	UD	10	22/08/1978	Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States
Win	8-9	Chuck Warfield	KO	5	27/05/1978	Missoula, Montana, United States
Win	7-8-1	Pete McIntyre	PTS	10	07/04/1978	Butte, Montana, United States
Win	14-16-1	"Beautiful" Bobby Lloyd	PTS	10	09/03/1978	Wichita, Kansas, United States
Win	9-13-5	David "The King" Smith	PTS	10	08/02/1978	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	39-26-4	Karl Zurheide	RTD	7	08/12/1977	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Zurheide retired after the seventh round.
Win	63-25-7	Ron Wilson	PTS	10	29/08/1977	Pablo, Montana, United States
Loss	12-10-1	Danny Brewer	TKO	6	28/06/1977	Seattle, Washington, United States
Win	28-8-3	Gary Summerhays	UD	12	06/05/1977	Missoula, Montana, United States
Draw	9-3	Dale Grant	PTS	10	15/02/1977	Seattle, Washington, United States
Win	8-4	Lionel "The Train" Ford	UD	10	26/01/1977	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	10-3-1	Larry Castaneda	UD	10	20/11/1976	Seattle, Washington, United States
Win	13-1-1	Matthew Saad Muhammad	MD	10	23/10/1976	Missoula, Montana, United States	100-91, 98-96, 96-96.
Win	5-5	Johnny Townsend	UD	10	25/09/1976	Spokane, Washington, United States
Win	5-4	Johnny Townsend	UD	10	28/08/1976	Missoula, Montana, United States
Loss	11-1-1	Matthew Saad Muhammad	SD	10	17/07/1976	Stockton, California, United States
Win	28-17-1	Angel "of Death" Oquendo	UD	10	08/05/1976	Missoula, Montana, United States
Win	43-11-5	Rafael "Raffles" Gutierrez	UD	10	07/04/1976	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	2-2	Don Meloncon	TKO	3	18/02/1976	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	1-1	Pedro Vega	KO	1	14/01/1976	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	8-4	Danny Brewer	UD	10	19/11/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	15-17-5	"Irish" Terry Lee	TKO	8	24/09/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:46 of the eighth round.
Win	62-23-7	Ron Wilson	UD	10	20/08/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	2-4	Fernando Lee Jones	RTD	6	28/05/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	23-25-3	Amado Vasquez	KO	3	30/04/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	4-14-2	"Cracker" Jack Johnson	UD	8	02/04/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	0-1	Chico Valdez	KO	2	19/02/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	5-3	"Curious" George Clark	TKO	4	22/01/1975	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:31 of the fourth round.
Win	9-7-1	James T. Jackson	TKO	4	25/02/1974	Boise, Idaho, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:29 of the fourth round.
Win	--	Joe Williamson	TKO	1	25/06/1973	Butte, Montana, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:19 of the first round.

Honors

In 2006 at the World Boxing Council's 44th annual convention WBC President José Sulaimán awarded Camel honorary champion status.

See also

• List of cruiserweight boxing champions

References

http://montanamagazine.com/warrior-in-the-ring-looking-back-with-marvin-camel/

External links

• Professional boxing record for Marvin Camel from BoxRec

Preceded by Inaugural champion	World Cruiserweight Champion March 31, 1980 – November 25, 1980	Succeeded by Carlos DeLeon
	IBF Cruiserweight Champion February 13, 1983 – October 6, 1984	Succeeded by Lee Roy Murphy