LI's Buddy McGirt elected to boxing's Hall of Fame

James “Buddy” McGirt, Long Island’s first world champion and a throwback fighter reminiscent of the sport’s Golden Age, is among four boxers this year who have been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” said McGirt, who is from Brentwood. “This shows you’re appreciated by the boxing world and that all the hard work and dedication pays off. I’ve come a long way. And when I think back, I just want to thank Brentwood for all the support they’ve given me.”

McGirt is a two-division world champion who fought much of his 16-year career under the Madison Square Garden promotional banner. He will be inducted into the hall on June 9th in Canastota, New York. Other members of the class of 2019 include welterweight champions Donald Curry and Tony DeMarco, junior middleweight champion Julian Jackson and Staten Island trainer and broadcaster Teddy Atlas.

“Buddy is a very special person in my life,” said Bobby Goodman, McGirt’s promoter at the Garden. “Buddy was underrated in his career so I am glad he’s getting the recognition he really deserves.”

McGirt’s interest in boxing began in 1976 when he wandered into the basement gym at the Brentwood Rec Center.

“I used to just sit there and watch the pros,” said McGirt. “One day the trainer, Gene Moore, said you know we have a program for kids. I said, “How old do you have to be?’ He said 12. The next week I turned 12 and I went every day.”

At the time, McGirt was also playing youth football.

“I was standing out there in the cold thinking, I could be inside a warm boxing gym right now,” said McGirt. “I went to the sideline in the middle of the game. I gave the coach my helmet. I told him I’d give him the rest of the equipment tomorrow and I walked home.”

McGirt, a junior welterweight, turned pro in 1982 during his senior year at Brentwood High School. He did not enter the pro ranks with a long list of amateur accomplishments. But what he did have was an unyielding work ethic and an appetite to learn.

“He was the nicest kid,” recalled Gene Moore, who ran the boxing program at the Brentwood Rec Center. “He really wanted to be a fighter. He worked very hard at it. Sometimes I would drive him home from the gym. He was just a great kid.”

After a draw in his pro debut, McGirt reeled off 28 straight wins before losing to contender Frankie Warren in Corpus Christi, Texas. McGirt then embarked on an eight-bout win streak which led to a 1988 rematch with Warren back in Corpus Christi. This time the vacant IBF junior welterweight title was at stake. McGirt scored a 12th-round TKO and become a world champion.

“I think that’s my greatest moment,” said McGirt. “It was something that I knew they could never take away from me. I knew I would always go down in history as Long Island’s first world champion.”

By 1991 McGirt was campaigning as a welterweight and captured his second world title that year when he outclassed heavily-favored WBC champion Simon Brown over 12 rounds.

“Simon Brown was a textbook fight,” said Goodman. “He faced a great champion and took him apart piece by piece. If you wanted to school someone on how to box that would be the tape to give him. The McGirt who fought Simon Brown was one of the greatest welterweights I’ve ever seen.”

McGirt’s long-time manager and trainer, Al Certo, helped him develop a style that incorporated touches from Sugar Ray Robinson and Jersey Joe Walcott.

“Buddy learned every little trick in the book,” said Goodman. “He could hook off the jab. He’d double, triple up his jab. His footwork was fantastic. He could slip, spin or pivot. He was doing stuff inside the ring that they just weren’t teaching any more.”

In 1993, McGirt put his title on the line at Madison Square Garden against Pernell Whitaker, who was moving up in weight and was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. McGirt entered the fight with a nagging pain in his left shoulder. McGirt said he was initially told it was tendonitis but it was later diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff. Despite the injury, McGirt lost a close fight with Whitaker, on two scorecards he was behind by one and two points, respectively.

“We can all say shoulda, woulda coulda,” said McGirt. “If not for the injury who knows what would have happened. I think if I was healthy I would have beaten him.”

McGirt would continue fighting until 1997 and holds victories over Livingston Bramble, Saoul Mamby, Joe Manley and Glen Cove’s Howard Davis Jr., a 1976 Olympic gold medalist. According to Goodman, the Long Island Railroad ran a special train to deliver fans of both McGirt and Davis Jr. to the Felt Forum for the Sunday afternoon fight. McGirt scored a one-round knockout live on ABC. McGirt retired with a 73-6-1 with 48 knockouts. He then turned to training young fighters.

“I enjoy teaching,” said McGirt who is 54 and now lives in Vero Beach, Florida. “I love it. Even when I was young I always knew I wanted to be a trainer. I used to watch Gene Moore and I always thought it looked like fun.”

McGirt, who Goodman described as student of the game, has trained world champions Byron Mitchell, Vernon Forrest, Antonio Tarver and Arturo Gatti. He is also trained his son, Buddy McGirt Jr. As a kid, McGirt would go to the Brentwood Library and take out any boxing book he could find.

“There was this one book, “The World’s Heavyweight Champions” that I took out all the time,” recalled McGirt. “Every other time I would rip a picture out and hang it on the wall in my room. One day I went to the library and the librarian had the book behind the counter. She sees me and she says, Come here young man. Is this what you are looking for?” She hands me the book and I say, “Yes.”

She says do me a favor, take this home and keep it. I say, “Why?” She says you took half the pictures out of the book. I said, “How do you know it’s me?” She said, you are the only one who takes this book out. That was my childhood, I was obsessed with boxing.”