Jesse James Hughes

[young griffo]

I was flicking through some old boxing magazines and had my memory jogged by James Hughes who for a brief time was a precursor to Micky Ward as a blue collar brawler/excitment machine.

He was peaking in 1995 as USBA Welterweight Champion and was headed for a fight with Yori Boy Campas when he met his untimely death.

What I was wondering was how far could Hughes have gone?

Could he have won a world title or competed against the Trinidads,Quarteys and Whitakers?

And does anyone know the cicumstances surrounding his murder?

Anyway here's his last fight a couple of weeks before he died against Nick Rupa and a great scrap it is.

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[klompton]

I dont think he could have gone much further but he was a lot of fun to watch. The Trinidads, DLHs, Quarteys etc would have chewed him up and spit him out.

Jesse had a nasty habit of robbing drug dealers in his spare time. It is believed that one of these drug dealers he robbed got his revenge which resulted in Jesse's body being found face down in a swamp.

[burt bienstock]

Hughes was a tough brawler ,much on the style of Margarito...Limited but, could thrill the crowd.He was doing well, but was found dead in an isolated area,and thought to be drug related..Just when he had an opportunity to make good money...Hughes reminded me of a fighter of my youth named Vince Foster..Foster was a sensation in the 1940s,tremendous puncher, but out of the ring,a wild one..He got killed in a motorcycle accident...A shooting star, not under control

[young griffo]

I dont think he could have gone much further but he was a lot of fun to watch. The Trinidads, DLHs, Quarteys etc would have chewed him up and spit him out.

Jesse had a nasty habit of robbing drug dealers in his spare time. It is believed that one of these drug dealers he robbed got his revenge which resulted in Jesse's body being found face down in a swamp.
Christ a sticky end is inevitable if you're going to do that shit.

What a waste of a life and a (from all availiable footage) a character.

[D9Garrard]

I just went back and rewatched his big fights on YouTube. It appears family members have posted them as a tribute of sorts and I was glad to see them.

Those last three wins against Stephens, Stone, and Rupa were all thrilling come-from-behind performances that were bunched pretty tightly together and Jesse was building some hot momentum, You can feel it watching the tapes. He had great charaisma, energy, and was a much better fighter and puncher than he's getting credit for in hindsight. All three of those guys he beat were "hot" prospects at the time and all three were pretty much ruined afterwards while JJH just seemed to get better and stronger with each fight.

He was scheduled to fight Yory Campas next and I would have expected that to be a life and death fight that Hughes had an excellent chance to win and a fight against Trinadad could have been a scary one for the champ. Hughes had an iron chin, durability, and could punch deceivingly hard.

I remember reading the local Mobile reports of his death and they were pretty seedy. He was going deep into some bad places and robbing dealers with nothing but his fists. If there hadn't been hurricane level storms at the time of his disappearance that caused his body to float upstream almost two weeks afterwards, no one would ever know what happended to him. Really a tragic end to what could have been even more of a great story.

[young griffo]

I just went back and rewatched his big fights on YouTube. It appears family members have posted them as a tribute of sorts and I was glad to see them.

Those last three wins against Stephens, Stone, and Rupa were all thrilling come-from-behind performances that were bunched pretty tightly together and Jesse was building some hot momentum, You can feel it watching the tapes. He had great charaisma, energy, and was a much better fighter and puncher than he's getting credit for in hindsight. All three of those guys he beat were "hot" prospects at the time and all three were pretty much ruined afterwards while JJH just seemed to get better and stronger with each fight.

He was scheduled to fight Yory Campas next and I would have expected that to be a life and death fight that Hughes had an excellent chance to win and a fight against Trinadad could have been a scary one for the champ. Hughes had an iron chin, durability, and could punch deceivingly hard.

I remember reading the local Mobile reports of his death and they were pretty seedy. He was going deep into some bad places and robbing dealers with nothing but his fists. If there hadn't been hurricane level storms at the time of his disappearance that caused his body to float upstream almost two weeks afterwards, no one would ever know what happended to him. Really a tragic end to what could have been even more of a great story.
Great post.

Yeah the Adrian Stone fight was a rip snorter as well.These guys were clearly better boxers than Hughes but he didn't get discouraged,kept attacking and was relentless once he had you hurt.

From what I've been reading it seems that Hughes had a serious crack addiction as well which is probably why he took to ripping off drug dealers between pay days.Its astounding to me that he looked so fit and strong in the ring whilst being a crack head as it must've been detrimental to his health.

[anarci]

I liked Huges he was very exciting and could punch but he would have taken a frightful beating against any of the guys you mentioned. Hell even a past it Yori Boy would have done a number on him.
TO the poster that compared him to Margarito ???????? WTF!! Hughes had club fighter skills not to say Margarito is mister technichal skillfighter but his skill level was quite a few notches above Hughes.


Yey the other poster had it right hughes was known to knockout drugdealers and steal their dope, it came back to bite him. I liked him cause he was just a Wild and crazy shitkicking cowboy very entertaining with a lot of heart.

I think id Pick him over Chavez JR or Duddy.

His win

[Thread Stealer]

I watched his fights with Stone and Rupa a few months ago. Pretty entertaining fights. I definitely would not have liked Hughes's chances at all against the top WWs around then. He made for some fan friendly bouts but I don't think all that highly of his skills & talent, at least not at the highest level of the sport (and especially in WW division of THAT era).

Here's an article about him.

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