Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, Rick Jester, and Benny Ray Trusel

Where are they now?

In the wake of the last summer’s deaths of two former Kronk boxing champions, The Detroit News attempted to find out what happened to each of the 96 fighters and promoter/managers who built Kronk into an international powerhouse in the 1970s ‘80s and ‘90s.

The outcomes were dramatically different, The News found, between those who were born in Detroit or moved here permanently, and those who came in from out of town to train at Kronk, then left Detroit. Of the original 61 Kronk stable of boxers, the record shows:

Duane Thomas

Four are wealthy

    Thomas Hearns – wealthy, promoter
    Hilmer Kenty – executive of Metro Detroit construction firm
    Jimmy Paul – Owns Detroit HUD properties
    Emanuel Steward – wealthy trainer/promoter/TV announcer

35 are working

    Leeonzer Barber – Detroit, still boxing
    Bernie Boldon – works in Detroit
    Oba Carr – still boxing
    Rob Clemens – hospital worker
    Lanny Edmonds – working in Detroit
    Jim Ferrari – insurance agent
    Ali Haakim – Detroit schools public safety officer
    Billy Hearns – Kronk trainer
    John Hearns – Las Vegas casino host
    Rick Jester – Detroit, master plumber
    James Johnson Jr. – after boxing was employed by Detroit Police Department
    Joe Johnson – Detroit businessman
    Lionel Johnson – Detroit truck driver
    Darnell Knox – working in Detroit
    Arthel Lawhorn – Detroit postal employee
    Joe Manley (a.k.a. Bilal Ajani Sekou) – Consumer’s Power employee.
    Milton McCrory – employed at Chrysler Corp. tech center
    Roderick Moore – truck driver
    Michael Moorer – making comeback as boxer
    Danny Paul – works in Detroit hospital
    Aaron “The Hawk“ Pryor – minister, Cincinnati, beat drug problem
    Farris “Killer” Purify – boxing trainer
    Jerry Reese – Detroiter, job unknown
    Kenny Ringo – working in Washington, D.C.
    Darnell Seals – plant foreman
    Hurley Snead – Detroit, training to fight
    James Steward – the original Kronk; Emanuel’s brother, auto plant worker
    Bret Summers – fireman
    Frank Tate – in Texas, recently retired from ring
    Benny Ray Trusel – Detroit construction worker
    Rodney Trusel – Northwest Airlines supervisor in Houston
    Robert Tyus – Detroit transit policeman
    Keith Vining – Steelworker in Monroe, trains young boxers
    Eric Williams – in Atlanta, training boxers
    Andrey Wynn – Los Angeles policeman

Four suffered setbacks

    Dwaine Bonds – While bodyguard for a Motown star, turned to drugs. Career ended. Now recovered.
    David Braxton – Lost title after positive drug test, but stopped using, now working in construction.
    Gerald McClellan – Blind and paralyzed from brain damage in fight, living with sister in Illinois.
    Tony Tucker – became drug abuser, but made recovery.

Eight went to prison

    Nathanial “Gator” Akbar – sentenced 10 to 20 years for arson in 1984; denied parole 5 times so far; next parole hearing June 2002.
    Darrell Chambers – sentenced to life for drug conspiracy in 1994; has appeals pending; in prison at Terre Haute, Ind.
    Alvin Hayes – sentenced to 5-to-20 in 1987 for armed robbery, released, committed three more armed robberies, sentenced in 1994 to three terms of 612 to 40 years. At Detroit’s Ryan Correctional Facility, possibly until December 2040.
    John Johnson – retail fraud, served less than two years, released in 1999.
    William “Caveman” Lee – went to prison three times for bank robberies, the last time July 2000, when he began a 7-to-15-year federal sentence; first parole date December 2006.
    William “Stanley” Longstreet – sentenced for drug conspiracy with Chambers in 1994, released August 1997.
    Rickey Womack – armed robberies, assault, did 15 years in prison, paroled last fall.
    John Yopp, promoter – sentenced to 30 years in 1994 for drug conspiracy, later reduced to 15 years; in Milan federal penitentiary.

10 have died

    Wilson Bell – murdered, 1989
    Collier Bishop – killed in car-jacking incident, 1994
    Johnny Compo – died in a car crash at 42 last October
    Leslie “Lemonade“ Gardner – Drug overdose in 1983, age 26
    J.L. Ivey – Murdered by drug dealer, 1990, age 26
    DuJuan Johnson – murdered, age 28, over $200 debt, 1984
    Bernard “Superbad” Mays – died of alcoholism at 33, 1994
    Steve McCrory – dead, age 36, undisclosed illness, 2000
    Duane Thomas – shot and killed at 39 in drug dispute, 2000
    Darius “Dollbaby” Wilson – shot to death, age unknown, early 1980s

Mark Breland, Mickey Goodwin, and Lennox Lewis

Other fighters who trained at Kronk

Another 35 fighters came to Kronk from the suburbs, other states and other countries to be trained by Steward, and left. None is dead or in jail.

13 are well-off:

    Dennis Andries – runs physical fitness progam in England.
    Jesse Benavides – runs home for elderly in Tex.
    Mark Breland – actor, dog trainer, wealthy
    Julio Cesar Chavez – retired in Mex., wealthy
    Oscar DeLaHoya – still fighting
    Jeff Fenech – TV commentator, Australia
    Naseem “Prince” Hamed – current featherweight champ
    Jemal Hinton – retired undefeated for religious reasons, in Washington, D.C.
    Evander Holyfield – Atlanta, restaurateur, still fighting
    Ole Klemetson – still fighting
    Lennox Lewis – current world heavyweight champion
    Welcome N’Cita – manager, Capetown, South Africa
    Graciano Rocchigiani – still fighting

22 are working

    Doug “Big Bird” Ahonen – engineer in Calumet, Mich.
    Davey Lee Armstrong – civil engineer
    Jackie Beard – boxing trainer
    Donald Bowers – youth boxing trainer
    Orlando “Gaby” Canizales – youth counselor, Tex.
    Johnny de la Rosa – youth counselor
    Fadi Faraj – still fighting, Dearborn
    Floyd Favors – Wash., D.C., policeman
    Frank Goodwin – engineer
    Mickey Goodwin – trains fighters at Dearborn Sports
    Lindell Holmes – opened barbershop
    Biff Humphries – cement contractor
    Danny Humphries – now Steward’s insurance agent
    John David Jackson – still boxing, Calif.
    Lee Lamphere – foreman of tree company
    Mike McCallum – trainer, Las Vegas
    John Mooney – school teacher
    Eddie Mustafa Muhammad – trainer, Las Vegas
    John O’Neil – teacher, Garden City
    Todd Riggs – union official
    Tarick Salmaci – still fighting, Dearborn
    Leon Spinks – former world heavyweight champion, went broke, but working again. Source: Detroit News research