Fighter moonlights as a manager/promoter to help young boxers

VIRGINIA BEACH

A fellow fighter's word got former world lightweight champ Nate Campbell to drive from Jacksonville, Fla., to Virginia Beach in late April.

Veteran Dorin Spivey told Campbell there were a couple of prospects he should consider signing for his new promotional company, One Punch Productions. Campbell showed up at Robert Matney's 7 Cities Boxing Gym near the Oceanfront, where amateurs Cordaro Simpkins and Kenny Moody were waiting.

Campbell had only a pair of shorts and some boxing shoes. He borrowed everything else - gloves, cup, headgear and mouthpiece - and got down to business, sparring first with Simpkins, a lightweight, then with Moody, a middleweight.

"I took 'em to school," Campbell said. "They gotta know, this isn't the amateurs. They handled their business, otherwise I wouldn't have signed them."

Both signed management deals with Campbell and will make their pro debuts tonight at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tampa, Fla.

While not a major show, it's a step up from the venues where most local and regional fighters begin their careers. Doing it under the guidance of Campbell, who'll fight for the WBO light welterweight title next Saturday, is a bonus, they said.

"We got pretty lucky to sign with this guy," said Daniel Lamb, Simpkins' father and trainer.

"It's a blessing," Moody said.

Simpkins, 20, had 200 amateur fights and won the National Silver Gloves four years ago at age 16. He and his father had been traveling from Chesapeake to Washington, D.C., looking for more exposure, in hopes of turning pro. They had some nibbles, but no bites, so Lamb asked Spivey for advice.

Spivey sparred often with Simpkins and had been impressed. He contacted Campbell, who stopped on his way to New York.

"Where's that little dude I've been hearing about?" Campbell declared after donning his gear.

Simpkins, who is nothing if not confident, was ready to go. It was no big thing, he said.

He and Campbell sparred for four or five rounds.

"Nate was trying everything to break his spirit," Lamb said. "He couldn't do it."

Moody, 26, was next. A Green Run High graduate, he has fought off and on for 10 years, including during a stint in the Army, and had about 40 amateur bouts. He came to Mattney's gym about a year ago.

"I was a little nervous, being in the ring with a world champion," he said. "He was talking trash, going hard."

Moody passed the test as well. No one was prouder than Spivey, 35, a lightweight who has sparred with both as he prepares for a possible fight next month.

"They're like my little brothers," Spivey said. "They keep me young. I'm just glad they won't be getting jerked around and screwed around like I have in my career."

Or as Campbell, 37, did on his way to the title. A late bloomer who came up the hard way, he won his first world title at age 36, beating the touted Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz.

Now moonlighting as a manager/promoter, Campbell has signed five fighters in his fledgling company.

"I'm not gonna take their money," he said. "My job is to get them as much as I can, and to teach them to put it away, because, as boxers, we have no retirement system."

Campbell said he likes Simpkins for his "youthful vigor" and Moody for his "humble, down to earth ways." Both are promising prospects. It's time for them to get their feet wet in the pro game, he said.

Sort of like they did the day Campbell rolled into town, giving them just a taste, he said, not the full treatment.

"I drove from Jacksonville all the way to Virginia, jumped out of the car, and sparred," he said. "So they couldn't have gotten it as hard as they said they did."

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com