Andrew Maynard (boxer)

Andrew Maynard started boxing while serving in the U.S. Army. He was a cook in Fort Carson, Colorado and his final military rank was specialist.[1]

As an amateur, Maynard was a relentless pressure fighter, often throwing 1,000 punches per fight. Maynard was the 1987 and 1988 United States Amateur Champion in the Light Heavyweight division. He won a bronze medal at the 1987 Pan American Games, where he first burst into international prominence beating up on Cuban world champion Pablo Romero, only to collapse in the second round without being hit. Later, Maynard acknowledged he had suffered a broken ankle during a pickup basketball game the day before the Romero bout but didn't tell about it to anybody. "I figure that I owed myself some kind of a gold medal after that situation," he said. So at the 1988 Summer Olympics Maynard methodically avoided all basketball courts in Seoul.[2]

Pan Am Box-offs (178 lbs), International Center of the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 1987:

• Defeated Joseph Pemberton

Maynard won the Light Heavyweight Gold Medal for the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Results were:

• First round bye
• Defeated Mikaele Masoe (American Samoa) RSC 2
• Defeated Lajos Erős (Hungary) 5-0
• Defeated Henryk Petrich (Poland) TKO 3
• Defeated Nurmagomed Shanavazov (Soviet Union) 5-0

Following the Olympics, Maynard made the decision to move to Laurel, Maryland where he began his professional career by signing with the management team of Mike Trainer and Sugar Ray Leonard. He quickly became known for his hard hitting along with his outgoing personality and trademark smile.

Maynard won his first 12 bouts in the light heavyweight division (175 lbs), prior to getting stopped in the seventh round by Bobby Czyz. Maynard then went on a six-fight winning streak, stopping former world light heavyweight champion Matthew Saad Muhammad in 1991, setting up a fight with Frank Tate. Tate dropped Maynard in the 11th round, prompting referee Joe Santarpia to stop the fight.

Maynard, who won the NABF Light Heavyweight Title by a majority decision against Mike Sedillo on April 1, 1990, lost his championship belt to Tate after having successfully defending it on four occasions.

Maynard moved up to cruiserweight to challenge WBC World Cruiserweight champion Anaclet Wamba in a title bout held in Paris, France. Knocked down in the first round, the typically slow-starting American battled back courageously and lost by a 12-round unanimous decision with one judge having the bout as close as 113-116.

After losing to Wamba, Maynard fought on in obscurity. Among his notable fights which followed were a knockout loss to Thomas Hearns and a stoppage at heavyweight to Brian Nielsen.

Maynard retired in 2000 and lives in Harlingen, Texas with his common law wife, Cynthia Ann Montgomery. For several years, Maynard served as a youth boxing trainer in Harlingen. For a short period of time, he worked in a public relations capacity for USA Boxing in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Maynard is the proud father of three children.

In March of 1996, the Country of Nicaragua issued a stamp in honor of Maynard and in his likeness. He was inducted into the “Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame” in 2001. Maynard was a 2016 inductee of the “Washington, D.C. Boxing Hall of Fame” and, in 2019, was one of five members of the inaugural class of Texas’ “Rio Grande Valley Boxing Hall of Fame”.

• Boxing record for Andrew Maynard from BoxRec