Las Vegas, NV (September 5, 2013) – Hard hitting junior middleweight contender Deandre “The Bull” Latimore has never been a fighter to avoid challenges.
In December 2007, Latimore, then 23, stepped up and dominated previously unbeaten Durrell Richardson over ten rounds. Six months later, the dynamite fisted southpaw scored a shocking upset when he stopped world rated Sechew Powell in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN’s Wednesday Night Fights. The very next fight, he challenged fellow St. Louisan Cory Spinks for the vacant IBF championship. With a packed house on hand, Latimore scored a flash knockdown in the opening round and cut Spinks in the fourth but ultimately dropped a debatable split decision.
Following the defeat to Spinks, Latimore reeled off four victories in his next five bouts, one of which came on ShoBox in his promotional debut for Mayweather Promotions. Under Mayweather’s wing, Latimore, who currently lives and fights out of Las Vegas, NV, landed the biggest opportunity of his career against former welterweight champion Carlos Quintana. The bout was seen by more than 1.5 million people as part of the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto undercard. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong end of a sixth round TKO.
“Quintana was the better man that night but I wasn’t focused,” stated Latimore. “There were a lot of out of the ring issues involving my family at that time and I wasn’t myself mentally.”
The aforementioned out of the ring issues kept him idle since his May 2012 bout with Quintana and led to an amicable split from Mayweather Promotions after just two bouts.
Latimore, currently a promotional and managerial free agent, is ready to return and recently teamed up with respected trainer Fareed Samad of Denver, CO. A former prizefighter, Samad, who owns Train 2 Perfection, retired 10-0 with 9 knockouts. As a trainer, he’s guided notable fighters in both boxing and mixed martial arts such as “King” Mo Lawl, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson and Davarryl “Touch of Sleep” Williamson amongst others.
“I’m ready excited about working with Fareed,” stated Latimore. “He’s got me back to working on the basics and fundamentals. I believe he’ll unleash my talents and have me doing things that I never did before. Physically, I feel like a million bucks and I’m ready to get the ball rolling. After a few tune ups to shake off the ring rust, I’ll be right there ready, willing and able to face the world’s best at 154 and even 160 pounds.”
Samad agrees.
“Deandre was an outstanding puncher and a world class fighter before I started working with him. There are a lot of things we’re fine tuning to make him a more complete fighter than he was in the past. I believe the boxing world will soon mention a much improved Deandre Latimore as a foe for the top fighters in the immediate future.”
For more information on Samad, please visit Train2perfection.com, Facebook.com/Brother.Fareed or on Twitter @T2P_Boxing.
