Tony “TNT” Tucker, an Ottawa Hills High School graduate, had an outstanding amateur and 18-year professional boxing career. He is best known for being the IBF World Champion in 1987 after defeating Buster Douglas, only to lose 64 days later to Mike Tyson, the WBA and WBC champion, in a decision. Tyson, after the fight, called it his toughest fight yet.
Tucker later challenged Lennox Lewis in 1993 for the WBA heavyweight title.
As an amateur, Tucker, who was trained locally by his father Bob Tucker, won the U.S. Nationals in 1979, won a gold medal in the 1979 Pan-Am Games and was a World Cup champion at light-heavyweight.
As a professional he was 58-7, including 48 by knockouts. Tucker and co-author JoAnne Gillespie published a book in 2015 about Tucker’s boxing career and struggles in his personal life: “Fight the Good Fight; How to Get Back Up When Life Knocks You Down.”