The sport and business of boxing has a way of testing a participant’s resolve and determination. No matter what angle or level of involvement one has in the sport, ups and downs simply come with the territory. For this reason perhaps, the fraternity of real boxing people is such a small group. Andy Nance, a former amateur standout and professional contender-turned matchmaker and manager, is one of those real boxing people. Successful at every level, Nance still hit the inevitable roadblocks and dead ends that face anyone that stays in this sport long enough. Through it all, Nance remained driven and unwavering and looks to have one of his biggest years in the sport yet.
Despite his great success as an amateur boxer, where he compiled a 118-17 record, Nance had no designs on turning professional. The young Marin County, California fighter had one square focus as he moved up the unpaid ranks. “I wanted to go to the Olympics in 1980, but that didn’t happen so I had decided to pretty much stop boxing,” recalls Nance. “When I was younger, all I ever wanted to do was go to the Olympics. I didn’t think about going pro. I just figured I would go to the Olympics and then go to school and then go to work. So I stopped boxing and was going to college and working, but then I started to miss boxing.”
Had it not been for the inquiry of prospective boxing managers Joe and Marv Pheffer one day at Nance’s place of business, a lifelong career in boxing may never have got off the ground. “These guys came into the restaurant where I was working and talked to me about wanting to manage me and asked if I had any interest in turning pro,” remembers Nance. “I told them at the time I wasn’t interested, but they did give me their number. Not long after that I called them back and told them I had changed my mind and I was interested in turning pro.”
The Pheffers became two parts of a quartet that managed Nance as part of the company LMJ. Though Nance was their first charge, LMJ sagely moved Nance to an 11-0 record within a year of turning pro in May 1982. The group would manage Nance his entire pro career. “I was the first fighter that they ever managed and they just did a great job, especially for never having managed a fighter before, or even really being in boxing,” says Nance. “They were boxing fans, but they had never been in the boxing business. So for never having done anything like that before and basically getting me to the point where I was going to fight for a world title, they just did a tremendous job.”
Nance plugged away, fighting mostly in his home area with the occasional appearances in Reno and Oregon, before getting the call to fight on national television on short notice in February 1984. “Gene Hatcher pulled out of a fight, scheduled to be a ten-round main event on ESPN,” says Nance. “I took the fight [with Hector Sifuentes at the Showboat Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada] on like ten days’ notice. I won by a tenth-round knockout and got offered a contract by Top Rank right after that.”
Winning a fight on ESPN was a game-changer for the rising pro, who had become a hometown celebrity of sorts, on several fronts. “It was a big turning point in my career, because of the national recognition,” says Nance. “It changed things for my managers too, because now they were getting contacted by people and getting the offers instead of looking around. I remember going to the [Golden State] Warriors game a week later and so many people were coming up to me at the arena. I didn’t realize how many people were watching, but I was getting recognized. So it changed things all around.”
By late 1986, Nance was in prime position to land a shot at a world title. Nance had put together a long unbeaten streak since his one pro loss years prior, including a big third-round stoppage in a local mega fight with fellow once-beaten Bay Area native Mitchell Julien, which took place at the Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos with the California State Light Welterweight title Nance had claimed a year earlier on the line and a decision victory over recently dethroned former world champion Lonnie Smith in his last two bouts of the year.
IBF Light Welterweight titleholder Joe Manley was scheduled to defend his recently claimed belt against unbeaten Terry Marsh in Basildon, Essex, United Kingdom in March 1987. If the favored Marsh claimed the title, which he ultimately did, Nance was scheduled to be his first defense that June in London, England. Unfortunately, Nance opted to take a fight the same day as the Manley-Marsh clash that would turn out to be his last. “I took what I thought was a tune-up fight with a guy Kelly Koble to defend my State title,” recalls Nance. “That was the fight I got injured and never got my opportunity to fight for the world title.”
Nance, who was hit while he was down in the second round, ended up winning that fight with Koble via ninth-round stoppage, but a severe concussion he suffered during the contest would be the end of his fighting career. No trip to England and no title shot.
“At the time it was devastating,” laments Nance. “I had pretty much sacrificed my whole life to get to that point. Once I made the decision to turn pro, the goal was to win a world title. I trained very, very hard every day. I ran every day, rain or shine. 100 percent dedicated to training. I was lost and I just didn’t know what I was going to do. My whole goal was to win a world title and it was devastating. But it is just like anything else, you move on because you have to.”
Just as when his dream of making the U.S. Olympic squad ended, Nance soon found other avenues to pursue in the sport of boxing. Within months after his career-ending injury, Nance was in the gym training fighters, some of whom he would eventually manage. During the mid-‘90s the former fighter was also involved in co-promoting a series of events before he fell into what would become his main focus.
“In 2007, I had a guy Daniel Castillo that was going to fight on the undercard of Vernon Forrest and Carlos Baldomir in Tacoma, Washington and right before I went up there John Beninati, the matchmaker for Gary Shaw, called and asked if I could help him make a fight to replace one of the ones that fell out at the last minute,” recalls Nance. “When I got up there, he asked me if I liked doing that and I told him I did. He told me, ‘Call me on Monday, I have three or four more fights I can give you and you can help me make.’ And that’s how it started.”
In short order, Nance would become one of the most active and respected matchmakers in boxing. Nance, like every other fighter, had to make sacrifices to pursue his fighting career. In order to pursue a career in matchmaking, Nance again made some sacrifices as he pursued a career that kept him in the sport that he loves. “I fell in and started matchmaking full-time almost immediately,” recalls Nance. “I had a real estate license from 1987-2007. I got my license and sold real estate for twenty years. I was making good money in real estate, six figures a year, but it wasn’t something that really interested me. It wasn’t my passion, but the boxing I loved. So I took a huge pay cut, and luckily I had some money saved, so I was able to make ends meet.”
Nance is one of the few prolific matchmakers that actually had a career inside the squared circle, something that benefits him as he looks to put together the right fights. “You really understand what’s going on as a former fighter,” says Nance. “I can talk very intelligently, especially to the boxers or trainers, with my perspective of being an ex-fighter. Also, I get a really good feeling of how a fight is going to go based on my knowledge of boxing. It is so much different being an ex-fighter as opposed to not being an ex-fighter. Honestly, I don’t know how some people do it. I think some are winging it a lot. For me, I use my experience as an ex-fighter daily as a matchmaker.”
In addition to the matchmaking, Nance also manages a handful of fighters at various stages of their careers. Among the fighters on his roster are tough luck veteran light heavyweight Paul Vasquez, veteran heavyweight Danny Batchelder, durable journeyman light heavyweight Billy Bailey, rugged featherweight Christian Cartier, as well as comebacking cruiserweight Joe Gumina, who he co-manages.
Nance also helms the career of former national amateur standout heavyweight LaRon Mitchell of San Francisco, California. Mitchell narrowly missed making the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012, due to a controversial loss at the Trials and some politicking in its aftermath. Nance has helped guide Mitchell to an unblemished 3-0 record, with all three wins coming by way of stoppage. Nance hopes to secure a promotional pact with Thompson Boxing Promotions and already has Mitchell signed to fight in the Bay Area for the first time on April 5th.
Nance is involved with another boxing venture, as he has joined up with King Sports, an upstart promotional company. “King Sports is an up-and-coming promotional company that I believe one day can be the biggest promotional company in boxing, period,” Nance claims. “They are signing top-level fighters and putting their fighters in real fights. They are not babying their fighters. When they sign a fighter, all his soft fights and tune-ups, they’re done. From now on, you are in a real fight and you are going to earn your money and we are going to move you. You have got to be a real fighter to fight for King Sports. You are going to have to fight real fights against real fighters to fight for King Sports.”
With everything he has lined up and in the works, Nance hopes to have one of his best years yet in the sport. “I’m looking have a big year in 2014, for both myself and the fighters I work with,” says Nance.
Andy Nance is one of those people in the sport that can honestly say they eat and sleep boxing. It took drive and determination as a young fighter to get to the doorstep of a world championship. Today Nance is just as passionate about the sport he loved as an 18-year-old. The world title may come one day through one of the fighters he represents, but even if it does not, Nance’s story is one that proves that there is a way around almost any roadblock and success can be found in the field you love if you are willing to work hard and sacrifice to make it happen.
Title Photo by Erik Killin
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at Mario@OrtegaBoxing.com or on Twitter @MarioG280
