Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it.
The only boxer from “The Pine Tree State” to capture a world championship, Joey Gamache was born in Bath, Maine, on May 20, 1966. Though he was never considered one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters, Gamache enjoyed a splendid career before it was cut short.
Gamache claimed his first world title in 1991, when he stopped Jerry Ngobeni for the vacant WBA super featherweight championship. He added the WBA lightweight crown to his collection a year later, as he knocked out Chil-Sung Jun in the ninth round and pushed his perfect record to 29-0. However, his reign came to an end after just four months, an 11th-round technical knockout loss to Tony Lopez costing him the lightweight strap. Gamache spent the next several years beating mostly regional opposition before coming up short in another bid for the WBA’s 135-pound belt in 1994. On Oct. 12, 1996 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, he was cut down by an all-time great in Julio Cesar Chavez.
A protégé of trainers Tony Lampron and Teddy Atlas, Gamache went 10-0 with nine knockouts over the three years that followed. He then met Arturo Gatti on Feb. 26, 2000 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Their fight was marred by controversy when Gatti quickly stepped on and off the scale at the weigh-in. Despite being well over the contracted limit, he was allowed to fight and subsequently knocked out Gamache in brutal fashion. Gamache later sued the New York State Athletic Commission, and through the courts ruled in his favor, he was not awarded any damages.
The man they called “Maine’s Best” never fought again. Gamache retired with a 55-4 record and 38 KOs.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Jack McCauliffe, Maurice “Lefty” LaChance, Hermie Freeman