Amir Mansour

Early career

Mansour made his debut at the age of 24 against another debutant Clifton Graham at the Cedar Beach Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1997. Mansour knocked out Graham in round 1. Two months later, Mansour knocked out Malik Muhammad in two rounds. Mansour went undefeated in his next seven fights, with a record of 9 wins with 6 coming inside the distance. At this time, Mansour was 28 year old.

Mansour vs. Ocgieng

At the age of 38, his first fight since 2001, Mansour returned to the boxing ring to defeat 36 year old Samuel Brown by knockout. Mansour stayed undefeated in his next four fights, winning them all by knockout. In May 2011, Mansour claimed the vacant World Boxing Foundation Intercontinental heavyweight title, knocking out Kenyan boxer Raymond Ochieng 1 minute and 45 seconds into the first round. This was his quickest victory recorded to date.

Mansour vs. Guinn, Mendoza

On August 19, 2011 he defeated former heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn by unanimous decision to win the NABO heavyweight title.

Mansour defended his title with a 6th round TKO on December 2, 2011 against the Colombian boxer Epifanio Mendoza at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, in Dover, DE.

On December 23, 2011, Mansour was sentenced to 14 months in prison for violating his probation.

Second comeback in 2013

Mansour came home from prison on July 12, 2012. Mansour started his road to redemption dedicating his life to family and helping children outside of the ring. While in the ring Mansour started his path to a becoming a world champion, resumed his boxing career on January 25, 2013 at the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, where he faced Dominique Alexander. Mansour KO'd Alexander in only 24 seconds and improved his record to 17-0(13). His last fight took place on April 12, 2013 in Dover, Delaware, USA. His opponent was Jason Gavern. Amir Mansour won by a first round KO. Knocking down Jason Gavern four times.

Mansour vs. Harris

On August 23, 2013, Amir Mansour fought for three minor heavyweight titles. He defended his WBF Intercontinental and also won the vacant USBA & interim NABA Heavyweight titles. His opponent was journeyman veteran Maurice Harris. Mansour weighed in at 226. The fight marked his first scheduled 12 round fight. Mansour won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision. The scores were 120-108, 120-108 and 116-112, all for Mansour.

Mansour vs. Price

On December 14, 2013. Mansour recorded a TKO against Kelvin Price in New Jersey. Rather than scoring the early knockout, a feat that he has grown used to, Mansour treated Price like a stubborn stump that required several hundred whacks before eventually going down.

Mansour vs. Cunningham

Mansour's first fight of 2014 was a huge step up in class, defending his USBA title against veteran Steve Cunningham. Mansour cut Cunningham above the left eye with a short right hook in the 2nd round. In the 5th round, Mansour knocked down Cunningham with a double right hook, then knocked him down a second time with a series of shots. Cunningham benefited from some very ponderous officiating by referee Smoger who counted very slowly then spent several seconds checking Cunningham after both counts, with the bell sounding to end the round after the second count. Mansour would swing wildly for the rest of the fight and Cunningham eventually made Mansour touch down with his gloves after a series of clean blows in the 10th and final round. The scores were 97-90 and 95-92 twice, all for Cunningham.

After losing the fight, Mansour immediately spoke to the press and instead of complaining about the judgement, he talked about his opponent's (Cunningham) young daughter who needed a heart transplant. As a result of the publicity, more than $20,000 was donated to a special fund for Cunningham's daughter.

Mansour vs. Kassi

Following his first loss as a professional, Mansour made a comeback in November 2014. He fought 35 year old Fred Kassi (18-2, 10 KOs) at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and was shown live on NBC Sports Network. In round 7, Mansour saw an opening and hit a counter right hook that put Kassi face first to the canvas, knocked out, ending the fight by knockout.

Career from 2015 to 2017

Mansour took six months out after knocking out Kassi and next fought in May 2015 in the main event of an ESPN Friday Night Fights card at the 2300 Arena, which was a sell out. Mansour fought American Joey Dawejko. The fight went the full ten rounds in what was described as a 'tactical battle of punchers', as Mansour won after the three judges scored it (96-94, 98-92, 97-93).

Mansour vs. Washington

In September 2015, it was announced that Mansour would fight 33 year old unbeaten heavyweight contender Gerald Washington (16-0, 11 KOs) at the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington. Washington had his best win to date in March 2015 when he beat longtime veteran Jason Gavern in a 10 round decision victory. The fight took place on Tuesday 13 October 2015.

In a controversial decision, Mansour and Washington fought to a 10 round draw. The final judges’ scores were 97-93 for Washington, 96-94 for Mansour, and 95-95 draw. Washington landed 108 of 382 punches for a connect percentage of 26 while Mansour connected on 99 of 452 punches for a connect percentage of 22. Washington seemed to have gassed out after round 4. The crowd booed the results loudly, showing their displeasure with the decision. In the post fight interviews, Washington said he thought he did enough to win the fight.

Mansour vs. Breazeale

On January 23, 2016, Mansour lost to Dominic Breazeale (16-0, 14 Kos) after he decided not to return from his stool after the 5th round. Although Mansour was ahead on all three judges scorecards (50-44, 50-44, 50-44), and also knocked down Breazeale in the third round for a 10-8 round, Breazeale however beat the count. Mansour had bit his tongue nearly in half in the second round and had trouble breathing through his nose and mouth as he entered the bout with a cold. He gave up on his stool. Although Breazeale lost every round, he remained undefeated and went on fight for the IBF World Heavyweight title against titleholder Anthony Joshua, losing via a 7th round stoppage.

Mansour vs. Kauffman

In what started off as social media banter, a fight was confirmed between Mansour and 31 year old American boxer Travis Kauffman (31-1, 23 KOs) to take place on February 25, 2017 on the undercard of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder's title defense against Gerald Washington at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The fight was later rescheduled to take place on March 17 at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. Mansour won a majority decision when one judge scored it an even 114-114 and the other two scored it 117-111 and 115-113 in favor or Mansour. Mansour was rocked early in the fight, but managed to outwork Kauffman in a fight where many heavy shots were landed. In winning, Mansour ended Kaufman's 14-fight unbeaten streak. Kauffman felt as though he was robbed of the decision. Mansour called out WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder, "I want Wilder next. I am 44-years-old. I want my shot. They should give me my shot and try to get me out of the way, " also crediting the judges for being 'honorable'.

Heavyweight division frustration

In July 2017, Mansour spoke out about not being able to get a good name opponent and a world title fight,

"You’d think I have the plague, the way the other so-called heavyweight contenders are avoiding me. These guys call themselves fighters but when my name comes up in conversation, they act like they have a hearing problem. Why would anyone be afraid of a 44-year-old man?"

After outpointing Kauffman, Mansour entered #15, but was dropped to #21, without having fought since. He mentioned about how Wilder was willing to fight Kauffman, had he defeated him,

"It’s a very frustrating and disappointing reality when a fight is made and the winner is said to fight the world (WBC) champion. When I fought Kauffman, Wilder was willing to fight Kauffman. They were sure Kauffman would win but he didn’t. I won that fight but now Wilder doesn’t want to fight me. His last fight was against Gerald Washington, a fighter that 98 percent of the viewers thought I beat (in 2015). The fight was scored a draw. Washington went on to fight Deontay for the title."

He also spoke about Alexander Povetkin's team offering him a fight for July 1, 2017 but insisted he get a ranking. His manager received a phone call initially about a potential fight but when Mansour landed the #15 slot with the WBC and WBO, there was no further communication from Povetkin's team. Mansour tried to get fights with British contender Dillian Whyte and former world title challenger Fres Oquendo,

"We tried to get a match in August with Dillian Whyte on the Terence Crawford card in Omaha. That went nowhere. Top Rank told us that Whyte wanted to fight a tall, right-handed guy. What a joke! I also was willing to step in on one week’s notice to fight Fres Oquendo for the WBA title in June when Shannon Briggs failed his test. The promoters canceled the show instead.”

Mansour restated that he would fight any heavyweight in the top 10 and criticized them for fighting 'no-name fighters'.