Professional boxing career

McGirt’s aspirations of becoming a professional boxer existed at a young age."They said I was too small," McGirt says now. "They said I couldn't do it. I said I could. I said I'd be the first world champion from Long Island - so the guy they said couldn't do it is the one who did it." Fulfilling this childhood dream, he did so with a vengeance, turning professional in the year 1983, the year he graduated from Brentwood High School.

In 1988, McGirt defeated Frankie Warren, avenging what was at that time his only defeat, to win the IBF light welterweight title. In his second defense, he lost the title to Meldrick Taylor.

In November 1991, he defeated Simon Brown to win the Lineal and WBC welterweight titles.

Buddy was a scrappy, talented fighter who had an outstanding career in the ring. He defeated men such as Simon Brown, Livingstone Bramble, Saoul Mamby, Edwin Curet, Howard Davis, Frankie Warren, Tony Baltazar, Gennaro Leon, Patrizio Oliva, Gary Jacobs, Tommy Ayers, Willie Rodriguez, Ralph Twinning, Buck Smith, Kevin Pompey, Rafael Williams, John Senegal, Eric Martin, Joe Manley, Tyrone Moore, Nick Rupa, Joe Gatti and George Heckley.

At the beginning of 1993, McGirt was the world's top-ranked 147-pound boxer, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world; but in the first week starting off the year he tore up his left shoulder while training. Without his money punch, the left hook, he had to box virtually one-handed for a total of 24 rounds in two championship fights. He won the first fight, but he lost his title in the second. McGirt lost the title to Pernell Whitaker in 1993. The following year, he again lost to Whitaker in an attempt to regain the title.

In 1997, he retired with a record of 73-6-1 (48 KOs).

Training career

Following his retirement from the ring, "Buddy" worked with up-and-coming young fighters as a trainer.

“It took Buddy McGirt six years to become a world champion. It took him just six days to become the trainer of a champion." The fighter he trained first was super middleweight Byron Mitchell. Scheduled a six days after becoming his coach, was the fight against Manny Siacca for WBA title. The fight ended with a hook to the body followed with a quick hook to the head, knocking Siacca out.

McGirt was a full-time trainer and was committed to the challenge of preparing others to step into the ring. "Anybody can train but not many people can teach," McGirt said. "And that's what boxing is missing now, teachers. There are not many old-school trainers around.". McGirt won the Boxing Writers' Association of America Trainer of the Year Award for 2002.

McGirt's son, James McGirt Jr., is also a professional boxer. McGirt also trained Kurt Pellegrino's boxing, his first venture into MMA, and trained heavyweight boxer Taishan Dong.

Buddy was trained and managed by Al Certo and Stuart Weiner. McGirt, and some of the fighters he trained are documented in the book "Bring it to the Ring: A Boxing Yearbook and Inspirational Message to Today's Youths." The book was published in 2005.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]