The first two installments of this series were truly classic moments. This one is more of a deep cut and a warning to the Ben Whittakers of the world. Just because you can beat up mere mortals while putting on an elaborate showboating routine doesn't mean you should.
Never go "Full Ali."
Aside from a prime Naz Hamed and "The Greatest" himself, showboating in boxing has always come with the inevitable possibility of suffering a humiliating defeat that fans can witness online for the rest of time.
Here is one of those times.
8. The Day the Music Died Part 1: Anthony Hembrick vs. Booker T Word (watch it on YouTube)
Some labeled a young Anthony Hembrick and his three cornermen performing an ostentatiously choreographed dance routine as needless showboating. And some saw it as an entertaining pre-fight ritual to help a young fighter distinguish himself to fans.
With victory, his pre-fight dancing would come off as brash – the sort of thing fans hate to love. But in defeat… potentially eternal infamy was at stake.
And, despite his promise as a hot, young future champion at the time, Anthony Hembrick ultimately suffered the latter on this night.
The date was Tuesday, June 12, 1990, and red-hot light heavyweight prospect Anthony “Hollywood” Hembrick, 14-0 (8 KOs), was throwing a nationally televised party to announce himself as the “next big thing” in boxing.
Detroit’s Hembrick was matched with fellow Michigander Booker T Word, then 16-1-1, 8 KOs, of Ypsilanti, for the USBA light heavyweight title in the headlining bout of a USA network Tuesday Night Fights broadcast from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Normally, neither fighter from Michigan could expect a hero’s welcome in North Carolina, but Hembrick was a former paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division stationed there and the broadcast was intended to capitalize on the support of a wildly partisan local army crowd, as well as the national USA Network audience.
After performing the Electric Boogaloo-worthy extended four-man dance routine and then several multi-step handshakes with members of his team during and after the introductions, the actual fight got underway and almost instantly came an ominous sign: Hembrick slipped on water collected in his corner before a single punch had been thrown and went down awkwardly.
Shaking it off, the six inches taller and heavy favorite Hembrick assumed control from the onset and had Word hurt badly by midway through the first round.
Smelling blood, Hembrick made an age-old mistake by leaving his hands low while going in for the kill, showing little concern that Word would have any answers to his onslaught.
WRONG. "You can't judge a Booker by its cover." Al Albert
Word unleashed a massive overhand right that dropped Hembrick like a sack of potatoes and then started jumping victoriously like a Plinko winner on The Price is Right.
The fight was unwisely allowed to continue and a woozy Hembrick suffered two more knockdowns until Referee Rafael Ramos waved it off at 2:47 of the very first round while Hembrick's wife sobbed uncontrollably at ringside.
If you’re into cringe humor, it was a real-life masterpiece that will live in forever in infamy.
To his credit, Hembrick recovered his dignity and went on to have a respectable career, eventually challenging for world titles twice, losing to WBO king Leeonzer Barber and IBF title holder Henry Maske before retiring in 1996 with a final record of 31-8-2, 22 KOs.