Brandon Adams refuses to quit and is boxing to stay out of the dark

Brandon Adams started late in boxing and almost fell victim to the business, but a reality show helped resurrect his career, and he’s ready to go further.

Brandon Adams has been a professional boxer for 10 years, and in that time, he has experienced a little bit of everything.

His story is far from the typical boxing archetype, and someone with less heart would have quit long ago, but there’s no quit in Adams. That statement has defined Adams as a fighter.

Adams is one of 9 children who a strong mother raised in the Watts area of California. He detailed his violent surroundings growing up to PBC in 2019.

“The gangs were pretty hectic,” Adams told PBC. “Fortunately, I didn’t fall victim to it, but my older siblings did.”

Much of Adams’ family members were connected to gang life and violence and were casualties of that lifestyle. He refused to follow their lead.

“Growing up where I grew up, I was a part of that jungle once upon a time,” Adam told FanSided. “To some degree, I’ve got jungle-ish ways, I guess. I learned from them. I learned what not to do.”

Adams referred to his mother as an octopus who was always trying to pull her children out of harm’s way. She succeeded with Adams, who was more afraid of his mother’s wrath than anything else.

Adams (22-3, 14 KOs) found boxing late in life. He started training as an 18-year-old. He fought briefly as an amateur and turned pro at 21 years old. Adams felt insecure about his abilities going into his first bout against Erin Beach in 2011, but his talent earned him the win.

“I had to learn on the job,” explained Adams. “I had to learn pretty quick. I didn’t have amateur experience. I wasn’t really familiar with the sport. I knew that I was pretty talented, but I didn’t know what I was capable of doing and how much I did not know.”

That thought stuck with Adams for much of his early boxing career. He still sees every fight as a learning opportunity, but he’s much more knowledgeable today than he was at the start. Still, his education came the hard way through experience.

Adams won his first 14 boxing bouts but lost by unanimous decision to Willie Monroe Jr. The slick southpaw was Adams’ first encounter with an unorthodox fighter, and he didn’t know how to deal with Monroe’s expertise. Monroe’s out-thought Adams. Adams realized he had much more to learn if he wanted to realize his potential as a boxer.

“I completely stepped back from boxing and wanted to learn more about what he [Monroe] did and what made him so successful against me,” said Adams. “It was little small things he was doing. It was like a real-life boxing lesson for me that I needed. I needed to have this happen to me in order for me to grow in the sport of boxing.”

Brandon Adams has a tough challenge in Serhii Bohachuk but thinks he is equipped to hand the younger fighter his first loss

Adams learned much about proper punching angles and how to set up his punches. He was enlightened on manipulating strategy instead of trying to bang out opponents before the final bell.

Adams bounced back and won his next three bouts but learned about the boxing business’s harsh realities. Managerial and business complications helped expedite his next loss against John Thompson in 2015. It was Adams’ only knockout loss.

Life and business out of the ring hurt him in the ring, and Adams didn’t know what to do or how long his turmoil would last. He continued to train while the boxing business soured his chances to fight for the next three years.

Things got so bad that Adams tried to see if he could crowdfund to promote himself. Some people affiliated with The Contender television show saw his crowdfunding video and gave him a call. Adams pretended like he was somebody else.

“Going into The Contender, when I got the phone call, I kept saying that I wasn’t me,” said Adams. “I had one of the producers call me. Then trainers started reaching out to me.

“In my mind, I was thinking the cards that I’ve been dealt in boxing, I don’t know if I want to do it. For three years, I hadn’t fought. My phone didn’t ring for me to get a fight. Everybody was done with me. Here I was training every day as if I got a fight coming up, but at this particular time when my name was called to come up to fight, I turned, and I said no.”

Adams almost passed on a spot on The Contender, but his wife’s voice made the difference.

“My wife was like, what did you do this for?” said Adams. “She said you’re going to do this, or you might as well stop fighting, but I know you’re not going to quit. You’re not a quitter.”

She was right. Adams joined The Contender and became their season five champion. Adams’ performance on the show rejuvenated his career and offered him new management and guidance.

Since winning The Contender, Adams’ only loss was in a 2019 middleweight title bout against WBC champion Jermall Charlo. Adams dropped a unanimous decision but acquitted himself well.

He knocked out Sonny Duversonne in round 2 of his Ring City USA debut and is set to fight undefeated KO artist Serhii Bohachuk (18-0, 18 KOs) on Thursday, March 4, in the Ring City main event from the Felix Pagan Pintor Gym in Puerto Rico.

Once again, Adams is the underdog, but this time the experience is on his side. Adams believes in his ability and wisdom. He also knows what a loss could bring and doesn’t want to undergo another three-year hiatus or worse. Adams is fighting for a future in boxing.

“I could just disappear like this,” said Adams. “I could always go back to the dark.”

Serhii Bohachuk and Brandon Adams fight  on Thursday, March 4, on NBCSN at 9 p.m. ET as part of Ring City USA. You can view prelim bouts at 7 p.m. ET on the Ring City USA’s Twitch channel.