Weird Moments in Hip-Hop History: The 1st Annual Rappers Boxing Championship

Remember when Willie D knocked out Melle Mel? No?

Well it happened!

The year was 1992. Bill Clinton was to become the 42^nd President of the United States, Mike Tyson would be found guilty of rape charges and antique seller/boxing promoter Gary Braverman would help put together the 1^st (and only) Annual Rappers Boxing Championship.

What was the 1^st Annual Rappers Boxing Championship I hear you ask?

Well the 1^st Annual Rappers Boxing Championship was a charity boxing event held at the 369^th Regiment Armory in Harlem.

It was put together by Step To Productions as part of the ‘A Healing in Harlem” memorial movement. Which was set up in honour of the 9 people who were trampled to death during the stampede at CCNY in 1991. (which was at a rapper’s charity basketball event set up by Heavy D and Puff Daddy)

All proceeds of the fight would go to ‘Give a Kid a Dream’ which is an organisation that provides kids from disadvantaged backgrounds a place to learn and train boxing. Rappers would be trained by professional boxers Iran Barkley, Buddy McGirt and Kevin Kelley.
Hip-Hop greats like Chuck D, Jam Master Jay and Afrikaa Bambaataa turned out to watch the event and give their support to the charity.

Skip to 6 minutes to see coverage of the event

So who fought in the event?

The matches included Prince Ikey C fighting Spanish Fly, Kurtis Blow taking on Awesome D The Wall Street Rapper, Freddie Foxxx (AKA Bumpy Knuckles) beating down Spook Blunt of True Culture and Big B fighting Poet of PHD (better known as Blaq Poet of Screwball).

There was supposed to be a match between Dres (of Black Sheep) and Scoob Lover (One of Big Daddy Kane’s dancers). however, neither one showed up! but it can be safely assumed Dres fled the scene after encountering a Strobelite Honey.

Finally (and most importantly) there were the two headlining matches known as the of the East Meets West bouts.

The first match as you would have guessed by now was between Grandmaster Melle Mel and Willie D of The Geto Boys, for the East Meets West Hardcore Heavyweight Championship Belt. Although the event itself may sound great it actually turned out quite embarrassing and this was due to three reasons. The first is that the bout lasted a little bit more than a minute, second is that neither was able to land a clean punch, and third is that the TKO occurred when they accidently banged heads! Unequivocally confirming, Willie D as the most hard-headed MC on planet Earth.

While the idea of Willie D knocking down Melle Mel sounds like an amazing moment, it was not the greatest thing to happen that night. That would go to the final match.
After a full year of shit talking and berating the West Coast, Tim Dog would finally put his money where his mouth is and take on Dope-E of The Terrorists to prove once and for all which coast is the best coast in a fight for the East Meets West Hardcore Super Heavyweight Championship Belt.
Well, that is if he had actually turned up! Yes, in true Tim Dog fashion he bailed on a charity to avoid bruising his body and ego. (he would then go on to give himself the title of Hardcore on his 1993 Sophomore effort Do or Die)

With Tim Dog backing out from the fight, Dope-E would win by default. However Freddie Foxxx was having none of that. Even though he had just finished a fight and was suffering from a sprained right shoulder Freddie Foxxx volunteered to take Tim Dog’s place and represent the East Coast. Even with a busted right shoulder Freddie Foxxx would end up humiliating Dope-E and win by unanimous decision. To top it all off he would then call out Tim Dog for writing a song called ‘Step to Me’ and not show up to a fight.

Truly, Freddie Foxxx is a man you should never want to fuck with.

Just as a side note it’s extremely bizarre that neither West Coast representative in the East Meets West fights is actually from the West Coast. They both are from the South, with Willie D being from Houston, Texas and Dope-E from South Park, Texas.