Tor Hamer

Raised in Harlem as well as suburban Baltimore, he attended private and charter schools until attending Penn State for his B.A. He has a Harvard-educated father and a Villanova-educated mother, both of whom work in education. He is the grandson of noted civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.^[1]

Hamer was trained at Gleason's Gym. At the National Championships, he narrowly lost to southpaw and eventual winner Lenroy Thompson. He later beat him in the Golden Gloves quarterfinals to avenge his only loss. His amateur record was 34–1.^[2]

After his Golden Gloves victory in May 2008, Hamer was approached by boxing's premier promoters: Oscar De La Hoya, Don King and Lou DiBella, ultimately signing with DiBella Entertainment.^[1]

He made his professional debut on October 22, 2008, defeating Joseph Rabotte via second-round TKO. He suffered his first loss, on points, to undefeated Kelvin Price. In June 2012 he won the second edition of the Prizefighter International Heavyweights, which took place in London. After beating Marcelo Nascimento by unanimous decision and knocking out Tom Dallas (15–2) in 29 seconds, he beat the pre-tournament betting favorite Kevin Johnson (26–1) in the final. Later, however, he lost against Vyacheslav Glazkov^[3] and Andy Ruiz by way of forfeit on both occasions.