Lamar Parks

Lamar Eugene Parks (born March 17, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 1993. He challenged for the WBA middleweight title in 1992, but was forced to retire from the sport the following year after testing positive for HIV.

Parks had a successful amateur career, winning multiple regional titles and reaching the semifinals of the 1988 Olympic Trials. After making his professional debut in 1988, he collected minor titles from the WBC and IBF en route to a 22-fight win streak to begin his career. In 1992, he unsuccessfully challenged Reggie Johnson for his WBA middleweight title, losing by unanimous decision. Consequently, Parks won five consecutive bouts in 1993 to earn another world title fight against Gerald McClellan, but was barred from competing when it was revealed he had contracted HIV.

Parks was inducted into the Carolinas Boxing Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2024.

Early life Parks was born on March 17, 1970. His family moved to Greenville, South Carolina when he was three years old. His father, David, resisted the idea of his son fighting because he was afraid he would get hurt, but he eventually let him train under Silas Epps at the Phillis Wheatley Community Center in 1983. David was a former amateur boxer who had to cut his career short due to rheumatic fever; he eventually quit his job at Duke Power to help train his son. then won a gold medal at the Palmetto State Games. At the 1987 Southern Golden Gloves, Parks captured the middleweight title and was named the best boxer of the tournament. He was named best boxer again the following year after winning yet another Southern title. He also reached the semifinals of the 1988 Olympic Trials, where he lost a decision to John Scully of New England. Parks won 175 of his 188 amateur bouts, Parks quit the sport following the win due to his discouragement over a lack of exposure and opportunities, but returned about six months later. He then stopped Donny Giron five months later via sixth-round TKO for the vacant WBC–NABF middleweight title. In his next fight, he knocked out two-time Olympian Francisco de Jesus in a lopsided bout in New York City to improve his record to 20–0. On April 16, 1992, Parks defeated Percy Harris to retain his NABF belt and win the vacant IBF–USBA middleweight title, forcing a referee stoppage in the tenth round. By this time he was ranked as the second-best middleweight in the world by the WBC, as well as the fourth-best by both the WBA and IBF. Johnson preferred the more lucrative title defense against Roy Jones Jr., but Parks forced the fight as the WBA's 1 contender and earned a reported $40,000 in his first career defeat. On August 10, 1993, Parks defeated Gilbert Baptist in his hometown of Greenville for the vacant WBC Continental Americas middleweight title, forcing his opponent's trainer to throw in the towel in the 11th round after landing 18 straight punches. He stopped Joaquín Velásquez in four rounds in a tune-up fight in Atlantic City that November. This would end up being the final fight of his career, finishing with a 27–1 record with 21 knockouts.

Now ranked as the No. 1 contender by all three major sanctioning organizations (WBC, WBA and IBF), Parks positioned himself as the mandatory challenger for Gerald McClellan's WBC middleweight title. He was also the mandatory challenger for Roy Jones Jr.'s IBF middleweight title, though they were reportedly reluctant to face each other due to the fact that they were childhood sparring partners and remained good friends. The Parks–McClellan world title bout was announced as a part of a Don King-promoted card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to be held on March 4, 1994, with Parks set to make over $150,000. They were slated to be the main event on a card with five world title bouts, and Parks relocated to Fort Pierce, Florida for training camp in January. However, he pulled out of the fight for unspecified medical reasons and a contract was sent to undefeated middleweight contender Otis Grant instead. Before Grant's camp could respond to the offer, Parks claimed to have recovered from a shoulder injury he had apparently suffered in training. Parks stayed silent over the following months, refusing to talk to the media or even his promoters.

HIV diagnosis

On August 27, 1994, Samantha Clark, Parks' ex-fiancee, died in Greenville at the age of 23 due to complications with AIDS; she weighed 64 pounds. She decided to go public with her condition in order to protect other women, with Clark's mother calling him a "deadly weapon" who had to be stopped. He had a friend take a second test under his name back in Greenville, where proof of identification was not required. He was the most notable of a recent string of professional boxers to have tested positive for HIV, such as Proud Kilimanjaro and Rubén Darío Palacio. Randy Gordon, commissioner of the New York State Athletic Commission, said that he hoped the situation increased AIDS awareness in the boxing community and led to more testing requirements. In 1995, Parks was reported to be living in a small town near Greenville and running a small business.

Professional boxing record