Quadtrine Hill to make pro-boxing debut

Dodging defenders or targeting them for a block. The contrasting roles of hit and not get hit -- vital in Quadtrine Hill's previous career -- also apply to his new sport.

Hill, a former University of Miami running back, with brief NFL stints in New England, Chicago and Houston, has discarded the helmet and shoulder pads for 10-ounce gloves.

Inspired by a love for the sport and hoping to help fill the current void of marketable and successful American heavyweights, Hill will make his professional boxing debut Tuesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood.

Hill, 27, and two other former football players will be part of a card that features former world heavyweight champion Oliver McCall in the main event.

``I have always been a huge boxing fan,'' Hill said. ``When I was on the Patriots, I'd talk about so many different fights. Guys on the team would say, `you really like boxing.' I do.''

Hill, whose Hurricanes career lasted from 2002 to '05, turned his attention to boxing in February 2009. He joined the Lucky Street Gym in Hollywood and embarked on a brief amateur career of five victorious bouts.

``From Day One, when I first stepped into the ring, the trainers asked if I had ever done this before,'' Hill said. ``I educated myself. I'm a quick learner and I was already athletic.

``They put me to spar with an experienced pro, who was something like 18-2, and I got in there and held my own. Everybody was shocked at how easily I got in there and picked it up.''

Hill believes his previous career will benefit him as a boxer.

``The football background has provided me with athletic ability and being a running back gives me an advantage of quickness, strength and vision,'' Hill said. ``In boxing, the vision I needed in football helps me pick up when someone is going to throw a punch.

``I don't get hit very much because I have quick feet and quick reaction. As soon as I see they are going to throw something, I move out of the way, dodge punches or block them.''

Hill signed with a new promotional company intent on attracting athletes to the heavyweight division. Tuesday's heavyweight-laden card also will feature the professional debuts of former UM running back James Bryant and Michael Mitchell, who played at FSU.

``The heavyweight division is low right now, especially in the United States,'' Hill said. ``There are no heavyweights anybody can name.

``Football and basketball have taken all the athletes who would have been great fighters. This is what our program is doing, trying to find those athletes who have that athletic ability but didn't have the opportunities to go where they wanted in football, or in basketball or baseball.

``The heavyweight champion of the world used to be one of the most popular faces [on] the planet. Now you barely know who he is.''



(miamiherald.com)