A fifteen year-old amateur boxing standout from Baltimore, Maryland, Simpson has won seven national championships, and is a 2020 Olympic hopeful.
Lorenzo Demetrius Simpson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 15, 2000. He is an American amateur boxer, and attends St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is a ninth grade high school basketball student-athlete. Simpson resides with his family in Owings Mills, Maryland. He has an older brother, Maurice, and a younger brother, Donte. Simpson’s story serves as an inspiration for people who have endured significant adversity and continue to pursue their goals.
In July 2004, the Simpson family endured a tragedy. While four year-old Simpson was at school, his father, Lorenzo Dante Simpson, was murdered during a daytime home invasion. After the death of his father, Simpson had several altercations in school and was regularly finding himself in trouble.. His mother, Danica (Carroll) Ward, thought that a positive solution would be to involve her son in organized sports. She signed him up to play basketball with his older brother, Maurice, at the John Eager Howard Recreational Center, and later, at the Chick Webb Recreation Center. He enjoyed playing basketball, and it helped him deal with the loss of his father.
Simpson’s uncle is former professional boxer and heavyweight world champion, Hasim Rahman, Sr. After noticing that Simpson showed interest in watching Rahman’s fights, his stepfather, Courtlon Ward, took him to Upton Boxing Center in Baltimore.
Although he was too young to train, he watched for hours while other boxers trained. When he arrived home each evening, he practiced what he observed in the gym. When he was eight years old, he began training with boxing coaches Calvin Ford, Mack Allison, and Kenny Ellis. Allison is credited with giving him a nickname that described the shape of his head, “Truck.” In 2011, tragedy struck again, when his older boxing teammate, Ronald T. Gibbs (known as “Rock”), was stabbed to death. Later that week, ten year-old Simpson won his first National Silver Gloves Championship. He won the National PAL Championship in 2011 and 2012. In 2015, Simpson won his fifth consecutive National Silver Gloves Championship.
Simpson competes at welterweight (147 lbs), and has compiled an outstanding amateur boxing record of 102 wins and one defeat. He has fought nationally in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. He has traveled to many of the same states for basketball tournaments and camps. During the 2013-2014 football season, Simpson was a slot receiver and running back for City Springs Middle School in Baltimore. He elected not to play football during the 2014-2015 season, but doesn’t rule out playing again in the future. During the 2014-2015 basketball season, Simpson played point guard for the St. Francis Junior Varsity team.
This year, he made the honor roll at St. Frances Academy. Simpson takes his education seriously, and plans to finish high school with a high grade point average. His future plans include attending college, becoming a 2020 Olympic boxing gold medalist, and a world champion professional boxer.
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Photo Credits: Trevor Holman/@HolmanPhotos
