Fighting Fireman Puts Out Memory of Fatal Bout in the Ring

It is ironic that Chris Calvin should kill a man in the ring.

Calvin is dedicated to saving lives as an employe of both the fire department and a paramedic unit in Nashville, Tenn.

Calvin once used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save an elderly woman who had stopped breathing after suffering a heart attack.

On another occasion, Calvin nearly died when he was separated from his group in a burning building and had to make his way through smoke and fire to safety.

“I saw the light back out at the end of the building and I just made my way to it,” said Calvin, flashing the easy grin that usually can be found on his face.

The grin quickly disappears, however, when the subject of Shawn Thomas comes up. It was in Indiana in May last year that Thomas went down from a Calvin blow and never got up. Thomas immediately went into a coma and died soon after.

“I try not to talk about it or even think about it,” Calvin said.

Although reverberations of that fatal blow remain embedded in his psyche, Calvin has not let it affect his career. His record is 22-4-2. He has lost only once in the past three years, dropping a split decision to Robin Blake last year in a fight in which Calvin broke his left thumb.

Calvin will be risking his record again tonight when he meets Walter Sims (20-3-2) of North Hollywood in the quarterfinals of a Forum lightweight tournament.

The match is scheduled for 10 rounds, but it isn’t expected to go that far.

Sims, who fights for the Ten Goose Boxing Club, has 14 knockouts, but that includes his current streak of four in a row. Sims’ last two matches lasted less than three rounds. He stopped Nery Reyes in the closing seconds of the second round last month at the Reseda Country Club, after knocking out Melvin Paul at 2:13 of the first round of a July tournament match at the Forum.

Calvin’s career has been one long knockout streak. His 22 wins include 21 knockouts. In his first Forum tournament match, he stopped Sam Ago Kotey, the African lightweight champ, in the ninth round after knocking him down five times, mainly using his most effective weapon--the straight right.

As for Sims’ knockout streak, Calvin just shrugs.

“If he wants to box, we’ll box,” Calvin said. “If he wants to rumble, we’ll rumble.”

Calvin’s impressive professional record seems minuscule compared to his amateur mark. He was 120-10 with 88 knockouts before turning pro, doing much of his fighting while in the U.S. Navy. He made the All-Navy boxing team three times and was all-military twice.

When he got out of the service, he followed the two-way road taken by his father, who was also a lightweight fighter and is now a captain in the Nashville fire department.

The younger Calvin has been able to balance both careers thus far, saving his time off to train for and travel to his various fights.

The fire department has even let him put up a punching bag in the fire station, but that’s as far as it can go. No special privileges allowed for a city operation. So Calvin will have to continue to squeeze his fights in when he’s not fighting fires. At least until he feels he can make a living in the ring.

Winning the Forum tournament would earn him $50,000 along with an improvement in his spot in the rankings. He is rated 26th by the World Boxing Council, 13th by the North American Boxing Federation.

At 28, he will have to make his move soon if he wants more respect. Right now, he often draws chuckles when he arrives in town billing himself as the Fighting Fireman.

That’s a lot better than what he got early in his career when he called himself the Southern Rebel.

“People up north were getting real upset,” he said in his thick Southern drawl. “I came into the ring with a Confederate flag. I didn’t mean nothin’ against nobody. It’s just the symbol of the South. But I’m lettin’ it lie now.”

Besides, he says he’s got his sights on a better title: Champ.