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Moses Opute James was born in
Nigeria during the summer of
1968. As a child he excelled at
football (soccer), but at some
point he fell in love with
boxing, and eventually chose to
focus on “The Noble Art”.
James quickly proved very
talented as a boxer too, and
after only a few bouts he was
selected for the Nigerian
national team.
In the unpaid code he achieved
more than most, as he won the
African championships, bronze at
the 1991 world championships,
where he was eliminated by
future Hall-of-Famer Kostya
Tszyu, and went to the 1992
Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
With an outstanding amateur
record reportedly 102-3, James
decided it was time to make some
money from his boxing, and in
1993 he moved to Canada to turn
professional.
While three of his first pro
bouts took place in the USA,
James was based in Toronto where
he, already in his second
outing, continued to show his
potential when he out-pointed
undefeated American Anthony
Johnson (3-0) on June 29, 1993,
only seventeen days after
stopping Mark Harden (0-0) in
his debut.
At twenty-five years of age,
Moses was a bit older than most
blue-chip prospects starting out
in the professionals, so he was
moved quicker than is usually
the norm. So it came with the
territory that he had to settle
for a draw against Marlon
“Trouble Man” Thomas (8-2) in
his fourth fight.
Not ideally, a year of
inactivity followed, but when he
returned, in October of 1994, he
was matched with Keith Thomas
(8-4-1) from Guyana over eight
rounds at the Curzon Health Club
in Etobicoke, Ontario. A tough
test, but James passed and won a
unanimous decision.
In 1995 James made up for the
lost year, scoring three
significant victories. First
off, back at the Curzon Health
Club, he inflicted the first
defeat on the record of another
tough Guyanese in Dillon Carew
(7-0-1), who had stopped six of
his seven victims, and gone
twelve rounds to win his
country´s national title.
James beat Carew on points, and
set up a clash with American
Mike “The Hammer” Griffith
(11-3) three months later in
what would be his first outing
in his adopted home-town,
Toronto. Again James won on
points, but Grifith went on to
challenge for the IBF World
title against Paul Spadafora
five years later.
Beating Carew and Griffith paved
the way for a big fight for
James in Canada, as he was
pitted against future WBF
Intercontinental Welterweight
Champion
Fitz Vanderpool
(11-1-1) for the
vacant Canadian Light
Welterweight title on June 8.
Co-Headlining a card at the
Metro Convention Centre in
Toronto, sharing top-billing
with Billy Irwin vs. Amado
Cabato for the IBO World
Lightweight crown, James and
Vanderpool fought tooth and
nails for ten rounds, none of
them willing to take a backwards
step.
James knocked Vanderpool down in
the eight round, and, when the
dust settled, was awarded the
victory by close split decision.
Besides capturing his first
championship, James gained
invaluable experience and
credibility.
The tough outing against
Vanderpool demanded a long rest
for James, who went nine months
without a fight before stopping
durable journeyman Ron Pasek
(4-3-2) on cuts in the seventh
round in March, 1996. Next up,
he would find himself in the
biggest fight of his career to
date.
On April 16, 1996 James was the
main event at Royal York Hotel
in Toronto, fighting for the
vacant WBF Intercontinental
Light Welterweight title against
hugely experienced Filipino
Amado Cabato (44-25-8), the man
who had given Billy Irwin a run
for his money for the IBO world
title the previous year.
It was a big ask for James, in
only his tenth professional
fight, but he rose to the
occasion and won a wide
unanimous decision over twelve
rounds by scores of 118-110,
118-108 and 118-106.
James followed the big win up,
and kept climbing the world
rankings, taking nice scalps
such as Alejandro Jesus Benitez
(9-1), former IBF world
title-challenger Mark Fernandez
(31-12-1), Paris Alexander
(21-11-2) and Mexican contender
Ramon Marchena (54-14-2).
This run landed him a main event
assignment in the USA, as he was
matched with former IBF and WBO
World Champion John John Molina
(43-4) on November 11, 1997 at
the Memorial Auditorium in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida.
It was a massive opportunity for
James, to make a break-through
not only in Canada but also on
the larger scene in the USA,
against a big name.
Unfortunately Molina had too
much for him on the night, and
won by unanimous decision.
James had however done well
enough that he would fight
exclusively in the USA for the
remainder of his career, and
rebounded eight months later,
winning the UBF title by
stopping Eduardo Perez (19-10-2)
in eight rounds.
He became a house-name at the
Spotlight 29 Casino in
Coachella, California, and had
another good run with victories
over decent opponents Tialano
Tovar (18-14-2), Daniel Lujan
(13-6-2), Simon Gonzalez
(25-6-2) and Javier Carmona
(21-4).
On February 22, 2000 he lost a
split decision to future WBF
World Welterweight Champion
Cosme Rivera (19-5-1), and it
would turn out to be his last
fight. A former Canadian, UBF
and WBF Intercontinental
Champion, His final ledger
stands at 18-2-1 (8).
After the Rivera loss, and
before starting his own Fitness
and boxing gym, James kept
himself busy by working as a
sparring partner for super-stars
Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd
Mayweather, another testament to
the high quality of boxer he
was.
A registered coach and official
with USA Boxing, the official
amateur boxing body in the USA,
James remains enthusiastic about
the sport and takes pride in
preparing young boxers for the
Olympics and potential
professional careers.
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