Friends with 50 Cent, Gerald Tucker trains Floyd Mayweather and Claressa Shields
After Floyd Mayweather's beloved uncle Roger passed away in March 2020, the 'Money Man' recruited former unbeaten pro boxer Gerald Tucker to his corner team.
At first, he was relatively unheard of, but now he is a renowned trainer and household name in boxing.
However, as this weekend in Cardiff serves as his first fight in the UK, when he corners Claressa Shields in her undisputed title defence to challenger Ema Kozin, BBN decided to dig up some interesting facts about Gerald Tucker:
From Cincinnati, Ohio, Gerald Tucker retired unbeaten with a record of seven wins and one draw.
His pro debut was way back in October 2000, on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's 24th pro bout with Emanuel Augustus in Detroit. Tucker defeated fellow debutant Fred Hawkins via fourth-round TKO with only a minute to go in the fight, which was held on a Bob Arum event.
It was Floyd Mayweather who managed his career, along with co-manager James Prince.
He had six fights in his first 10 months as a pro, but then left the sport after suffering a personal tragedy.
In August 2001, at the weigh-in for his sixth contest in Utah, on another Bob Arum event, Gerald took a phone call that would end his promising young career when he was given the tragic news that his brother had been shot and killed back home in Cincinnati.
Incredibly, the young prospect managed to compose himself enough to carry on with his fight, which he won via first-round KO so that he could race home to his family.
He was living in Las Vegas at that time, but the family tragedy saw him move back to his home city for good.
Days away from the gym mourning, turned to months, then years, and it wasn't until he bumped into Curtis Jackson, aka rapper 50 Cent, who had a brief spell in boxing promoting in 2013, that he was asked to train his new signing Donte Strayhorn, who was also from Cincinnati. In his own words, he said, "Long story short, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months… I look up and seven-eight years had passed!"
He recalls only earning around $1,200 per fight.
It wasn't long before Tucker found the urge to come back, which he did very briefly in 2016, almost 13 years on from his last fight, aged 37-years-old. He won two fights on points in April and June that year and found the closure he needed to put his pro career to bed, a healed man. Remarkably, he dropped 60lbs in weight for his ring return.
He has since built up a respectable reputation as a boxing coach, having trained the likes of James Kirkland, Jamel Herring, Gervonta Davies and Adrien Broner.
He was an astounding amateur, winning dozens of titles, and was picked as an Olympic alternate in 1996. It was losing in the finals of the 2000 Olympic trials that prompted him to turn professional.
His first sport was baseball, but his mother forced him to quit after his grades suffered because of practise.
His inspiration to become a boxer was future Team USA Olympian and childhood friend Ricardo Williams. Gerald recalls, "He had a big old trophy case with 50 medals, 50 trophies, like 20 belts, and all I had in my house was two little baseball trophies the size of my hand."
GT is also a music producer and can play keyboard.
The loving father is also a keen chef and often cooks for his fighters to help with their training camp diets.
Amateur Awards
1995 National Golden Gloves Light flyweight finalist
1996 National Golden Gloves Light flyweight champion
1996 Eastern Olympic Trials Champion light flyweight
1996 United States Olympic Alternate light flyweight
1997 National PAL light flyweight champion
1998 National Golden Gloves flyweight champion
1998 National PAL flyweight champion
1999 National PAL bantamweight champion
1999 Pan American Games Gold Medallist Bantamweight
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