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Amateur career
Shuler was
the 1979 and 1980 National Golden Gloves Light Middleweight
Champion. He qualified at 156 pounds and was a member of the
1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team
that perished in an air crash in
Warsaw,
Poland,
on March 14, 1980. Shuler was
not with the team, however, as he had stayed in America due
to injury. The team was en
route to Warsaw, Poland for the USA vs. Poland Box-off as
part of "USA vs. the World." event. Among the USA Boxing
teammates who were killed in the plane crash were
Lemuel Steeples
from St. Louis; Calvin Anderson from Connecticut;
Paul Palomino
- the brother of
Carlos Palomino ;
George Pimentel,
and Olympic Coach,
Sarge Johnson.
Members of the team who were also not aboard included
Bobby Czyz
and
Alex Ramos.
Shuler's hopes were dashed when
President
Jimmy Carter
imposed an Olympic boycott that forbid the U.S. Olympians
from competing in the
1980 Summer Olympics.
Professional career
Shuler began
his professional boxing career as a middleweight on
September 12, 1980 with a second-round knockout of Chris
Rogers in Philadelphia. During his five years as a pro, he
had 22-1 record with sixteen knockouts. His first loss came
on March 10, 1986 to
Thomas Hearns
when he was knocked out in the first round.
NABF
Middleweight Champion (October 23, 1982 - March 10, 1986)
Death
Shuler used
the money he earned from the Hearns fight to buy a
motorcycle. Just one week after the fight, Shuler was killed
when he crashed his motorcycle in Philadelphia.
His death came six years and three days after the flight
that he was originally scheduled to make in Poland.
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