MARK BRELAND
won the National twice. He was the first fighter to win the Championship Belt and the Golden Gloves five times. He won a gold medal in the lightweight category of the 1984 Olympics.
Excerpt from Do or Die
Bed-Stuy Gym, 1981: Mark Breland won the National twice. He was the first fighter to win the championship Belt and the Golden Gloves five times. He won a gold medal as a lightweight in the 1984 Olympics.
“When he was smaller he would tell me ‘I can’t,’ and I say, ‘You ain’t no worse if you can’t.’ So I figure that was why he so good. Because he will try.
“When Mark first started, didn’t nobody want to bother with him because he so skinny. Little skinny thing with braids in his hair. So I said, ‘I’ll take care of him.’ One Saturday, I went up to his father and said, ‘See this little skinny kid here? I’ma make a champ out of him.’ And his father said, ‘Yeah? You think you can?’ And sure ‘nough, he went on and made the Olympics.
“A lot of them when they get up there on the top, they leave me. Except Mark. Mark the only kid that stick with me. He told his manager that as long as he fighting, I’ll be there. He seem like he love me. I love him too.”
- George Washington
Mark Breland’s Trainer
These photos were taken for Azzedine Alaïa’s book
On the TV behind Mark Breland is the moment he won by knockout, poising
Mark Breland and I at the French Ministry of Culture where I was bestowed Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. A lot of fighters and trainers came to the party. We had a great time all together.