Have you ever heard of local legend Lloyd Taylor?
I hadn’t — at least, not until I met him on the street once or twice, just chilling. He’s a beautiful human being. So kind, so nice, so sweet. Genuine.
One day, he really started talking to me about his life, and I found out this cat was a championship boxer! He met celebrities like Cher and Muhammad Ali, and he traveled the world. “Good God,” I thought to myself, feeling excited and blessed. We first met while he was panhandling.
It didn’t take long for us to become friends. A week or so later, we sat at my house and talked about what he had been through. He’s from Anacostia and graduated from Suitland High School in PG County. After winning the Golden Gloves in 1979, Taylor expected to compete nationally for a shot at the Olympics. But President Carter boycotted the 1980 Summer Games as a way to protest the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, which would be hosting the competition. So “Honeyboy” Taylor went pro instead.
He didn’t set out to become a championship boxer. But he remembers a defining moment, when his father pushed him to stand up for himself, one day in 1965 when Taylor was being bullied.
“What are you doing?” his father asked when he saw Taylor running home from school.
“Trying not to get caught by Andre,” Taylor answered.
“Boy, you better get out there and fight,” his father instructed. “If he don’t whip your ass, I will.”
So Taylor fought back, and he won. He kicked Andre’s butt and chased him home. After that, people didn’t mess with him anymore. At least not for a while. Between his father and his stepfather, Taylor throughout the city, out to Maryland and bounced back to the District.
Along the way, Taylor remembers a couple of White boys “harassing” him and his cousin for no reason. That was putting it lightly: They tried to run him over.
So he started boxing lessons “to learn to fight back, to get even with people.”
In 1974, he started amateur boxing in South Bowie and went on to win the Junior Olympics and the Novices division. After his hopes for the Olympics were dashed, he started building up his record in the pros.
Taylor was undefeated in ’81, “but they wouldn’t give me a title fight,” Taylor said. So he started sparring with Tommy Hearns, who was preparing for a fight with “Sugar” Ray Leonard. They worked together for three weeks straight until Taylor got hurt.
Taylor later earned a tri-state title for the DMV area, where most of his bouts occurred, though he also fought in Atlantic City, Cincinnati, Nashville and Indianapolis. He won the “Metro Welterweight” title — which was first created for a match between Leonard and Johnny Grant in 1979 — and defended it twice from Robert “Boo Boo” Sawyer, also of D.C.
After his last professional bout, in ’85, Taylor had a record of 23 wins and only 6 losses.
“Then I started getting high and selling drugs, which messed up my career. I went to jail in 1988 for selling and did 10 years,” Taylor said.
He’s still looking for work. But Lloyd “Honeyboy” Taylor isn’t letting that stop him from looking out for the people in his community. He has given me advice about taking care of myself and he does the same for others when asked. I’ve also seen him showing young folks how to throw a proper punch and stand up for themselves.
“Since coming home, I’ve tried to help others pursue their dreams,” Taylor said.
