Amateur level

As a member of the US Air Force and a four-time All-Air Force boxing champion, Wells won the 1972 US Amateur heavyweight championship. In that year, he twice knocked out future WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes is a former professional boxer. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which gave birth to his boxing nickname, The Easton Assassin....

. The first time was in the 3rd round of a National Amateur Athletic Union

Amateur Athletic Union

The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...

 tournament; later that year, in the US Olympic Trials, he knocked Holmes out in the first round. He went on to face 1971 US Amateur heavyweight champion Duane Bobick

Duane Bobick

Duane Bobick was a boxer from the United States, who became world amateur heavyweight champion in 1971, and also won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games...

 in the finals of the Olympic Trials, where he broke Bobick's nose early in the fight and appeared to be on his way to representing the United States in the Olympics. But a head wound suffered before the fight at his hotel began to bleed profusely, and the fight was stopped by the referee. Bobick went on to lose to Cuban heavyweight and eventual gold medal winner Teofilo Stevenson

Teófilo Stevenson

Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence or Teófilo Stevenson is a former Cuban amateur boxer. He is one of the only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Hungarian László Papp and fellow Cuban Félix Savón....

 in the Olympic quarterfinals.

One of the most popular amateur boxers in Texas during the 1970s, Wells was a five-time Fort Worth Golden Gloves

Golden Gloves

The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...

 champion and a two-time Star-telegram Texas State Golden Gloves champion. Three time Texas state champion 1969,1970,1971.Five time all air force champion1972,1973,1974,1975,1976. Two time interservice champion1973,1975.Three time interservice runner up 1972,1974,1976.Two time Nevada state golden gloves champion 1972,1973. 1972 National AAU Champion. Western hemisphere Champion 1972 or 1973. World military Champion(CISM games)1973 Texas state champion 1971.
Wells compiled an amateur record of 189-18 with 110 knockouts, 72 of them in the first round.

Pro level

Wells declined an opportunity to be trained by legendary trainer and manager Lou Duva

Lou Duva

Louis "Lou" Duva is a boxing trainer and manager who has handled some of the most famous boxers in the world including 19 World Champions. The Duva family have promoted boxing events in over 20 countries on six continents...

 in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, opting instead to train and fight out of his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

. He compiled a professional record of 10 - 3 before taking a job with the Fort Worth Fire Department in 1978, in order to support his one year old son Nickolas as well as to ensuring a stable futurer for the both of them. He continued his professional boxing career, but lost the Texas State Heavyweight Title match to Roy Wallace in his first bout since becoming a firefighter. He went 3 - 4 from that point, his last two fights ending in knockout losses to heavyweight contenders Eddie "The Animal" Lopez and Tony "The Tongan Torpedo" Fulilangi. He retired from boxing in 1983 with a professional record of 13 - 8, although some accounts list his record at 15 - 8.

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