Michael Rush got into boxing to lose some weight.
Rush, who has lived in Tampa for 23 years, was a college student in Florida at the time.
“I went to a gym, not to box, but to lose weight,” he said.
Rush, 21 at the time and a late starter for a boxer, took to the sport. Within a year, he entered the Golden Gloves, and with only a few amateur bouts behind him he set his sights on the 1992 Olympics. That dream ended when training partner Ken McCullough beat him in the finals and advanced to the Olympic Trials.
Rush compiled an amateur record of 9-2, but the confident 22-year-old decided boxing was his future and turned pro.
“I was 22. I didn’t want to wait around and try for the next Olympics,” said Rush, now 58.
Over the ensuing years, Rush climbed from a 160-pound middleweight to heavyweight, building a record of 27-7-1 with 13 knockouts. That body of work earned him election to the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame, which inducted its 2026 class — including several fighters from the Tampa Bay area — on June 6.
At 6-foot-2, Rush was a big man for the middleweight division, where he spent his early fights. He made his pro debut in July 1992, a draw with Ronald Lewis, then won eight of his next nine bouts and four of the five after that. The 12-2-1 start was impressive for a fighter who had come to the sport so late.
“I think I could have cleaned up if I stayed a middleweight,” Rush said. But a sparring session with future heavyweight champion Michael Moorer — undersized for the division — changed his thinking.
“I was in the gym where Moorer was training and his trainer Teddy Atlas said they needed a sparring partner and I said I’d do it,” Rush said. “So I sparred with him and he was moving around and taking it easy. I said, ‘let’s pick it up.’ When he did, something changed for me and after that I went all the way up to heavyweight.”
Rush’s first major heavyweight test came in July 1997 against Sam Hampton, an ESPN bout he took on two weeks’ notice.
“He was in the Top 20, a big Indian guy and I was expected to lose,” Rush said. “I dropped him in the fifth.” Rush won by split decision.
Along the way, Rush faced — and lost to — nationally ranked contenders James Toney and Hasim Rahman.
In one of the most memorable matches the Tampa Bay area has seen, Rush faced kickboxing champion Orlando Rivera of Tampa in March 2002. Rivera came in 5-0, and the fight was supposed to launch him toward bigger things. It did not work out that way.
“He hadn’t lost, but I was like, ‘cool, let’s do it,’” Rush said. “It was one of those back-and-forth fights. I dropped him in the 10th round and won by decision. A lot of people said it was the best fight they’d ever seen.”
A few years earlier, in July 1998, Rush had a fight he would rather forget — a grueling battle with Terrence Lewis. With Rush ahead on all three scorecards, Lewis sucker-punched him as the two went to touch gloves before the 10th and final round. Rush went down, and after several minutes Lewis was disqualified, handing Rush the win.
Rush’s last fight came in April 2006, a unanimous decision over Carl Handy at the USF Sun Dome.
“I never really retired,” Rush said. But that was his last bout. He stayed in the sport, training amateurs for some 12 years at his gym, Gold Rush for Fitness.
When the call came informing him of his selection, Rush was confused at first.
“I thought it was some business calling me about a job,” he said with a chuckle.
Once it sank in, he was thrilled.
“Very exciting,” Rush said. “Good news. I was elated.”
For the full list of 2026 inductees, visit floridaboxinghalloffame.com.