The blue-collar city of Memphis is saturated with many unforeseen heroes and champions who believe in working hard to obtain glory. The Memphis Grizzlies even coined the theme of “Grit and Grind” as a dedication to not only the player’s style of play, but as symbol of the vast tenacity many Memphians possess. When it comes to describing the true perseverance of Memphis natives, Joey Hadley, a Mid-South boxing coach, fits every criterion.
Coach Hadley to some, Lightweight Champion to many, the veteran boxer elevated himself by contesting in many fights through the 1970s and 80s. Storytelling and a collage of framed pictures in his office are now only way to relive his hours upon hours of training as an amateur that eventually helped turns pro. Pictures such as Hadley posing with the Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson, him and his former coach Cus D’ Amato, and even him posing with the King of Rock n’ Roll Elvis Presley.
At the age of 13, young Hadley was inspired by the 1962 boxing flick “Kid Galahad” that starred Presley. Seeing the stylistics of boxing on the big screen was not the only thing that motivated him to go into the sport his father acted as one of his major influences.
“I was a big Elvis fan and my dad used to box in the army. So after I came home from watching the movie and told my dad I wanted to box. He started taking me to a gym, my dad was my first trainer,” Hadley said.
Six-time winner of the Golden Gloves of the Memphis and Mid-South, Three-time Southeastern AAU champion, and United States and North American champion are just a few of the accolades Hadley has obtain through his years of competing. From his teenage years of being local amateur to going professional the coach has leaned of a few basic principles that has help in and outside the ring.
“I can remember my dad telling me about my this feeling I had in my stomach before a match he said it was butterflies. But when I trained with Cus [D’Amato] he said it was fear. He said you’re going to have all the time when you fight and your opponent has the same fear that you have,” he said.
During Hadley's professional career he made the decision to travel to Upstate New York, near Albany to exclusively train with D’Amato. The Memphis boxer describes his experience with the legendary trainer as something he will never forget.
“Cus really believed in positive thinking. There were several things he made me memorize. One was ‘The mind always makes things worse than there really are’...that little saying will always help me in my life whenever I experience any kind of fear or concern about something… Another was ‘A professional as does what need to be done no matter how he feels’ he would use this in reference to training. Getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning to do your ‘road work’, going to the gym to train. A professional does not follow their feelings. He [Cus} said your feelings will lie to you, and that’s true,” Hadley said.
The Memphis boxer describes himself as a strong believer in D’Amato. According to Hadley, D’Amato had already trained and managed two Light Heavyweight fighters, Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres, and made them World Champions before Hadley had came along and he predicted that the Memphis native would be his third.
“After I had been around him [Cus] for three of four months, we were sitting around one night and I asked him, cause I'll know you’ll [Cus] be honest with me, I asked him ‘What do you think my chances are of becoming champion of the world?’ I’ll never forget what he said. He said, ‘I’ve trained many fighters over the years and of all the fighters I’ve trained I’ve only told two of them that they will be champion of the world, [Patterson, Torres] and I’m telling you [Hadley] if nothing unforeseen happens you will be champion of the world,” Hadley said.
Unfortunately, D’Amato’s prediction failed to come true due to a severe eye infection the coach experienced while working in New York.
“I was working up there [New York] during the summer time and got into some grass and bushes and ran across some poison ivy. New York’s poison ivy some bad stuff… somehow it got in my eyes and they had to put me in the hospital. When I got out and started back fighting whenever I’ll get hit around the eyes my eyes would get blood-shot watery and I would sleep when I wake up my eyelids would stick to my cornea,” Hadley said.
After many attempts of getting treatment from doctors and on the brink of going blind the Memphian hung up his gloves and returned home. Despite his short-lived professional career the ex-boxer turned to the calling of serving and protecting by joining the Shelby County Sheriff Department.
During a 29-year career on the force he branched out into the radio and TV world. He started as an afternoon traffic reporter for 600 WREC-AM and later ventured into television by appearing as traffic correspondent on WREGTV News Channel 3 in 1994.
Despite his life of delivering traffic updates and patrolling the Shelby County streets, and even a job as a car sells man, the ex-boxer keep getting reminders of his wanted presence in the game.
“A guy I trained when he was kid, he’s probably in his mid-forties now, he keep telling me that I need to get back to coaching boxing. He kind of financially back me to open up my own gym,” he said.
Hadley opened his gym in East Memphis in the late 2000s that specialized in the “Peek-A-Boo” style of boxing. Over the last five years, he has been teaching that same technique at Memphis Judo and Jiu-Jitsu located at 7859 U.S. Highway 64 in Bartlett, TN.
