James Page’s life has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride through hell and back. He has been on top of the world, as a professional boxing champion and also incarcerated in two separate states for the crime of bank robbery. Page currently trains young fighters in the Bay Area of California and seems to have permanently left his demons behind him. This is James Page’s story.
James Quindale Page who was nicknamed “The Mighty Quinn” because of his punching power and middle name was born in Pittsburgh, California on April 1, 1971. His father was a merchant seaman who was rarely home, leaving his mother Pamela in charge of raising the entire family in the blue collar, east bay area town of Pittsburgh, California.
At the age of 10, James discovered the sport of boxing and his first amateur boxing coach in the bay area was LeRoy Pacheco in the Concord, California youth center. As an amateur, James compiled a record of 56 wins, and 4 losses. James fought in the 90-pound division and made it to several National Final amateur boxing tournaments on the East Coast. James boxed as an amateur from the age of 10 to age 15. He was known in amateur boxing circles for having a devastating left hook and was a natural puncher from the start of his amateur career.
At the age of 15, James gave up on amateur boxing and began partying and running the wild streets of Pittsburgh with his friends. His merchant seaman father was rarely around, and drugs were always available for James and the teenage friends he ran with.
At the age of 19, James was sitting in a Contra Costa County jail cell with no money and pondering his future when an old coach from his amateur boxing days named Terry Lee contacted him and asked if he would like to return to boxing.
Linda Hudson and her business partner Terry Lee, who had boxed professionally as a light heavyweight in the 1970s, ran the gym in Concord, California, where James boxed as an amateur. James turned to professional boxing in December of 1990 with Linda Hudson as his manager and Lee as his trainer in the super lightweight division. In James’s professional debut he knocked out Luis Silva in 1 round in Concord. James won his first 7 fights in 1991, including 6 wins coming by knockout due to his devastating left hook. James became known as the “The Mighty Quinn” due to his punching power, and his middle name of Quindale.
In James 8th professional fight in November of 1991, he was grossly overmatched when he was put in the ring with future World Boxing Organization super lightweight champion Zack Padilla in San Francisco, California.
Padilla was too busy for James and he was able to take James’ hard left books to the head and body. Padilla took a hard beating but fought to a unanimous 6 round decision to hand James his first professional loss.
James rebounded with 3 straight wins before he lost a close majority decision to future World Boxing Council lightweight champion Stevie Johnston in October of 1993 in Santa Cruz, California.
James became a full-fledged welterweight in 1994 and went on a 7-fight winning streak over the next two years which included 5 wins by knockout. Terry Lee helped James develop a world class jab, to go along with his vicious left hook.
In August of 1996, James looked lethargic in losing a 10-round split decision to club fighter Robert West in St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after the West fight, a pattern developed where James would end up having trouble with the law after a boxing match loss.
James got implicated in a credit card theft which occurred at his Concord gym and ended up serving 10 months in San Quentin Prison in California.
When James got out of prison in 1998, he signed a contract to fight for famous boxing promoter Don King. James’s new trainers would be the well-traveled Willie Rush and former world welterweight boxing champion James (Buddy) McGirt.
Under Don King’s management and trainers, James went from an unranked fighter at the beginning of 1998, to a world welterweight champion by the end of the year.
Veteran fight observers had never seen such a fast rise in a fighters’ ring status as James’s achieved in only one short year. James started 1998 in February by knocking out Bill Bradley in the 1st round in a fight at an Indian Casino in Miami Florida.
In April of 1998, James stopped Luis Carmona in 3 rounds in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. James then stopped Eric Alexander in just 5 rounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, to set up an important fight with Anthony Perry in August of 1998.
James looked very impressive when he knocked out Anthony Perry in 6 rounds in Las Vegas. After defeating Perry, Don King informed James that he would be fighting Russian Andrey Pestryaev for the vacant World Boxing Association welterweight title in Paris, France, in October of 1998. In 24 professional fights Pestryaev had only lost one fight and he was a formidable opponent to fight for the title. James came out smoking in the first round and immediately dropped the surprised Pestryaev to the canvas. In round 2 Pestryaev began an exchange of punches when James caught him with a perfect left hook counter to the head that made Pestryaev flop down on the canvas for the full 10 count. In one short, incredible year, James had won the World Boxing Association welterweight championship of the world under the guidance of Don King as his manager and promoter.
Not one to rest on his laurels, King kept James busy by scheduling his first title defense against former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Jose Luis Lopez. Lopez was a tough opponent who had a strong punch and could absorb a lot of punishment without being knocked out.
Lopez matched James punch for punch in the first part of the fight and even dropped James to the canvas in the 3rd round. James observed that Lopez would be difficult to knock out, and then began to outbox Lopez from the outside. James punched holes in Lopez’ defense and was ahead on points when Lopez dropped him to the canvas again in the 9th round. James got up and continued to outbox Lopez over the last 3 rounds to win a tough unanimous decision. James would say after the fight that he hit Lopez with incredibly hard left hooks to the head, and he did not know what kept Lopez upright.
In March of 1999, King put James in the ring with number one contender Sam Garr of Georgia in Madison Square Garden in New York for his second title defense.
Garr was a hard punching welterweight contender from Stone Mountain, Georgia, and at 5-11 he matched James in height and in reach. Garr also carried power in both fists.
James won a tough 12-round decision over a very game Sam Garr. Garr stayed on his feet for the full 12 rounds, but he was bloodied and battered by the end of the fight. James just punched too hard and fast for the less experienced Garr.
In July of 1999 James made his 3rd world title defense against former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Freddie Pendelton. James was trained predominately by former world welterweight champion Buddy McGirt for his defense against Pendelton. McGirt trained James to attack both the head and body in his fight against Pendelton.
Even though the fighter’s weights were basically the same, James looked much bigger then Pendelton when the fighters entered the ring. James was by far the stronger puncher in this fight, and he finally finished the battered Pendelton in the 11th round with a right hand uppercut and left hook to the head combination which sent his opponent to the ground. Pendelton, while sitting on the canvas, advised the referee that he was through before the 10 count was completed.
Unfortunately, after the Pendelton fight James got into a dispute with his manager Don King over his share of the purse for the title defenses. James was also upset that King was unable to get him some super mega fights with some of the more popular champions around his weight division.
Finally, James balked at making a mandatory title defense for King in the beginning of 2000, underestimating the power that King had with the World Boxing Association hierarchy. After James refused to make a title defense for King, James suddenly found out that King influenced the World Boxing Association to vacate his welterweight championship during the summer of the year 2000. James was stripped of his title, without ever losing in the ring.
James eventually made an agreement with King to fight for the vacated welterweight title against the undefeated welterweight contender Andrew (6 Heads) Lewis in February of 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada. James advised this writer that he had been out of the ring for over a year and was not in fighting shape when he fought Lewis for the title. James also claimed that he never had a problem handling Lewis in sparring sessions in the ring prior to this fight.
James looked sluggish in the title fight against Lewis, and he was dropped twice in the fight before Lewis stopped him in the 7th round to claim the vacant welterweight title.
When James was champion, he lived the highlife of a champion; but without the title, the money disappeared rapidly. The habit continued when, after losing a fight, James would go back to partying and hanging out with friends and eventually he stopped training altogether.
James eventually went to Atlanta, Georgia, and was running around with his friends when he ran out of money. Banks had money, and before long James found himself in a bank handing a bank teller a note demanding money. James did not use a weapon in the robbery, but he was eventually apprehended and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Federal prisoners must serve approximately 85 percent of their sentence before they are eligible for parole.
James was eventually released from prison and returned to his native Pittsburgh, California, in 2012. He was an ex-con now and was unable to obtain any means of employment. In November of 2012, at the age of 41, an out of shape James Page returned to the ring in Sacramento, California.
James was now a super welterweight and took on Rahman Mustafa Yusubov, a fighter with a losing record. It was evident that James’ ring career was over as he was stopped in the 2nd round of a one-sided fight. James final ring record was 25 wins, and 5 loses, with 19 of his wins coming by knockout.
James failed in his boxing comeback and was still unable to find a job outside of the ring. Frustrated, James returned to his old habit of robbing banks. Beginning in 2013, James was accused of robbing a total of 8 banks in the Bay Area of California. James was called the “buttoned down bandit” because he wore his collars up and his shirts were buttoned all the way down. During this crime spree James obtained between 17 and 20 thousand dollars.
James was eventually apprehended by local police and pled guilty to the charges before he went before U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, for sentencing. Judge White noted that an error by the Georgia court in sentencing had kept James in prison four years longer than he should have been and took away any chance he might have returned to professional boxing sooner to earn a living. Judge White also noted that James never used a weapon in any of his robberies and took into consideration James’ defense attorney’s claims that many boxers in professional boxing can suffer memory lapses due to the constant pounding and taking punches to the head in the ring
Judge White sentenced James to 7 years in prison to be served at the Atwater federal facility in California. James received an early parole for good behavior in 2019.
James’ mother, Pamela, his current wife Marquita, whom he married in 2019, as well as his four daughters, always stood by James during his time in prison. The constant support of these women in his life helped him to return to boxing as a trainer. Marquita, at present, is employed as a bus driver in the California Bay Area. James’ advised this writer that he had never filed a lawsuit over his extended time in the Atlanta prison because he missed the time deadline to file his case.
While working at the Lion’s Den gym in Pittsburgh, California, James helped train undefeated middleweight prospect Amari Jones. James currently trains amateur fighters at Benjamin’s Boxing Club in San Ramon, California.
James would like to help the young fighters he is training to start their professional careers and be a mentor to show them the ins and outs of professional boxing. James also intends to show the young boxers that if he was able to overcome all of the obstacles in his life, that it would also be possible for them to achieve their goals in boxing.
When asked how he would like to be remembered by boxing fans around the world, James stated that he would like to be remembered as the world welterweight champion who other champions in his division “ducked” and refused to fight. James was unable to get mega fights with other champions in his division including Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Pernell Whittaker, and Ike Quartey.
James Page has been to the mountain top and fallen down it several times in his life. James has slowly climbed his way back up to the top again and plans on staying there. He has a strong family support system, and the respect of the young amateur boxers that he trains. What more could “The Mighty Quinn” ever ask for? Well, maybe a book on his life’s story.
Published by Larry Carli, July 6, 2025