Featherweight contender Elijah Pierce is used to defying conventional wisdom. In an individual sport where losses become black marks, Pierce succeeds because of his team mentality and the lessons learned from his early losses. But what he knows is how to fight back and win.
Pierce plans to put all of this together as he prepares for his first fight with Manny Pacquiao Promotions in the main event on Saturday, February 28, at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. This is the second MPP card in the U.S. and the first on the East Coast. The fight card airs in the U.S. and U.K. on Amazon Prime Video.
Pierce crossed paths with the Pacquiao team while working as a sparring partner, which prompted his signing, along with his recent performances.
Pierce of Lawrenceville, Georgia (21-2, 17 KOs) faces Lorenzo Parra of Venezuela (21-1-1, 17 KOs) in a WBO International title eliminator. The winner steps up in line as a mandatory challenger in the WBO and the WBA. Pierce is currently ranked second in both sanctioning organizations. The fight was originally scheduled in November but postponed due to illness.
Education of The WXXXLF
Pierce’s journey is defined by discovering his own resilience. Early in his career, “Sweet Pea” was a talented junior lightweight prospect from Oklahoma City. Two losses in 2018 and 2019 to then-unbeaten Giovanni Cabrera, who didn’t make weight for the fight, and the durable Sulaiman Segawa might have convinced another man to put his aspirations aside.
“When you lose in this sport, in today’s climate, it’s almost like getting shelved or having your career taken away from you,” said Pierce. “I was very lost, and a lot of people who were interested in me at that time wrote me off. I used it as fuel.”
The losses coincided with a painful divorce, leaving him at a crossroads both personally and professionally. Instead of giving up, Pierce rebranded himself as “The WXXXLF.”
“The wolf allowed me to embrace my past,” explained Pierce. “It wasn’t that I wanted to forget. It allowed me to channel who I was and who I wanted to be. It gave me a clearer picture of where I was going and what I needed to do to get there.”
Pierce Turns the Tables
Getting back up wasn’t merely a metaphor for Pierce, something he knows about as a talented writer in school who now writes poetry. It became a blueprint for his boxing career. As he worked his way back up the rankings, he nearly ran into disaster in his March 29, 2024, fight on an Overtime Boxing card against Filipino veteran Arthur Villanueva.
Pierce was dropped hard in the second round by a straight left. For a moment, the world title dreams he had spent five years rebuilding seemed to be slipping away.
Pierce didn’t panic. He got off the canvas, carried on, and took Villanueva apart, ending the fight with a devastating fourth-round TKO win.
One year later, while facing Michael Dasmarinas in July, it was an all too familiar bad dream as another veteran Filipino opponent scored an early knockdown, this time in round one. Once again, Pierce had to get off the deck and gather his wits. In the ninth round, Pierce gave Dasmarinas some payback, scoring two knockdowns for a TKO victory.
Watch Pierce vs Dasmarinas
In its own way, it put him on the radar and led to the opportunity he’s worked for on Saturday against Parra.
“God has guided me throughout my career, helping me evolve piece by piece,” Pierce says of the performance. “The last fight was a learning experience about not being overconfident. It was a test of adversity. I’m making progress toward my goal of becoming a world champion, but the work isn’t over.”
That ability to turn the tables on his opponents has become Pierce’s calling card. It makes for fan friendly fights and has given Pierce a big shot of confidence. He has now won 12 consecutive fights, proving that a fighter who learns the lessons from all of his experiences both positive and negative is far more dangerous than one who has never faced any adversity.
Team Success In An Individual Sport
While a boxer is alone with only his wits, skills, and two hands in the ring, Pierce insists that he would not be successful without his pack, just as the wolf needs the pack in nature to thrive. Pierce treats boxing as a team sport.
“Family has always been everything to me. The first value that I learned was to treasure your family. My grandparents, they were pretty much the foundation of my mental acumen when it
He is trained by his father, Andy Pierce. His mother is his personal assistant, and his stepfather, Jessie Tanksley, is his co-manager. His older brothers make up his merchandising team.
Pierce says he’s blessed to have two father figures. “They’re wise and intelligent men who instill those same principles into me. There are kids out there today who have no father figure or anyone to rely on. All my family is just good people. I’m blessed. I would never trade my family for anything. The wolf is only as strong as the pack, and the pack is only as strong as the wolf,” said Pierce.
The nickname “The WXXXLF” was born. It tells you everything you need to know about Elijah Pierce.
“I always had a gift when it came to writing and expressing myself. After my second loss, I went through a divorce. I was pretty much at rock bottom. I was down bad. I was trying to figure things out. I’m a single father at the time with a daughter.
“I decided I was going to completely revamp my life. I chose to go about it in a more aggressive manner. I was going through a lot of emotional trauma at that time, and I just decided to pretty much revitalize myself with all the pain I was going through and use it as a strength. Ultimately, that’s when The WXXXLF was born.
What about the three Xs in the name?
“The triple X represents unpredictability. You never know what you’re gonna get when you step in the ring with Elijah Pierce. I’ve always been a jack of all trades. Whatever it is I have an interest in, I will figure out how to do it, and I will do it well. I have that type of mental acumen and perseverance.
“Once it unveiled itself, it stuck. It felt genuine. You can’t be part of Team WXXXLF if I don’t have a close relationship with you. Everybody in my pack or in my team is family to me.
“I’ve had to build a barrier that keeps me laser-focused on what I’ve got to do,” says Pierce, who is now a single father of three. “I have so much at stake right now. I’m top three in the world. I’m getting really close to the world title.”
This sense of responsibility extends to his persona outside the ring. Pierce is known for his colorful weigh-in antics, often bringing gifts for his opponents. His personality blends the ferocity of a predator with the charisma of a natural-born entertainer. He’s even hinted at a future in the WWE, but for now, his focus is firmly on the boxing ring.
Full Interview With Elijah Pierce
Preview: Parra vs Pierce
Parra is a battle-tested challenger with his own dreams. He recently fought to a draw against Omar Trinidad. It is the kind of stylistic clash Pierce enjoys.
“He is stepping in there with someone who has fought better competition,” said Pierce of himself. “He is a tough guy, a tough challenger, and he is going to bring a different side out of me in this fight. I promise a devastating knockout.”
“I’m looking forward to finally putting on a performance, that star aesthetic performance, where people can really give me my kudos and give me my credit I’ve already claimed in the name of Jesus. It’s mine. I’m going to be the (featherweight) champion this year,” said Pierce.
Pierce Pressing For His Title Opportunity
Across the country on Saturday night, two featherweight world champions will battle in a division title unification. Pierce would love to face the winner of the fight between Emanuel Navarrete and Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez for the WBO and IBF titles, and a win will put him in line.
Don’t look at the “2” on Elijah Pierce’s loss column as a weakness. Look at it as the reason he is currently one of the most dangerous men in the 126-pound division.
Pierce has been down, written off, and broken. But on February 28, he steps into the ring not just to win, but to show the world that the most powerful version of a man is the one who learned how to stand back up.
“People once overlooked me, calling me trash,” Pierce says with the calm of a man who knows his worth. “But now I’m becoming who I’m meant to be.”
In boxing, people refer to the Eye of the Tiger. But for Pierce, it is the wolf he embraces.
“No matter the conditions in the wilderness, a wolf will never eat grass. And by that, you know the relentlessness that it takes to be a wolf. You can’t do it.
“Whatever is envisioned, whatever is the ultimate goal, the prize, you’re fixated on that, and there’s no deterrent. There’s no getting away from that. That’s what it is, and that’s what ultimately has to be completed in order to be fulfilled.”
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist and the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). She is the Managing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.