NJ boxing trainer Abdul-Hakim Waheed dies at age 69

Abdul-Hakim Waheed, the long-time boxing trainer from New Jersey, has died, it was learned Monday. He was 69 years old.

Waheed, born on January 29, 1956, was from Newark and lived in Irvington, but the city he’s most synonymous with is Elizabeth, where he trained boxers out of the city’s Recreation Boxing program for decades before going freelance.

Among the many amateur boxers he guided along the way were multiple-time state champions Tayvon Fish and Vladimir Dalton, plus Josephine Castagna, who was one of the two women to win NJ Golden Gloves titles the first year that women were allowed to compete in 1997.

The pros who worked with Waheed include Max Alexander, the Camden, N.J. native who would later find fame as part of season 3 of The Contender, and Lamont Capers, an opponent with an upside down record who held former IBF cruiserweight champion Imamu Mayfield to a draw in his final bout in 2017.

Carlos “Explosivo” Solano, the Perth Amboy-based trainer who also trained under the man known affectionately as “Hak,” said he was like a father to him. “He treated me like family, made me a better trainer, sharpened my toolbox,” said Solano.