Wes Nofire

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John Wesley "Wes" Nofire
Wes Nofire Portrait (cropped).jpg
Wes Nofire's Cherokee Tribal Councillor portrait from 2019
Tribal Councillor for the Cherokee Nation's 3rd district
Assumed office
2019
Preceded byDavid Walkingstick
Personal details
Born (1986-04-30) April 30, 1986 (age 37)
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
NationalityCherokee Nation
United States
Political partyRepublican
OccupationPolitician
Boxer
Nickname"The Cherokee Warrior"[1]

John Wesley "Wes" Nofire (born April 30, 1986) is a Cherokee-American politician and a former heavyweight professional boxer. During his boxing career Nofire fought under the name "The Cherokee Warrior". Nofire currently serves on the Cherokee Nation tribal council and was a candidate in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district.

Early life

John Wesley Nofire was born on April 30, 1986 at W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on the Cherokee Nation Reservation to Sherman and Annette Nofire.[2][3]

Nofire grew up in the Welling area, and attended High school at Sequoyah High School in Tahleuqah.[3] Sequoyah High School is an all Native American High School operated by the Cherokee Nation and is funded by Bureau of Indian Education.[4] Nofire was on the 2004 State Champion Basketball team for Sequoyah.[5]

Boxing career

Nofire, began boxing in 2007 as a way to stay physically fit. As an amateur, Nofire was named Oklahoma State Champion in the Super Heavyweight Division and went on to participate in the 2010 National Golden Gloves boxing tournament as the Kansas-Oklahoma regional representative.[6][7]

In 2011, Nofire moved to Miami, Florida where he met John David Jackson, a former two-time world champion. Jackson liked the natural speed and ability that Nofire brought to e encourage him to get in the ring.[8] Nofire made his heavyweight debut on August 26, 2011 at The Joint's Xtreme Fight Night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.[9] Nofire challenged MMA Fighter Marc Webb. Nofire knocked out Webb a uppercut to the chin 1 miniute and 22 seconds into the first round of the match.[10] In his second career match up Nofire would defeat David Fuller in under 41 seconds [11]

Nofire Entrainment

In 2013, Nofire began Nofire Entertainment Corporation, a fight promoting entertainment company.[12][13] Nofire Entainments first event was the "Cherokee Fight Club" in 2013, a ten fight event hosted at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[14]

Retirement from boxing

Nofire's last career fight was against Gerald Washington. Their match was on a Sunday edition of PBC on Fox Sports 1 on June 10, 2018. 32 year old Nofire (20-1, 16 KOs) entered the matching with his only loss came to veteran journeyman Joey Abell in 2016.[15] The fight took place at the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California. The 10-round bout was mostly back and forth. Washington started off fast, landing big shots and applying pressure on Nofire. In round 3, Nofire landed some hard shots on Washington, however he recovered and took over, landing his own big shots. Nofire slowed down after landing his big shots. Washington remained in control for most of the fight. The three judges scored the bout 98–91, 97–92, and 97–92 in favor of Washington, giving him the much needed win and snapping Washington's 2-fight losing streak.[16]

2019 Cherokee Nation Tribal Council Election

In December 2018, Nofire announced his intention for run for Cherokee Nation Tribal Council in District 3 seat, being vacated by David Walkingstick, who was running for Principal Chief.[17] The Cheorkee Nation Tribal Council is a seventeen member unicameral legislature of the tribal government.[18] Nofire topped a field of seven candidates in the General Election that occurred on June 1, 2019 advancing himself to the July Runoff.[19] Nofire winning 29.47% of the votes, advanced to face off Cherokee County Democrat Party Chair, Debra Proctor (29.09% of the Vote) in a July 27 run off.

2019 Cherokee Nation Tribal Council - District 3 General Election Results 6/1/2019
Candidate Early Votes Absentee Votes Election Day Votes Total Votes Total Percentage
RJ Robbins 17 20 76 113 10.74%
Debra Proctor 101 83 122 306 29.09%
Jim Cosby 29 10 64 103 9.79%
Brandon Girty 4 5 8 17 1.62%
Billy Flint 29 29 66 124 11.79%
Larry Dean Pritchett 22 12 45 79 7.51%
Wes Nofire 77 63 170 310 29.47%

The runoff election was largely seen a proxy fight between the Hoskin/Warner faction and the Walkingstick/Frailey faction from 2019 Cherokee Nation principal chief election. Proctor was largely being supported by the Hoskin/Warner faction and Nofire being supported by the Walkingstick/Frailey faction.[20] Nofire received endorsement from Incumbent David Walkingstick and former Cherokee Nation Principal Chad Smith .[21] On Election Day Nofire, over came Proctor winning 63.75% of the vote.[22]

Candidate Early Votes Absentee Votes Election Day Votes Total Votes Total Percentage
Wes Nofire 199 99 242 540 63.75%
Debra Proctor 128 85 94 307 36.25%

References

  1. ^ Chavez, Will. "Cherokee boxer adds fight promoter to repertoire". cherokeephoenix.org. Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  2. ^ "John Wesley Nofire Boxing Record". fightnights.com. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  3. ^ a b "Nofire seeks District 3 seat on Tribal Council". Tahlequah Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  4. ^ "Cherokee Nation Education Services". Cherokee Nation Education Services. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  5. ^ Carlson, Jenni. "Pride of the People Thousands are united behind Sequoyah". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  6. ^ "2010 National Golden Gloves Results". Team USA. 5 May 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Iron Mike Productions Presents Live Boxing – Featuring Wes Nofire (Cherokee Nation)". 16 October 2014. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  8. ^ "Cherokee boxer punching his way up". Cherokee Phoenix. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  9. ^ Dreadfulwater, Mark (12 September 2011). "Cherokee citizen wins professional boxing debut". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  10. ^ Dreadfulwater, Mark (12 September 2011). "Cherokee citizen wins professional boxing debut". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  11. ^ Dreadfulwater Digital Media, Mark (28 November 2011). "CN citizen wins 2nd pro boxing bout". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  12. ^ "corpInformation". www.sos.ok.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  13. ^ Chavez, Will (10 June 2013). "Cherokee boxer adds fight promoter to repertoire". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  14. ^ BAILEY, ERIC (19 July 2013). "Cherokee boxer Wes Nofire aims to remain undefeated at Hard Rock event". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  15. ^ Random Hits. "Kauffman-Alexander Tops PBC Tripleheader, No Antonio Tarver". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  16. ^ Staff, BoxingScene. "Gerald Washington Decisions Wes Nofire: Spencer, Hunter Win". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  17. ^ "Nofire seeks District 3 seat on Tribal Council". Tahlequah Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  18. ^ "Legislative Branch:". Cherokee Nation Website. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  19. ^ https://election.cherokee.org/media/3i4jfefa/official-vote-count-6_1_19.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  20. ^ Rowley, D. Sean. "Updated: Nofire, Proctor headed for Dist. 3 runoff". cherokeephoenix.org. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  21. ^ Tahlequah, Chad Smith. "Letter to the Editor: Former Cherokee Nation principal chief provides his endorsements". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  22. ^ "2019 Runoff Election Results" (PDF). Elections.Cherokee.org. Cherokee Nation Election Commission. Retrieved 2022-04-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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