A legendary Texas heavyweight boxer, a knockout artist who became a firefighter, now spends many days walking out his back door to do some fishing at his residence in Mineola. Nick Wells and his wife of 36 years, Denise, moved to Mineola from Burleson. 

Originally from Fort Worth and a 1969 graduate of Polytechnic High School, Wells became an amateur champion, winning Golden Gloves crowns and fighting all over the world representing the United States Air Force and his country.

Wells’ illustrious career included a five-time Fort Worth Golden Gloves champ and three-time Texas state champion in 1969, 1970 and 1971. He was a five-time Air Force champion from 1972 through 1976. He was the inter-service champion in 1973 and 1975 and runner-up in 1972, 1974 and 1976. Wells was the 1972 National AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) champion, as well as Western Hemisphere champion in 1972 and 1973. He was the World Military champion in 1973.

There is a room in their Mineola home dedicated to his boxing career with medals and photos from around the world where he has fought. He started boxing in Golden Gloves competition while in high school and also was an all-state nose guard for the Poly Parrots football team.

“I started getting in boxing tournaments in the ninth grade,” Wells said. “I loved football too and played tight end on offense and nose guard on defense. It was on defense is where I made all district and all county. My first fight was at UT-Arlington in 1965. The Arlington Boys Club used the UTA auditorium to do their boxing tournaments.”

Wells aslo played college football at McMurry College in Abilene (now university). He was a rare freshman starter on the varsity team.

“I loved playing football. At McMurry, we won our first game and our last game that year,” Wells said.

Wells gained notoriety knocking out future world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes two times, once in the third round and a second time, just 1:54 into the first round.

The first time Wells beat Holmes was in Minneapolis, and the future pro heavyweight champ was undefeated as an amateur. The second time was in front of 7,000 fans in Fort Worth at Will Rogers Coliseum.

“Holmes was much more a fighter the first time we fought than the second. He wanted it really bad the first time because he had been undefeated,” Wells noted. “I wanted it too. I had won nine national tournaments and had knocked out each of my opponents in the first round. Holmes made it three rounds the first time we fought. I finally got him in the third round. My style of fighting didn’t fit him. It was his first defeat and the first time he had ever been knocked out.”

Holmes noted in his autobiography that it was the first time he had fought a left-hander and it was also the first time he had ever lost a fight.

The second Holmes fight led to Wells earning a spot for the Olympic Trials. Wells qualified twice for the trials. He qualified as an AAU champion and Air Force champion. He met heavyweight Duane Bobick in the finals. Earlier in the week, Wells had suffered a cut over his eye on a door during a time of horseplay, and Bobick took advantage of the cut in winning the fight.

“Bobick beat me four times, but one was very suspicious. He was a good fighter and I lost a split decision to him at the Pan Am Trials. He went on to lose to Teofilo Stevenson for the gold medal in the Olympics,” Wells added.

Wells fought in 14 international competitions and traveled the world. He beat the Canadian champ, the Polish champ two times and the Russian champ. “I did win 11 times in those 14 international events.”

Wells said his toughest fight was an older Navy fighter who was in his mid-30s while Wells was still in his early 20s.

“He was really tough. He just kept coming at me. I hit him harder than many of the boxers I knocked out,” Wells said. “I have never been afraid to fight anybody. I guess you could say Denise is the only person in the world I’m afraid of these days.”

Wells turned professional and would go on to have a 15-8 record before retiring from the ring. He never did get to get one of those “big money” payoffs. He did try to fight Holmes after he turned pro, but promoter Don King nixed that effort.

“There were two things Don King didn’t like about me. One was I was left-handed and the other is I was the guy who had knocked him out as an amateur,” Wells said. “I never really had a big payday in the pros. I had a $25,000 fight once that never happened. I did get $2,500 once, but after you pay everybody involved there was not much left. I couldn’t depend on boxing to make a living.” 

Wells became a Fort Worth firefighter for over 30 years and was an engineer at the time of his retirement. The Wells were living in Burleson near Fort Worth. The Wellses first heard about Mineola from some neighbors, Thomas and Tonda Palmer. Thomas Palmer was an engineer for the railroad.

“They knew how much I loved the water and how much I liked going fishing. Denise started digging and looking and found this place. I fished here and caught two bass,” Wells stated. “I even got a pontoon boat.” 

Wells credits his coaches and trainers, such has Frankie Carr, Winky Groom, Gene Cooper (Air Force coach), Frank Pryor and Troy Kemp for his boxing successes. Today, he credits Denise with his daily success in his retirement. 

He and Denise met on a blind date.

“I didn’t even know who he was and tired to get out of the date, but we made it through the date and here we are,” Denise said. They raised two kids, Nickolas, who passed away at the age of 42, and Hayley. 

About moving to Mineola, Denise pointed to the lake behind their home. “This is the star, the reason we are here. He fishes at least four to five times a week,” she said. “We love our home and the people here.” 

The 69-year-old former heavyweight now leads a calm life in his adopted home town of Mineola. Wells has a roomful of memories from his time in the boxing world, but these days his only fights are with the bass in his lake and the memories he makes today are with grandkids, family and friends.