- Detroit native James Canty III won the super heavyweight chessboxing world championship in Serbia
- He blended lifelong chess skills with boxing, which he picked up only three years ago
- Canty won both championship bouts by checkmate, not knockout
From a chessboard on Detroit’s west side to a boxing ring on the world stage, James Canty III has mastered a sport where thinking fast matters as much as hitting hard.
It’s called chessboxing, and Canty is the new super heavyweight world champion after winning the crown this fall.
The 33-year-old Michigander first learned chess at age eight from his father, a bond that steered him through endless games and local competitions and eventually to national master status by age 17. Boxing came more recently.
Chessboxing is a hybrid sport that combines chess and boxing in the same match. Fighters alternate rounds of speed chess and boxing. A match can be won by checkmate, knockout or by time running out in chess…