Elijah Pearce and the WXXXLF within: ‘A loss is like having your career taken away’

Junior featherweight boxer Elijah Pierce has embraced the moniker “WXXXLF,” using it as a way to reflect on the challenges he’s faced.

Pierce (19-2, 17 KOs), of Lawrenceville, Ga., will take on Colombia’s Jose Sanmartin (35-8-1, 21 KOs) on Friday, Aug. 30, as part of OTX 10 at the OTE Arena in Atlanta.

Pierce, 27, is ranked No. 3 by the WBA in the junior featherweight division, behind only Ramon Cardenas and Murodjon Akhmadaliev. The titleholder, Naoya Inoue, holds all four belts and is scheduled to defend them against TJ Doheny on Sep.3 in what may be his last fight in the class before moving up to featherweight. 

Pierce had prepared for Sanmartin once before, but illness forced him to withdraw just days before the fight.”I got so much at stake right now. I’m top three in the world. I’m getting really close to the world title,” he said. “I still wanted to fight, but I had to agree with the team. They felt we should just reschedule.”

Pierce has rebuilt his career in OTX Boxing. His two losses came at featherweight and junior lightweight, the latter to Giovanni Cabrera, who missed weight for the bout. The adversity Pierce faced along the way gave rise to his “WXXXLF” persona.

“It wasn’t that I wanted to forget my past; the wolf allowed me to embrace it,” Pierce said. “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 reflected on his struggles after his second loss in September 2019.

“When you lose in this sport, in today’s climate, it’s almost like getting shelved or having your career taken away from you,” Pierce said. “If I were to lose now, I’d have to start over again and rebuild my whole career, and that’s just not in the cards.”

Personal issues compounded his professional challenges, leading to a difficult period.

“I think it just depends on the person and the circumstances,” Pierce said about rebuilding your career after a loss. “I was married at the time, but after those losses, I ended up getting a divorce. 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. I know what I’m capable of.”

Pierce, now a father of three with a fourth on the way, has found renewed focus. “Now I’ve even exceeded where I was then,” he explained. “I’ve had to build a barrier that keeps me laser-focused on what I’ve got to do.”

The “WXXXLF” emerged from the harsh realities of being a promising fighter turned underdog. Pierce, no longer young in boxing terms, understands the urgency of this moment in his career.

“The only time I wasn’t an underdog was at the beginning of my career,” Pierce said. “Once I had that first loss, all that kind of just evaporated. I was able to bounce back.”