CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Melvin Foster

American boxer

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ5410051
Source-derived summary

Melvin Foster (born February 23, 1971, in Washington, DC) is an American former heavyweight boxer best known for his amateur boxing career. He most notably defeated former world champion Mike Weaver and two-time title challenger Carl Williams.

Professional career

Known as "Top Gun", Foster turned pro in 1992 and remained undefeated until losing to Trevor Berbick in 1994. The following year he dropped a decision to Michael Moorer, and after the loss his once promising career began to sour, and he morphed into a journeyman fighter. He went on to lose bouts to Jimmy Thunder, Corey Sanders, Hasim Rahman, Derrick Jefferson, and Cedric Boswell. He retired in 2005 after a TKO loss to Eddie Chambers.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Melvin Foster” as american boxer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Melvin, Foster and American.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1971, 1992, 1994, 2005—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1971-02-23. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Melvin, Foster and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Melvin Foster”, the useful work is to connect “american boxer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5410051. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1992, 1994 and 2005.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Melvin Foster”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Melvin Foster primary sources, Melvin Foster archive and Melvin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Melvin Foster”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Melvin Foster” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.