Former Champ James Page Arrested On Robbery Charge

By Ryan Maquiñana

James Page, who once held the WBA welterweight title, was arrested Monday morning for allegedly robbing eight banks over the past three months in his native San Francisco Bay Area.

According to an FBI statement obtained by the Bay Area News Group, authorities had given Page, from Pittsburg, Calif., the nickname “The Button Down Bandit” for his preference of wearing collared long-sleeve shirts during the heists.

FBI agents arrested the 42-year-old Page without incident at 8:15 a.m. in the 1600 block of 17th Street in Oakland.  Per the statement, Page started the string of robberies on March 6, and was recognized when a police officer from the East Bay city of Oakley was able to identify him from a surveillance photo.

Page was booked on one count of robbery and is being held on $395,000 bail at the Martinez Detention Facility. 

In 2012, Page was released from federal prison after serving an 11-year sentence for robbing a Bank of America in Atlanta in December 2001 following a failed bid to regain his title.  He attempted a comeback in November of last year but was stopped in two rounds by Rahman Yusubov.

Known as “Mighty Quinn,” Page (25-5, 19 KOs) won the vacant WBA 147-pound title in 1998 when he knocked out Andrey Pestryaev in two rounds.  He made three successful defenses, outpointing Jose Luis Lopez and Sam Garr in his first two. 

However, the WBA stripped him after he stopped Freddie Pendleton in 1999, and was himself knocked out by Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis in an effort to recover the vacant title two years later.