Preston Scott Hartzog (born August 9, 1976 Bogalusa, Louisiana died June 21, 2006 Long Beach, California) was a boxer, United States Army veteran, and an actor.^[9][48]

His father was Seymon Saxon Hartzog Jr. and and his mother was Molly (Watson) Hartzog Stagg.

His father preceded him in death.

He had a sister named Anna Beth.

She is married to actor John Goodman. Hartzog was managed by his sister Anna during his boxing career.

Preston Harzog won a silver medal at the Military World Games held in Croatia in 1999. He did this while serving in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. ^[9]

He won the gold medal in the superheavyweight division at the 1997 US Armed Forces Championship held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 1997. ^[10] He also won the silver medal at the 1998 US Armed Forces Championship in the same division.^[39]

He earned the title of 1997-1998 all-Army superheavyweight champion and Four Corners USA Regional Boxing Champion. His non athletic endeavors brought him several army achievement and army commendation medals.^[49]

Hartzog was selected for the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program on Fort Carson in 1999. It is a program which is only available to athletes who have achieved world class status in their sport. Due to his success at the amateur level he decided to turn professional. He competed as a professional boxer between the years of 2001 and 2005. Hartzog had a professional boxing record of 15 wins, one loss and one draw, with 4 knockouts. In his professional debut on June 22, 2001 he scored a tko against Louis Page. He competed at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, Louisiana three times in 2002 and 2003. He scored two victories at the Municipal Auditorium in 2002. He defeated Troy Roberts by decision at the Eccles Convention Center in Ogden, Utah on January 23, 2004.^[30]

Hartzog defeated Wade Lewis at the Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisiana on March 12, 2005.

Lewis had lost to Audley Harrison in 2002. Hartzog then defeated Mika Gergen at Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 22, 2005. He lost a decision to Willie Chapman on August 5, 2005 at the The Orleans in Las Vegas. He was trained by Jesse Reid.

On August 17, 2004 Hartzog competed in a three round unsanctioned boxing exhibition against James Toney.Preston Hartzog vs. James Toney occurred at the Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles; the gym was inducted into the National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016. Floyd Mayweather Jr. made nine million dollars for an exhibition in Japan in 2018.^[15] Toney stopped Evander Holyfield in 2003.Holyfeld won the WBC/WBA/IBF/lineal heavyweight world heavyweight championship in 1990 by beating Buster Douglas and regained the lineal heavyweight world championship in 1993 by defeating Riddick Bowe. Holyfield is one of thirty one lineal heavyweight world champions over the last one hundred years.^[16]

Preston Hartzog won a three round decision against Wesley Correira in a mixed martial arts bout on November 14, 2000 at Superbrawl 19 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[17] Correira has beaten big names like Jason Lambert, Eric Esch, Joe Riggs, Tank Abbott, Justin Eilers, and Travis Wiuff. Hartzog had a draw with Patrick Smith in a professional boxing match in 2004. Correira defeated Tank Abbott at UFC 45 at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut in 2003. A UFC Vintage Wesley Correira signed glove sold for seventy dollars or best offer on the popular website eBay in 2019. Correira was in four Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events from 2002 to 2004.Smith came in second place at UFC 2.

Hartzog lost to Matthew O'Neil by a technical knockout in a USA Boxing sanctioned bout on October 8, 1999. The fight occurred in Colorado Springs, Colorado.^[8] It was the only time Hartzog was stopped in the course of the action in his fighting career. Matthew O'Neil vs. Preston Hartzog was reported on the Internet websites maxboxing.com and newslocker.com ^[3] The bout was covered by reporter John J. Raspanti. Raspanti coauthored the book Intimate Warfare. Raspanti also wrote Blood On My Notebook: Dispatches from the world of Professional Boxing. It was published in 2019 and it is available for sale on Amazon.com in 2020 for $14.99.The Patriot Ledger.

As his Olympic hopes were derailed in 1999 due to a conclusive stoppage loss Hartzog's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics were derailed. However, he did win a silver medal at the Military World Games in Croatia in 1999.^[24] O'Neil was on a February 2020 episode of The Grueling Truth. He was also on AkHi TV in 2020. O'Neil's boxing career was covered by the United Kingdom based company Intuboxing in 2020. O'Neil was on the Fight News Unlimited Combat Sports Show with Rich Bergeron on June 18, 2020 in which he spoke about his bout with Hartzog. Bergeron is a former reporter for the New England based newspaper The Patriot Ledger.

Hartzog was one of Vitali Klitschko's main sparring partners for the Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko professional boxing match on June 21, 2003 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Hartzog was quoted by ESPN leading up to the fight:

Lewis defeated Klitschko by sixth round tko and retained his lineal/World Boxing Council heavyweight world championships. Vitali Klitschko vs. Corrie Sanders was for the vacant World Boxing Council heavyweight world championship on April 24, 2004. Klitschko won the title by eight round technical knockout.^[43][44]

Hartzog later acted in the movies POX and Right Place, Wrong Time. ^[23]

Preston Hartzog died unexpectedly at the age of twenty nine on June 21, 2006 in Long Beach, California. He is buried at Ponemah Cemetary in Bogalusa, Louisiana.^[27]

The following is from Intuboxing in April 2020: