I should be sitting here writing about Carl Froch’s career best performance in Nottingham on Saturday night. I should be writing about how ‘The Cobra’ yet again threw the form book and the bookies’ odds out the window as he dominated the previously unbeaten IBF Super Middleweight Champion Lucian Bute, before stopping him in five brutal rounds. I could even be writing about Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, and the ease in which he stepped up in class against an unbeaten Mexican. But I’m not. And do you know why? Because sometimes it is just too damn hard being boxing fan. Actually, scrap that. Sometimes it is too damn emotional being a boxing fan. Not only do we have to put up with dubious hometown decisions and the collapse of super-fights on a monthly basis, but we also have to come to terms with tragedies that seem to engulf our beloved sport all too often.
Terry Spinks, Joe Frazier, Henry Cooper and Gary Mason are just some of the names who are sadly no longer with us. While the families and close friends of those involved have undoubtedly been hit hardest by these deaths, we followers of the noble art also become emotionally attached to our favourite pugilists. We may not know them directly; perhaps we have never even seen them in the flesh, but an unbreakable bond has been formed between boxer and fan alike, a bond built on respect.
As I awoke this morning, however, I read the news that Johnny Tapia had been found dead at this home in Albuquerque, New Mexico by his wife Teresa. He was aged just 45. The unbreakable bond had been shattered once more. This, unfortunately, came at no real surprise to Tapia’s adoring fans. In fact, Tapia had actually been pronounced dead on four different occasions. In a life which consisted of the murder of both of his parents, addiction to narcotics, five world championships in three weight divisions, and the odd suicide attempt, Tapia will go down in folklore as one of the most exciting, if not troubled, boxers of his generation.
While that story may not have shocked us fans to the core, the news which came just a few hours ago did send a sickening shiver down my spine. It was the news that Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams had been severely injured in a motorcycle accident just outside of Atlanta. As the news broke, Williams’ manager George Peterson told one boxing website that the Punisher will have emergency surgery on Wednesday to stable the upper half of his spine. At this early stage, however, it looks as though Williams will be permanently paralysed from the waist down. The South Carolina resident, who has amassed a record of 41-2, has seen his hopes of fighting Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez dashed. But more importantly, a healthy 30 year old may now never walk again.
As fans, all we can do is wish Paul Williams a speedy recovery, and pray that the miracle that is modern-day medicine will one day allow the Punisher to walk again.
Sometimes it is too damn emotional being a boxing fan.
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