Mike Tyson is not remotely close to being the most tragic figure in Sports.
Mike is alive, well, financially comfortable, and seems happy.
That is more than Salvador Sanchez, who died at 23, or Ezzard Charles, or Matthew Saud Muhammad, who both died penniless and paralyzed with ALS, spending their last years of life suffering…
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Mike Tyson never fulfilled the gigantic promise he had as a young fighter. But he is hale, hearty, financially comfortable, and happy.
That is more than Ezzard Charles had.
Ezzard Charles have it rough from he who flung the chunk.
Ezzard Mack Charles, known as the Cincinnati Cobra was born July 7, 1921 in Lawrenceville, Georgia. His early youth was tumultuous, and perhaps a sign of things to come.
William Dettloff’s outstanding book on Charles, titled Ezzard Charles: A Boxing Life was the first attempt to explain the Cincinnati Cobra, and show where he came from.
Ezzard Charles came from such a dirt poor family that they were unable to pay for his birth, and in return for his services, the Doctor’s name was given the baby. It was all his parents had to offer.
Ezzard’s father, an itinerant laborer, left the family when he was five, not to reappear until his son became a famous boxer twenty plus years later. (Surprise, he wanted money)
His Mother disappeared from his life as well, and at 7, Ezzard was sent to live with his grandmother and great-grandmother in a falling down house in the very worst and poorest part of Cincinnati.
Dettloff says that Ezzard Charles was a timid and shy youngster, picked on by school bullies, and the shy quiet Charles, to survive, became a locally celebrated street fighter, participating in brutal backyard boxing matches from the age of eight as he stood up to the local bullies. Ezzard Charles was known as a quiet and decent Christian youth, yet increasingly feared for his incredible fighting ability.
Dietloff recounts that even then, Charles was a truly humble and decent kid, a ferocious fighter because life forced him to be, but he would say in later years:
“I wish I had never had to hurt anybody. I hated it, in the ring and out, but I wanted my Grandma to have a better life, and yes, me too.”
If not the greatest of all time among boxers, Charles is surely among the top three or four…
Ezzard Charles was very clearly one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. Certainly virtually all human experts rate him the best light heavyweight who ever lived, and a number, rate him as the best pound for pound fighter ever.
In the words of William Dettloff, taken from his great book, Ezzard Charles: A Boxing Life:
“Ezzard Charles was a marvellous pugilist who wreaked havoc in the ring”
But starting in the early to mid 1950’s, Charles began to lose feeling in his fingers, and then began to lose his marvelous reflexes.
It just got worse with time.
Finally, in 1968, Charles was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease left him completely disabled. A fund raiser was held to assist Charles and many of his former opponents spoke on his behalf. Rocky Marciano, who had become a close friend, called Charles the bravest man he ever fought. The former boxer spent his final days in a nursing home, despite wanting to die at home, because his wife could no longer care for him.
Now that is tragedy.
Or Salvador Sanchez…
Salvador Sanchez, one of the most haunting “What Might Have Been” stories in sports history…
To the best of my knowledge, Salvador Sanchez is the only member of the Hall of Fame whose career ended at 23.
Like almost all great fighters, Sanchez came from poverty.
Sanchez was one of 11 children born into a poor family in the small Mexican city of Santiago Tianguistenco on January 26, 1959.
The family was dirt poor, literally struggling to get food to eat.
Boxing writer Jack Slack said it best:
“The potential of Salvador Sanchez might be boxing's most maddening and tragic enigma.”
Three weeks after the car crash that took his life, Sanchez was due to meet #1 contender Juan La Porte in a rematch for the title. It is hard to see the solid La Porte beating his close-friend, the great Sanchez. After that, Salvador was planning on moving up to Super-featherweight and challenging Bazooka Limon.
44–1–1 at the time of his death, Sanchez’s only defeat had come when weight drained from making bantamweight, he lost by split decision to Antonio Becerra when he was just 18 and still learning the fight game. Sanchez never lost again, and generations of fight fans have grown up wondering “what if” he had lived, and moved up to face such luminaries as Julio Chavez, who was 3 years younger, but would have been rising when Sanchez was active in his division, had he lived.
The Associated Press named Sanchez the third greatest featherweight of the 20th century in 1999.
Monte Cox sums up Sanchez’s place in boxing history:
“Sanchez easily rates among the top 10 Featherweights of all time and is arguably among the top 3.”
Now having your head cut off in a car accident at 23 when you are on the brink of super-stardom, that is tragedy.
Or Matthew Saud Muhammad?
Matthew Saud Muhammad, who was born as Maxwell Antonio Loach on June 16, 1954, was a professional boxer and trainer who life was a series of tragedies, but who nonetheless never gave in to despair.
The tragedy of his life and childhood is only matched or bettered by the suffering of Sonny Liston, yet it never changed the smile with which he greeted the world.
Matthew Saad Muhammad's mother died shortly after he was born, and he and his elder brother were sent to live with an aunt. Unfortunately, when he was five years old, his aunt decided she did not have the money to raise both he and his brother, so she told the older brother to get rid of Matthew.
His brother took Matthew to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, and left him there while he ran away. In 2014, shortly before his death, he remembered that day:
“They (My brother) took me out in the city, where I wouldn't know where I was or how to find my way home, and ran away from me, I tried to run after him. I ran as fast as I could. I was 5 years old and I was running for my life."
Hall of Fame boxer Matthew Saad Muhammad dies at 59
Saad Muhammad was discovered wandering around, and since he could not tell the police where he lived, he was turned over to Catholic Social Services.
Catholic social services was run by nuns, who gave him the name Matthew Franklin, after Saint Matthew and the Franklin Parkway where he was abandoned. Matthew lived in various foster homes, until a couple from Philadelphia adopted him.
Matthew was happy with his new family, but being abandoned and what he had endured bothered him his entire life. He yearned to know who he was, where he was from, and why he had been abandoned.
Asked by a reporter about his upbringing, Saud Muhammad said:
“They just didn't have enough money to take care of me, so they got rid of me,"
When he became famous, Saud Muhammad offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could tell him who he really was. Through tips, he was finally able to discover the truth, sadly, he discovered that his Aunt was only interested in the $10,000, not him. Nonetheless, Saud Muhammad said:
“I’m still in shock. I had almost given up hope. I’d always wondered, where’d I come from? I just wanted to know. Now, at last, I don’t have to search anymore.”
After all that, Matthew discovered his relatives only wanted money from him.
Like so many former athletes, Saud Muhammad fell victim to drinking and substance abuse. In July 2010, Saad Muhammad was homeless and living in a homeless shelter in Philadelphia. Once again Saud Muhammad overcame tragedy and by the next year was living independently thanks to the help of Kevin Roberts, the editor of One Step Away, a newspaper that covers homelessness issues.
Matthew later became involved in charity work in the Philadelphia area, some of which focused on raising money for the homeless.
But life had one last mean trick to play on Matthew Saud Muhammad…
But fate was not done with Saud Muhammad. Like Ezzard Charles, he had been experiencing numbness in his extremities, and he developed ALS. Though he fought as hard as he could, he died at a hospital in Philadelphia on May 25, 2014 from complications of ALS.
Matthew Saad Muhammad, Boxing Champion, Is Dead (Published 2014)
When Saud Muhammad died, he didn’t have enough money to pay for his funeral, let alone a headstone. The Muslim community in Philadelphia buried him, and then friends like Philly boxing historian John DiSanto, founder and editor of Home - PHILLY BOXING HISTORY. quietly raised money for a headstone.
Now that is tragedy…
I could go on, Marcel Cerdan dying in a plane crash, the Rock dying 3 months before he was planning to tour the US with Ali to promote harmony, Sonny Liston hitched to a plow as a child, and horribly treated his whole life…but these three, Charles, Sanchez, and Saud Muhammad, are particularly heart wrenching…
CREDIT TO:
Boxrec for all records and statistics
Ezzard Charles: A Boxing Life by William Dettloff for facts and quotes
Matthew Saad Muhammad, a Philly warrior, gets his gravestone
Matthew Saad Muhammad always brought his 'A' game - The Ring
Matthew Saad Muhammad, Boxing Champion, Is Dead (Published 2014)
The Tragic Enigma of Salvador Sanchez
The Sweet Science by A. J. Liebling
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