Just heard this from Neil a few minutes ago: Former world heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was found murdered in his hometown of Kingston, Jamaica on the weekend.Berbick's claim to fame, of course, was that he beat Muhummad Ali in The Greatest's last fight in 1981. Fighting out of Canada, he also briefly held a heavyweight title before losing to Mike Tyson in '86. He had, even by boxing's bizarro standards, a pretty turbulent life away from the ring, serving time for sexual assault; he had been living in Jamaica after being deported.
When I was an intern at the Halifax Herald a few years ago, a sportswriter there played a tape from an interview he did with Berbick when he was covering one of the champ's court proceedings. The champ asserted that he was some sort of apostle or son of God; it was so disjointed and rambling that I seem to have blocked it from my memory. Like I said, bizarro.
Stephen Brunt, the Globe & Mail columnist, is also one of the best boxing writers around (if you haven't read his Facing Ali, you really should). Hopefully he'll be able to put Berbick's life arc in perspective.
Heavyweight champ Trevor Berbick found slain (CTV.ca)
Trevor Berbick Wikipedia page
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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