Sunday, October 16, 2011

52-year-old Exonerated Inmate Wins First, Last Pro Bout

The Ring (h/t mom):
Dewey Bozella, who was released from prison in 2009 after serving 26 years of a wrongful conviction, has won his pro boxing debut by beating Larry Hopkins by unanimous decision in a cruiserweight bout on Saturday night at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The 52-year-old Bozella, who received a call of support from President Barack Obama on Thursday, passed a physical administered by the California State Athletic Commission on Sept. 29 allowing him to face the 30-year-old Hopkins (0-4) of Houston.
The victory satisfied Bozella's dream of fighting as a professional boxer on the undercard of the light heavyweight bout between RING and WBC titleholder Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson on HBO Pay Per View.
During his post-fight, in-the-ring interview with HBO's Max Kellerman, Bozella was asked what his next fight would be.
"My next fight is to work with kids. The Dewey Bozella Foundation. That's what I'm trying to get started," said Bozella. "To work with kids and to keep them off of the streets and to let them know that through boxing, they can turn their lives around. That's what this was all about."....
In 1983, at the age of 23, Bozella was convicted for the murder of an elderly woman in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and given a sentence of 20 years to life, of which he served 26 years before being exonerated in 2009 by new evidence. While incarcerated, Bozella became the prison's light heavyweight champion.
On July 13, 2011, Bozella's life was chronicled in ESPN's annual ESPY Award show in the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, where he was honored as the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
It is nice to have a feel-good story like this sometimes, and it is really nice for boxing to have one. 

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