Cotto saddest story in boxing

Bob arum has recently said if cotto wins, then pac may fight him for the JMW title at a catchweight of 150.

 

yawn

 

Great post. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Im a big Cotto fan but theres been sadder stories...
the saddest story in boxing is the one about the little black kid who was discovered by an old white man in catskill new york, he then went onto become the most feared and most destructive fighter ever seen.......

 

ONLY 11 years ago, Howard Clarke was at the top of the boxing world, starring in a world title fight at Madison Square Garden.

Now, after a heartbreaking slide that saw him reduced to a £500-a-night punch bag, he has been told he is dying.
Doctors have confirmed he is in the early stages of frontotemporal dementia, an incurable brain disease, a result of the years of punishment he took in the ring.
He can only walk with the aid of a stick and suffers violent head shakes as he battles the dementia. He has trouble with his speech and memory.
He could have as little as three years to live!
And if that wasn't enough, earlier this month he broke up with Erika, his wife of seven years and is now living in a care home.
Clarke, 42, went to the doctor last March suffering with a sore leg, only for that to spark an investigation that led to his fatal diagnosis.
He has been told the average life expectancy is eight years, but it could be anything between three and 17.
His tragic life is only going to get worse. Eventually he will become unable to go to the toilet or feed himself and require attention around the clock.
'Clakka' had the world in his fists when he shared top billing in New York with Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in March 1999.
Clarke challenged Fernando Vargas for the IBF light-middleweight title, losing in four rounds. The defeat sent his boxing career torpedoing into obscurity.
He won just ONE of 70 subsequent fights travelling up and down Britain's motorways with a bag and corner man, fighting for chump change against prospects at short notice.
Clarke told Sport of the World: "I became a human punch bag and now I am paying the price.
"I can remember the Vargas build-up like it was yesterday - but some days I'll be sitting and cannot even remember if I've eaten earlier that day.
"I should have retired after the Vargas fight, but I was stupid and wanted to fight.
"I would read books about fighters who had been at the top and ended with nothing. I used to think; 'That'll never be me because I'll keep my money and have my marbles'.
"Everything I said would never happen is happening to me.
"Was it worth £500 a night when I look back? No. Boxing used me and I used boxing.
"I am going to die, but I might as well be happy and enjoy what time I have got here."
His ex-wife, Erika, said: "Howard should not have been boxing when I met him and in my heart I think his condition is down to the fight game."
Clarke is delighted to see millions of pounds being made by Britain's world champions Carl Froch, David Haye and Amir Khan, but fears for Ricky Hatton, who makes a comeback in June.
He said "I am amazed Ricky is carrying on. He has won two world titles, but should leave it now.
"If he doesn't get out they could be doing fundraisers for Ricky like the one that was done for me."
Clarke worked as a cabby but is now on skid row after having his driving licence taken from him by medics who deemed him unfit to work.
It's a far cry from the peak of his 15-year professional career when he was mobbed in the West Midlands after beating world-class American star Jason Papillion in July 1998.
That night he headlined a bill in Sheffield alongside Chris Eubank, Carl Thompson and Hatton.
Clarke, who earned a career-best £20,000 when he fought Vargas, recalled: "Old ladies and kids would say 'That is that boxer off the telly', when I walked down the road.
"I couldn't come into Birmingham without being pestered. Some people say they hate being stopped - I loved it.
"I would always walk in a pub, throw money down to buy drinks and even have different hairdos, just to be recognised.
"The money went and so did the friends after the Vargas fight. I would then hear 'There is that bum' when I was out."
After the Vargas defeat, Clarke signed with manager Nobby Nobbs stable which was nicknamed 'Losers Limited,' because it was crammed with journeyman fighters who rarely won.
But he doesn't blame Nobbs. Clarke explained: "I was pestering Nobby for fights but he kept saying, 'It is time to pack up'.
"I was stupid and I guess too greedy. I never thought my career was going to end, but if I could get a licence to fight now, I would. It killed me when I retired because I never got a win in my final fight, in April 2007 against a kid called Brian Wood who would never get to the level I was at."
Clarke feels the British Boxing Board of Control should have taken his licence after his 50th fight, in July 2001, when he was knocked out inside a round by Gary Lockett.
Clarke, quit with a record of 27 wins, 79 losses and two draws.
He had been allowed to box on despite cataracts and smelling of booze when he was examined before fights.
He never attends shows these days and only occasionally watches televised fights.
Clarke, who has five children and is a grandfather, added: "The Board should have stopped me at 50 fights and revoked my licence because I was going nowhere.
"On two occasions I passed the medical before fights, I had been drinking, although I wasn't drunk. I would think 'Am I an idiot?'
"Last June a neurologist said that judging by the size of my cataracts I'd had them for four or five years - but they were never picked up by doctors before a fight. A few times I was called up before the Board because I was losing but they always renewed my licence."
After being told he had FTD, Clarke considered making a boxing comeback on seedy unlicensed shows. His family called promoters and warned them off. The nearest Clarke has got to the ring recently was when he spent hours in his garden shed at the home he shared with Erika in Rowley Regis in the West Midlands. He called it his gym.
He said: "When I used to sit in the gym, I'd look at the pictures and think: 'Why didn't you leave it alone H? You had all that.'
"I had my music, my punch bag and pictures in there. I just sat thinking what might have been."
Friends warned Clarke that he was showing signs of being punch drunk before he retired in April 2007, although that has never been medically diagnosed.
Although Clarke is incredibly upbeat and vows to "live each day as it comes and enjoy it", he now lives at Halesowen's Complete Care Support Centre after leaving the family home.
There's little to remind him of his past and he said: "The break-up is sad, but that is life."
Erika explained: "FTD can affect your personality and mood swings. Sometimes in the day I would say the simplest of things and it just triggers something.
"Howard can get verbally abusive which is quite scary. I am a big girl but look at his muscles.
"Eventually Howard is going to lose all ability to know what is appropriate.
"His speech is already deteriorating, he stammers a lot and you can see him concentrating to think of what he wants to say."



far sadder story boxing is littered with sad stories don't make cotto into one

 

get your facts straight.

 

Innocent until proven guilty is a basic human right in most modern democracies. If you believe the other way around, go move to another country who shares your ideology and worship your god Osama Bin Laden.

 

:rofl just cos u r special...... did i touch a nerve?

 

:good

 

I've seen cotto more a man who's been competing for business these days than someone whose hearts in it.

 

a fighter named lito sisnorio left the philippines without a boxing license and went on to fight in thailand. he needed money for his family and he knew fighting in thailand would earn him more than staying in the philippines. he lost 4 fights in six months. the last two were knockout losses to Pongsangklek Wonjongkam and Chatchai Sasakul. thai promoters who just wanted to pad their fighters' records knew sisnorio was a easy pickings for their fighters.

he died from the injuries he sustained from the fight with sasakul. he was survived by a family that only got their daily sustainance from him.

sisnorio makes cotto's story seem like a fairytale

 

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