Read on Twitter
It won't be the same when fight gyms and clubs open back up and when clubs and arenas are filled again. 2020 hit everyone hard, but the boxing community, this collection of characters barely an arm’s length away from one another even when countries apart, was hit especially hard.
Boxing fans already dwell on mortality, ever-searching for a balance between temporary and permanent damage. Year after year we mark the passing of fighters and other boxing folks, but that pain is consistent and often predictable. The somber tolling of fight bells is routine.
Last year COVID-19 changed it all. As boxing plans for its 2021 comeback, regaining what it lost this year, remember those COVID-19 took from the boxing community.
[Please DM me to correct errors or if you would like a loved one honored similarly.]
[Please DM me to correct errors or if you would like a loved one honored similarly.]
Jimmy Glenn, 89
Dennis Chavez, 66
Colin Webster, 75
Skender Kurti, 61
Carmen Williamson, 94
Tom O'Shea, 81
Bill Mackie
Ali Salaam, 59
Alexander Nikolaev
Andrew Sumner, 78
Juan Domingo Roldán, 63
Hector Rocha, 83
John Kuebler, 71
Joe Amaya, 54
Miguel Ángel Castellini, 73
Frank Dobales, Sr., 91
Harry Cunningham, 75
Cynthia Saldaña, 43
Ron Ross, 87
Angelo Rottoli, 61
Jim Strickland, 90
Francisco Bonilla Vázquez, 61
Pat Kelly, 85
Eddie Cotton, 72
Joe Cantu Barrientes, Jr., 73
Les Stevens, 69
Robert E. Garcia, Jr., 95
John Pollock, 72
Bernard Pope, 78
Fezile Mabuya, 75
Carlo Mario Ortiz Sánchez, 46
Mike Doran, 66
Francisco Mendez, 61
Nelson Cuevas, 80
Hedgemon Lewis, 74
Canada, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Albania, Ireland, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Italy and the U.S. all lost mentors, coaches, patrons, friends. That's how wide the boxing community reaches. I searched obituaries in languages I don't even speak.
The more of you sharing this, the better. It's difficult to read through and acknowledge. It forces our brains to places they don't want to go, and frankly it should. This is the only way for us to understand what they've sacrificed.
I'll add more in time.
I'll add more in time.
Maurice Walsh
