If you know me, then you know that i'm a HUGE boxing fan...This is partially due to getting interested in the sport when I was probably 5 or 6 years old by watching my cousin Billy fight on TV. 25 years ago, he fought in a fight that would change the sport of boxing forever.
He fought a guy named Louis Resto (trainer was Panama Lewis) at Madison Square Garden for 10 rounds. All of this time it has been known that Resto's trainer, Panama Lewis had removed the padding from his gloves and he was actually hitting Billy with his bare hands.
Yesterday, we learned in a press conference given by Resto that the tape that was used to tape his hands up before the fight was dipped in plaster of paris,creating a solid cast around his hands. During the fight between rounds, Billy was saying that it felt like he was getting hit with bricks...well...this give some explanation to his statements. After 10 rounds of this brutal and criminal beating, I just want to highlight that Billy was never knocked down.
Sadly, Billy suffered permenant eye damage which prevented him from getting his boxing license to fight or maintain a job anywhere. Falling into a deep depression, he began drinking and was killed in a car accident soon after the fight.
With knowledge of this, Billy's widow Annie is petitioning the courts to reopen the case.
Read stories about it here and here.