A 52 year old man named Dewey Bozella is going to make his boxing debut. He was exonerated for murder after 26 years in prison and wants to fulfill his dream of being a professional boxer. He had a troubled childhood and was never given a chance to live his life even tho no physical evidence pointed toward him.
His first boxing bout will be his last. " I want to go out there and give it 100 percent then move on with my life." Bozella says. While in Sing Sing he earned a bachelors or masters degree from mercy college and a masters degree from the New York Theological Seminary while still in prison. While he boxed in prison he claimed the light heavy weight championship. He was saved by the Innocence project. A legal clinic that helps overturn wrongful convictions. He could not find work, then a N.Y. gym in Newburgh picked him to teach boxing. Then ESPN became interested in his story. He then went to ESPY awards and was awarded the Arthur Ashe courage award. He is believed to be the oldest licensed boxer to box in California. He failed the first test then after training under Bernard Hopkins trainers he lost 10 pounds and then passed the test.
He says " No one is giving me anything for free. I can go out there and get knocked out, or I can knock the other guy out. it's that simple. I think that with the determination he used to train for this bout if he wanted to he could win. Then maybe if he wanted to he could win a world title. He wants to open his own gym for youngsters. The federal government threw out his lawsuit because they said that certain evidence was not given to his lawyers. He says that he would like the justice system to be fair .
This story was extracted from The NY times website.
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