WelshDevilRob
Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 13405
Location: Cardiff, Wales
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| Posted: August 14 2008, 20:13 PM Post subject: Duane Bobick: More than a Great White Hope |
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Duane Bobick: More than a Great White Hope
By Marc Lichtenfeld
Many fighters who don't live up to lofty expectations become most known for their failures in one or two fights. When that fighter is a white heavyweight who has been tabbed a “Great White Hope,” the fall from grace is even steeper.
That's what heavyweight Duane Bobick has had to live with through most of his adult life.
As a 38-0 contender, with quality wins over Scott LeDoux, Chuck Wepner and Mike Weaver, Bobick took on Ken Norton in a highly anticipated contest.
Bobick, typically a slow starter went right at Ken Norton and was dispatched in under a minute. After such a quick, high profile knockout, Bobick became the butt of jokes across the nation.
But like many boxers, there is more beneath the surface than simply a pug that did not make it to the top. Bobick, who finished his pro career with a more than respectable record of 48-4 (42), was a stellar amateur with a 93-13 (61) record and represented the United States in the 1972 Olympics.
In a recent interview on Through the Ropes, hosted by Marc Lichtenfeld, Bobick discussed how he was greatly impacted by the Palestinian terrorist attack early on the morning that Bobick was scheduled to fight Cuban great Teofilio Stevenson.
Bobick had beaten Stevenson the year before in the Pan Am Games, proving he was much more than a crude brawler. After defeating a top Russian boxer on September 4th, 1972 in his first Olympic bout, Bobick hoped to get a good rest before facing Stevenson later the next day.
However, as a resident of the Olympic village, he could not escape the news that Israeli athletes had been taken hostage and that several had been killed.
"My window faced where the Israelis were staying," Bobick recalled emotionally. "I saw one of the Palestinians push an Israeli to the floor."
Bobick couldn't stop thinking about the terrible situation so he went to the arena five hours early to try to prepare for his bout with Stevenson.
However, he couldn't get his Israeli peers off of his mind. "Mentally, I wasn't there," he said.
Once the bell rang, Bobick not only had to deal with Stevenson, but a banged up eye from the day before. "Even though I beat him a year earlier, it's pretty tough to beat Teofilio Stevenson if you can't see out of one eye," he chuckled.
Stevenson stopped Bobick in the third round.
Five years later, Bobick was a highly touted contender as he entered Madison Square Garden to face Norton. However, Bobick claims the fight was lost about 60 minutes prior to the bell.
"I was left alone in the dressing room for over an hour," he told Through the Ropes. When asked if that led to his coming out aggressively against Norton, rather than feeling his opponent out, as usual, Bobick explained.
"Your mind will do crazy things if you're left alone in that dressing room." His trainers were working with other fighters on the card and inexplicably left Bobick to take care of himself.
Boxing history will likely not be kind to Duane Bobick. His legacy will likely be that of a decent contender who got knocked out the first time he stepped up in class.
But the real students of boxing will remember him as an exciting fighter who at one time was the best amateur heavyweight in the country. And had it not been for a unique set of circumstances, may instead have been remembered as the gold medal winner at the 1972 Olympic games. |
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