By Jim Cawkwell
Disgraced former super middleweight world champion Dave Hilton, Jr. was released from prison yesterday into a halfway house in Montreal after serving five years of a seven-and-a-half year sentence. Hilton was incarcerated in May 2001 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting his two daughters over a three-year period.
Of the infamous “Fighting Hilton Family” of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Hilton, Jr. faces a series of restrictions that he must adhere to in order to avoid parole violation and re-imprisonment:
He is to have no contact with his daughters, Jeannie and Anne-Marie; he must stay in the halfway house until 2009; abstain from intoxicants (drugs and alcohol); not be in the presence of females under eighteen unless in the presence of a responsible adult, and participate in a program designed for sex offenders in denial of their crimes.
Hilton’s daughters from his relationship with Anna-Maria Gatti (sister of Arturo), have written a book detailing their father’s abuse of them which is due for release later this year.
Meanwhile, in his first moments of freedom, Hilton, Jr. made his way to his father’s boxing gym where he was reunited with family and interviewed by several Canadian media sources.
Speaking to CTV, Hilton, Jr. maintained his innocence, saying that the crime of molestation he was charged with was, “something I would never do.”
Attempting to bolster his claims by saying that he refused to go along with a plea bargain that would have seen him jailed for just two years. Hilton, Jr. also stated that he paid a high price for maintaining his innocence by losing his title, his money, and his name.
Furthermore, Hilton, Jr. asked viewers, “imagine for a second it’s not true. If it’s not true, how do you think I feel?” Only Hilton, Jr. and his daughters know the truth of an issue that will never rest between the estranged relatives.
It is another disturbing chapter in the already notorious history of the Hilton Family whose barroom fights and brushes with the law have come to overshadow their accomplishments in boxing.
Aged forty-two, Dave Hilton, Jr. is unlikely to be able to salvage any credibility for the Fighting Hilton’s through anything he does in a boxing ring, but he has stated that he intends to resume his career, and whether he has the right to do so, being a convicted sex offender, is a hot topic in Montreal.
Current star promoters GYM and Interbox have denied the slightest possibility that their future promotional ventures will feature Hilton, Jr’s return, but veteran promoter Regis Levesque, a promoter of a number of Hilton, Jr’s past bouts, has stated that he would not only stage the fighter’s comeback, but that the scandal would not harm the fighter’s drawing power.
Levesque is well known for attempting to stage outrageous spectacles that succeed in persuading the public’s curiosity rather than possessing legitimate sporting appeal.
In the 1980’s, Levesque tried to stage a fight featuring a forty-one-year-old, and severely ring-worn Joe Frazier. In years past, Levesque has even gone as far as to try to entice Arturo Gatti into a match with ex-brother-in-law, Hilton, Jr.
Hilton’s right or lack thereof, to earn a living after serving time for his conviction will remain as a source for gossip in Montreal, but also an unwanted distraction from the current flow of talented fighters making their way through the professional ranks and on to the world stage.
The development of such promising young fighters is the focus of GYM and Interbox, and will hopefully remain as a consistent and positive source of Montreal boxing news to combat the Hilton, Jr. controversy.
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