Lamon Brewster Reflects, Fond Memories of Sam Simon
By Steve Kim
News spread quickly throughout the entertainment world that Sam Simon - best known for creating and co-producing The Simpsons - succumbed with his three year battle with colon cancer on Monday.
For a spell he was also the manager of a heavyweight champion, Lamon Brewster, who won the vacant WBO title against Wladimir Klitschko in April of 2004 in a memorable battle at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where he stopped Klitschko in five rounds.
Brewster, who was reached by BoxingScene.com in his hometown of Indianapolis had fond memories of Simon.
"Sam was more than just a manager, he was like a family member to me. I felt like I lost somebody very dear to my life and it's a real sad time because it's like I've lost Bill(Slayton) and Sam - they were the two people that really made it possible for me to win the heavyweight title when I defeated Wladimir. I can't tell you just how great of a man Sam was because he went beyond what a manager is to a fighter. He was a very personable person and Sam helped everybody and for me, he went beyond being a manager. He was almost like a father," Brewster told BoxingScene.com.
"He was the guy you called in the middle of the night or he'd call you late in the night. We'd laugh all the time, we'd have serious conversations...he just really helped me to become the fighter that I was and I just can't thank God enough for Sam Simon."
Unfortunately, boxing doesn't have many fairy tale endings. After a few title defenses, Brewster decided to sign with Al Haymon, which meant Simon was soon out of the picture and out of boxing altogether.
When asked about this, Brewster said - ''It wasn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted Sam to work with me. I take the blame because of the way it was done. I live with that regret but at the time I did what I thought was going to be beneficial and I thought he'd be OK with having Al Haymon with his experience and political clout in boxing. He has a lot of pull. It wasn't something Sam necessarily wanted, so he decided not to stay on the team, so to speak."
Brewster says that eventually fences were mended with Simon.
"We patched things up and I kept in touch with him and he would still support me even from afar."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
