Hopkins and an even tougher fighter

You won’t find Shaun Negler’s name in the FightFax database, the official record-keeping service of professional boxing. There are no tapes of any of his memorable wins or stories of epic triumphs left behind. That’s because they don’t exist. He was robbed of a career in the sport he loved. But none other than Bernard Hopkins, one of the greatest fighters of this or any generation, will tell you that he hasn’t met a tougher, or more courageous, fighter than Shaun Negler. The improbable friendship between the long-time middleweight champion and the 18-year-old who worshipped him officially ended at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, 2008, when Negler could fight no more and succumbed to a 2½ year battle with cancer http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ki-negler110208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns