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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Memories.
If you make a living writing Hallmark cards or adult contemporary hits, they’re a staple of your business. But if you’re an athlete – particularly a baseball relief pitcher or an ice hockey goalie – they’re not quite as helpful.
If you’re a boxer, it’s even less.
Case in point… Michael Grant.
If you’re a fan of the sport, chances are your No. 1 memory of Grant involves the stallion-like 27-year-old version looking as if he’d been put down – literally – courtesy of a Lennox Lewis barrage in round two of their April 2000 title fight at Madison Square Garden.
It was equally ugly 15 months later, when a lame ankle left him on the short end of a one-round TKO against Jameel McCline at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
To most, in fact, the 15 wins in 16 fights since have been forgettable.
Yet Grant presses on, downing the likes of Billy Zumbrun, Kevin Montiy, Demetrice King, Paul Marinaccio and Kevin Burnett in his last five fights and getting little closer to the respect that’s escaped him since the cataclysms of a decade ago.
Now, at 38… he’s got another shot.
Though considered little more than a familiar name and carcass for surging Tomasz Adamek’s pre-heavyweight title resume, Grant and trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad are singing a cheerier tune as they approach Saturday’s match at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. [Click Here To Read More]
If you make a living writing Hallmark cards or adult contemporary hits, they’re a staple of your business. But if you’re an athlete – particularly a baseball relief pitcher or an ice hockey goalie – they’re not quite as helpful.
If you’re a boxer, it’s even less.
Case in point… Michael Grant.
If you’re a fan of the sport, chances are your No. 1 memory of Grant involves the stallion-like 27-year-old version looking as if he’d been put down – literally – courtesy of a Lennox Lewis barrage in round two of their April 2000 title fight at Madison Square Garden.
It was equally ugly 15 months later, when a lame ankle left him on the short end of a one-round TKO against Jameel McCline at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
To most, in fact, the 15 wins in 16 fights since have been forgettable.
Yet Grant presses on, downing the likes of Billy Zumbrun, Kevin Montiy, Demetrice King, Paul Marinaccio and Kevin Burnett in his last five fights and getting little closer to the respect that’s escaped him since the cataclysms of a decade ago.
Now, at 38… he’s got another shot.
Though considered little more than a familiar name and carcass for surging Tomasz Adamek’s pre-heavyweight title resume, Grant and trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad are singing a cheerier tune as they approach Saturday’s match at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. [Click Here To Read More]
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