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By Thomas Gerbasi - In one sentence, Frank Galarza captures precisely why most of us cover the sport of boxing.
“We all have a story, a reason why we fight and do what we do,” he said. “It’s more than us beating on each other.”
It’s a lot more than that, yet while everyone has a story, some are more compelling than others. Galarza’s fits that description, and not just because he came up the hard way, but because he shouldn’t even be here at all. Sure, he might be alive if lady luck looked favorably in his direction, but if not for boxing, his life might have been one for the police blotter, not the sports pages.
“Absolutely boxing saved me,” said the junior middleweight prospect, who puts his undefeated record on the line tonight in a ShoBox-televised bout against fellow unbeaten Sebastien Bouchard. “It made a major impact in my life. I’ve accomplished so much in boxing now and it’s opened so many doors for me that I can definitely say that boxing has saved my life.”
Galarza’s life before boxing in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn has been well-documented, with his tales of street life as common as any we’ve seen in the sport. He may even been doomed by birth for such a life, with his parents both getting caught up in the drug scene early in his life. By seven, Galarza lost his father – a former boxer - to complications from a gunshot wound. Two years later, his mother passed from a drug overdose. It’s here when you expect to hear of the fall before the rise of Frank Galarza, but it didn’t quite go like that. [Click Here To Read More]
“We all have a story, a reason why we fight and do what we do,” he said. “It’s more than us beating on each other.”
It’s a lot more than that, yet while everyone has a story, some are more compelling than others. Galarza’s fits that description, and not just because he came up the hard way, but because he shouldn’t even be here at all. Sure, he might be alive if lady luck looked favorably in his direction, but if not for boxing, his life might have been one for the police blotter, not the sports pages.
“Absolutely boxing saved me,” said the junior middleweight prospect, who puts his undefeated record on the line tonight in a ShoBox-televised bout against fellow unbeaten Sebastien Bouchard. “It made a major impact in my life. I’ve accomplished so much in boxing now and it’s opened so many doors for me that I can definitely say that boxing has saved my life.”
Galarza’s life before boxing in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn has been well-documented, with his tales of street life as common as any we’ve seen in the sport. He may even been doomed by birth for such a life, with his parents both getting caught up in the drug scene early in his life. By seven, Galarza lost his father – a former boxer - to complications from a gunshot wound. Two years later, his mother passed from a drug overdose. It’s here when you expect to hear of the fall before the rise of Frank Galarza, but it didn’t quite go like that. [Click Here To Read More]
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