Ruben Carter

[butterfly1964]

** Wrong.

He had his case overturned because of legal technicalities. Since he had already served a long time and witnesses had died, the prosecutor's office decided not to retry him since the best they could do would be a conviction for the time already served.

Everyone associated with the case with the exception him believes he murdered those people. He was never found innocent of anything, and probably he ends up back in prison, although he wisely left the country to prevent any minor infractions from retriggering an interest in retrying him.

wow, you must be a racist.

[LondonRingRules]

wow, you must be a racist.

** If the facts make me a racist, than it would follow that you're a dummy. The man was never innocent of anything and he was never really a contender in spite of all that Hollywood baloooney that you ate up like cotton candy. He left the country for a good reason, and that's to cover his rump from future prosecution.

[Kid Achilles]

I agree with you on a lot of what you said, there is no real evidence that Carter was innocent and by most accounts was a real nasty guy not worth knowing, but you're wrong on one account. Carter could fight like hell and was a genuine contender. He was never an all time great, and he was passed his prime when he was imprisoned, but when he was at his peak he was a world class contender.

[smasher]

by most accounts was a real nasty guy not worth knowing

I met him in 1994 and that was my impression...

[Southpaw16]

wow, you must be a racist.

No, what he is saying is true. Don't buy the Hollywood stuff.

[LondonRingRules]

I agree with you on a lot of what you said, there is no real evidence that Carter was innocent and by most accounts was a real nasty guy not worth knowing, but you're wrong on one account. Carter could fight like hell and was a genuine contender. He was never an all time great, and he was passed his prime when he was imprisoned, but when he was at his peak he was a world class contender.

** The man only had 40 fights and ended up 29-12-1 with his last bout at age 29. Someone was beating him. His best bout was a fluke KO over Griffith with three 1st rd KDs with the 3 KD rule in effect. Possibly that vaulted him into the top 10, but since he lost his next bout, not for long. He was dangerous, but a fringe contender at best. That was an era of many dangerous middleweights like Carter, most of whom had better overall records.

[Da Iceman]

read the book hurricane he didnt murder anybody

[FibreOptic]

read the book hurricane he didnt murder anybody

Wasn't that book written by him?

[Da Iceman]

Wasn't that book written by him?

no but they interviewed him for it, its really convincing. great read.

[JackSlack]

Giardello

The movie was nearly sued by the guy he was fighting in that movie where he allegedly was robbed. In reality, The Hurricane was actually beaten in convincing fashion. I need to find that article.

That is a good point, Snoopy.
Joey Giardello sued the producers of the film and was awarded $60,000.
A disclaimer was also put in at the beginning of the film saying that some events were "fictitionalized."
As for the fights itself; I have a copy of it and it was a good and hard fight.
Rubin didn't go at Giardello like he did against Griffith and Fernandez knowing that he couldn't get Joey out of there and it would go the limit.
Carter jumped out to an early lead and was in front after 8 rounds, but then Joey started to come on and hurt him with left hooks to the body.
A very good fight, but the decision was fair.
Carter did look good though, but lost fair and square.
The movie showed Hurricane beating the snot out of the guy on the ropes at the end, but it was Joey doing the punching in the real fight at the conclusion.
The crowd did not boo the decision at all, unlike the riot portrayed in the movie.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Jack