(Video courtesy of YouTube/ESPN)
If you haven’t been following the amazing story of Dewey Bozella, take 12 minutes and get caught up on backstory above and come back and we’ll discuss it.
Okay, now that we’re all up to speed, if you missed it, on October 15 Bozella, who amazingly says he holds no grudge for being incarcerated for nearly 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit even though the police in the case actually buried evidence, made his professional boxing debut on the Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson undercard.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/fbbcvideos)
Bozella, who has maintained his innocence since his arrest, rejecting an Alford plea that would have seen him released on probation a decade ago for admitting he had slain an elderly woman, only had one dream besides being exonerated and that was to compete in at least one professional boxing match before he died. He made that dream a reality against 30-year-old cruiserweight Larry Hopkins at Staples Center.
Bozella won the bout by unanimous decision after an outmatched Hopkins repeatedly spit out his mouthguard in an effort to have the referee disqualify him. Instead, the official made Hopkins gut out the fight and take his punishment like a man rather than offering him an easy way out of the bout, paralleling Bozella’s path the past 30 years.
For Bozella, who used boxing as an outlet for his anger and resentment while in prision, the bout represented the culmination of his lifelong fight to prove he wasn’t a killer. Definitely a feel good story of forgiveness,moving forward and not dwelling on the negatives in life for a Monday afternoon.
Dewey’s story makes most of our day-to-day problems seem trivial by comparison.
Bozella won the 2011 ESPN Arthur Ashe Award for Courage in July.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ESPN)