Posts Tagged ‘boxing’

Most of of the bands I’ve been a part of were made up of some pretty cool dudes. To this day, I keep in touch with a lot of the guys from back west, and consider them good friends.

But as with any situation, there is always going to be an asshole.

If you are reading this and are a dude…don’t ever be THAT guy.

Nigerian Coat of Arms

I did a mini tour with a guy by the name of Victor Essiet. And he would prove to be one of the biggest punk-asses I ever knew.

Victor was really big in Nigeria. His band was called Victor Essiet and the Mandators, and they had a pretty good run as a reggae/world beat band for a while.

We were doing a little tour of Texas and we all basically were crammed in to one van.  It was myself, three other guys from San Diego, Victor and his girlfriend who he just had to bring along. (yeah, I know)

I think we were in Dallas, but for the first couple of days, Victor and his girlfriend would have these little argument skirmishes here and there.  It was annoying, but we dealt with it.  After all, we were there to get paid and go home.

We were in Dallas, parked at a gas station, and I was half asleep. Of course, Victor and his girlfriend started arguing again, which was getting commonplace now.

But something startled me, and was not typical of their other arguments.

I was half sleeping in the back seat when I hear the sound of a wet brick hitting a slab of meat… CRACKAP!

…oh snap,  someone just got punched in the head.  I know that sound all too well.

I woke up to see him punch her in the face and then he dragged her out of the car.

So we, the band, surrounded him and gave him little talking to, which was basically…

“If you hit her again, we are hitting you, taking your van, as well as your girlfriend and leaving YOU here…in Texas.”

It’s amazing what a little coaxing will do.

Jamaicans are natural fighters. They have been fighting the colonial powers on that little island for a very long time. They are a tough people and fighting is in their blood.

So, it should come as no surprise that some world class boxers have come from  Jamaica, or as they call it, “The Yard”.

One of the most well known is Donovan “Razor” Ruddock.

Razor Ruddock fought Mike Tyson twice and took Tyson the full 12 rounds in the second fight. I remember Ruddock’s evil half-uppercut half-jab called the “Smash”.

Tyson said he had never been hit harder in his life and said ( insert Tyson voice here ) “He punches like a f$#@ng mule kick!”

Another great jamaican fighter was Mike “The Bodysnatcher” McCallum.

What a great name.

The Bodysnatcher would pummel you to the body mercilessly, leaving you in a puddle of your own bile and piss.

… okay I made that part up, but he sure was a force to be reckoned with.

Mike McCallum retired with a record of 49-5-1 (36 knockouts), and was also inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.

Some other Jamaican fighters of note:

• Trevor Berbick
• Simon Brown
• Uriah Grant
• Alex Stewart
• Glen Johnson
• Keith Mullings
• Alex Stewart

I’m sure there are many more I’ve missed.

Just as a side note I’m not Jamaican but I did have an amateur boxing background.  I used to train out of Irish Spud Murphy’s in San Diego California. I was quite serious for a time there.

Now, I am just a lover.