Sporting Chance

I never liked Rubin "Hurricane" Carter as a fighter. I remember watching him on Gillette's Friday Night Fights which used to air on the old Channel 5 back in the 1960s when I was a kid. I hated Carter for knocking out Emile Griffith, one of my all-time favorites, in a single round in 1963 and cheered when he was floored thrice in losing a lopsided decision to Dick Tiger two years later.

When Carter was sentenced to three life terms for supposedly murdering three bar patrons in New Jersey in 1967, I had no sympathy for the former middleweight contender. I figured he deserved the conviction.

Then, in 1978, I bought a paperback in a store called "Jim's Counter" in Escolta, near where my father used to work in the FGU building. "Jim's Counter" was where my father bought my comic books and magazines on basketball, boxing, and wrestling.

The paperback was entitled "The 16th Round: From No. 1 Contender to No. 45472." It was written by Carter who detailed the facts of his railroad conviction. The book became the rallying point of a crusade to reopen Carter's trial. Muhammad Ali, Burt Reynolds, Johnny Cash, Earl Monroe, and Hank Aaron were among the celebrities who put up The Hurricane Trust Fund to finance the campaign to free Carter. Bob Dylan even wrote a song as a tribute to Carter.

Eventually, Carter went back to court but his appeals were rejected twice. It was almost a hopeless case.

I couldn't believe that Carter wrote the book because it was well-written. I didn't think he had the talent and mental capacity to do it. The powerful book cried out for justice and was a manifesto against racial prejudice. My heart sank for Carter.

Someone else bought Carter's book and it changed black Brooklyn teenager Lesra Martin's life. In 1980, Martin was 16 when he paid 25 cents for Carter's book, buried in a bargain bin in a Toronto store. He read the book and it moved him to write Carter, languishing in prison.

Martin lived with eight white Canadians in Toronto. He was adopted by the Canadians who made it their mission to try to educate the illiterate black kid. Martin influenced three of the eight Canadians to champion Carter's cause. They unearthed new evidence to prove Carter's innocence and worked with volunteer lawyers for his freedom.

In 1985, U.S. District Court judge Lee Sarokin ordered Carter's release. But it wasn't until 1988 that his indictment was finally dismissed.

If you haven't read "The 16th Round" and the book "Lazarus and the Hurricane" (which chronicles Martin's crusade), then you've got to see "The Hurricane," the movie on Carter's life starring Denzel Washington. If you've read the books, go see the movie anyway because Washington does an excellent acting job and Carter's story is visually moving.

The film is a mix of fact and fiction. Call it dramatic license. Obviously, the producers needed to spice up the story for effect. The problem is some people's toes were stepped on in the process -- like former world middleweight champion Joey Giardello who has sued the producers for portraying him as an undeserving winner in a fight against Carter.

There are only three fight sequences in the movie -- Carter against Griffith, Joey Cooper and Giardello.

The movie made it appear that Carter was robbed of a decision by Giardello in their 1964 title fight despite the unanimous verdict. The scorecards read 72-66, 71-66, and 70-67.

The Ring Magazine (March 1965) saw Carter the winner, 68-64 but in its history book "Boxing: The 20th Century," justified Giardello's victory in this report on the fight.

"Giardello capitalized on his huge advantage in experience -- it was his 127th pro bout and Carter's 25th -- by staying off the ropes and constantly turning Carter. By the middle rounds, the challenger began to tire. Giardello hurt him with hooks in the 13th, 14th and 15th rounds and was awarded a unanimous verdict."

Carter was quoted in The Ring as admitting he coasted in the homestretch because he thought he was way ahead on points. Shades of Oscar de la Hoya versus Felix Trinidad.

But in the movie, Carter was shown almost decapitating Giardello in the final round.

Carter was also depicted as the next world champion when he was convicted. The fact is he was on the way down. He won only once in his last five fights before imprisonment.

One of the three Canadians, Lisa Peters (portrayed by Deborah Unger), became romantically involved with Carter. That wasn't the case in the movie although there was a slight hint when their hands met during a prison visit. In real life, Carter and Lisa got married after he was released.

Today, Carter lives in a 10-acre farm outside of Toronto. He's still married to Lisa but last year, began a relationship with 27-year-old Teresa Brabham whom he now considers his "spiritual wife, my heavenly angel." Martin grew up to become a prosecutor in British Columbia. And Carter, now 62, makes a good living as an inspirational speaker in the campus circuit, talking about his ordeal.

For six years after his release, Carter lived with his Canadian benefactors in their Toronto commune. But he eventually left them, protesting he was made their "trophy horse." Carter said, "I loved those people. They committed to me when no one else would. I owed them a big debt. And when I repaid it, I left."

Despite the fiction and the deliberate submergence of facts, "The Hurricane" is highly recommended whether you're a sports fan or not, whether you like Carter or not.

In 1993, the World Boxing Council awarded Carter an honorary title belt in another classic Jose Sulaiman PR gimmick. "I was positive I would be set free" he said during the awarding ceremonies in Las Vegas. "Even after I was convicted. But that dream left me when I woke up one morning and was blind in my left eye. It came from an infection and it was the lack of simple medical attention in prison. I realized I would never box again, never be champion but now I was fighting for my life."

Carter's blindness was another fact that was ignored in "The Hurricane."