13.09.05 – By Tonya Wincey – About late 2003 I got my first chance to watch professional boxing. The fight card featured a young Haitian fighter and a Hispanic fighter. Honestly I didn’t know either of their names at the time but was for some reason intrigued with their match up. The fighters were Daniel Edouard and Miguel Espino.. Just in case you don’t know who these guys are, Miguel since his bout with Daniel participated in Sylvester Stalone and Sugar Ray Leonard’s Contender series. Daniel went on to fight several bouts including an unfortunate lose to Jermaine Taylor on HBO. What has happened to these guys since?
I talked with a friend and learned of a boxing website called boxrec.com that shows records, upcoming fights and stuff like that. So I visited the website and learned that Miguel hasn’t fought since he lost to Peter Manfredo on the Contender. I also learned that Daniel had about 5 fights since beating Miguel. The same friend told me of the tremendous bout that Daniel had with Willie Gibbs. He also had a tape of the fight and let me view it. You’ve got to have a shining steel pair to fight like that but it made me an even bigger fan of Edouard and Gibbs too for that matter.
I have been really getting into boxing but find myself longing for action sometimes. Guys prance around and hold each other instead of putting it on the line. Yeah, yeah I know there is a lot to boxing such as footwork, hand speed, slipping punches, stamina, etc. But what I don’t see a lot of are warriors. My friend has a really good boxing library, at least by my standards, and has been turning me on to Ali, Frazier, Norton, Leonard, Tyson, Holyfield and many others. It seems to me that those guys really put it on the line. Oh, and Gatti/Ward trilogy was amazing. Edouard reminds me of those guys. Not a lot of flash. Not a lot of words but a lot of action.
But where the hell is he?
So, in my quest for blood and guts I found UFC. It reminds me of early boxing. You’ve got to kill those guys to get them out of there. So from a little Florida girls perspective, boxers please get back to what made even a girl like my little old self pay attention to the sport: the guts. If you do I promise I will never leave you. This article isn’t necessarily about the Haitian Sensation rather guys like him.
I know this may not be the typical posting but it is from the heart.