Boxer, 26 years in jail, wins first pro fight

IT reads like a fairy tale, but Dewey Bozella's story is a classic account of patience and perseverance coming good.According to a report by the Associated Press, Bozella, who spent 26 years in a United States (U.S.) jail for a murder he did not commit, made his pro boxing debut a successful one at the weekend by beating Larry Hopkins in a cruiserweight fight in Los Angeles.The 52-year old Bozella won the four-round bout by a unanimous decision despite giving away 22 years in age to Hopkins, who was competing in his fourth professional fight. Bozella, who spoke after the bout at the Staples Centre, described the victory as 'the greatest moment of my life.'The fight was on the undercard of the Night Of Greybeards with 46-year old world champion, Bernard Hopkins, against Chad Dawson for Hopkins' WBC light heavyweight title, the main event. Bozella, who trained with Hopkins leading up to the fight, said: 'I would like to thank everyone for everything they have done for me.'Bozella did some boxing as an amateur but his professional ambitions were crushed when he was wrongly convicted for murder. He was sentenced to 20 years in New York's infamous Sing Sing prison after being wrongly convicted in 1983 of breaking into the house in 1977 of a 92-year old woman and killing her.
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