The GIF explanation: It is infamous in live televised boxing history. An ESPN bout supporting charity in November of 2001 between Richard Grant and James Butler is scored in favour of Grant. No one sees it coming when Butler approaches Grant. Grant thinks his opponent comes to pay his respect out of sportsmanship and moves in for a hug. Butler surprises him with a stunning, gloveless sucker-punch in the mouth that completely incapacitates Grant, who is aided to the canvas, bleeding with a lacerated tongue which required 26 stitches, and a broken jaw.
Chaos ensues. An arrest is made. The event became only the second-most notorious in the nightmarish life of James Butler. Butler would go on to be arrested again in 2004. After living supposedly as an unmedicated bipolar sufferer, he apparently snapped, murdering his friend, 29-year-old Sam Kellerman, older brother of radio host and boxing commentator Max Kellerman. The story goes that Butler, troubled since childhood, felt the medication he should've been on, in his mind, had prevented him from earning a living as a fighter when he'd tried it. Now, he is in prison for murder, possibly as a result of treatable mental illness.
I don't know if that is true, of course, that he was mentally ill and/or that trying to live without medication was the cause of his murdering his friend, but if you or someone you know is trying to live with severe mental illness, free of medication, maybe that choice is worth some reconsideration. Maybe this horrendous tale of James Butler's life and Sam Kellerman's death can serve as a lesson in that regard.
Take care of yourselves and work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Lennox Lewis' Debut - A Jab Knockout: GIF Spotlight
Andre Ward's Jolting Power Jab: GIF Spotlight
Hard Time Corner Blues: Volume 2: Stacey McKinley On Wladimir Klitschko
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