Legendary heavyweight champion Joe Frazier died earlier this month. Most will remember Joe Frazier for defeating Muhammad Ali in what is referred to by Boxing fans as the "Fight of the Century", the "Thrilla in Manila". Gary Dobry, the owner/operator and head trainer at Pug's Boxing Club @ The School of Hard Knocks in Crystal Lake has other memories of Smokin' Joe. "My old cutman, the gym's old cutman, Lorenzo Meyer, was in Joe's corner for Joe's ill-fated comeback in 1981 against Jumbo Cummings. Lorenzo not only worked corners for pugs you've probably never heard of, but he worked the corner for some of the greats as well, like Frazier and James "Lights-Out" Toney. Lorenzo passed away in 2001. Lorenzo had a tight relationship with legendary trainer Emmanuel Stewart and the Kronk Boxing Gym in Detroit. In fact, a few days before Lorenzo died, he gave me an original Kronk varsity jacket Stewart gave to him as a gift, and pile of old boxing posters he collected throughout his years in the game. He also gave me his prized photograph of him working as the cutman in Joe Frazier's last fight. He loved that photo! He had it scotch-taped to his bedroom mirror. I was so moved by this that, in return, I painted a suite of paintings in Lorenzo's memory which exhibited at the Judy Saslow Gallery in Chicago in 2001 and I dedicated my first novel to Lorenzo, 'Kingdom Come'. 'Who is more important than one who can stop your bleeding?'"
You can read more about Gary Dobry at his websites, www.pugsboxinggym.com and www.onthecanvas.com
'Kingdom Come' is available at amazon.com