Posted on 03/31/2004 5:16:45 PM PST by mylife
Boxer quits after opponent dies
'I feel like if I never got in the ring, it never would have happened'
By Jessica Guenzel JOURNAL REPORTER Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Earl Ladson is thinking of hanging up his gloves. (Journal Photo by Ted Richardson) Earl Ladson, a professional boxer from Winston-Salem, says he is hanging up his gloves after an opponent whom he knocked out in a fight Saturday died.
During a heavyweight match with David Rickman in Savannah, Ga., Ladson delivered several punches to Rickman's head, knocking him to the canvas in the fourth round.
Rickman, of Fernandina Beach, Fla., never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead Monday morning at Memorial Health University Medical Center, said Sarah Smith, the deputy coroner of Chatham County, Ga.
"I hate what happened," Ladson, 30, said last night as he stood inside the boxing room at the 14th Street Recreation Center in Winston-Salem. "I feel like if I never got in the ring, it never would have happened."
Ladson and his coach, Whit Lowery, had been working on combinations of short punches before Saturday's match, Lowery said. Using those moves, Ladson unleashed a solid left-right to Rickman's head as Rickman slightly lowered his hands.
Rickman dropped backward onto the canvas where he lay motionless, bleeding from his nose and mouth.
"It was one-two, three-four, five, six," Lowery said, re-enacting the combination of head punches. "Then he went down. We were happy when he (Ladson) won, but when the man was lying on the floor, we all got scared. He (Ladson) said, 'If he dies, I'm not going to fight again.'"
Ladson, who entered the fight with only one knockout in eight previous bouts, stood teary-eyed as he watched medical personnel work on Rickman.
The crowd of 400 looked on in shock. Rickman lay unconscious in the ring for more than an hour as medical crews worked on him and before he was taken to the hospital, Lowery said.
Ladson said he approached Rickman's family.
"I apologized for what happened. They were hysterical at the time, and focused more on him," Ladson said. "I got their phone number, and I'm going to call and see if there's anything I can do. I would go to the funeral if I could, and I got a sympathy card that we're going to send them. There's not much else I can do."
On Sunday, Lowery and Ladson returned to Winston-Salem, while Rickman remained in the hospital. They thought he would recover.
"Not once, in 57 years of boxing have I ever experienced anything like that," said Lowery, who has been boxing since he was 10.
Lowery has trained a number of boxers, including two-time world-heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon, world-heavyweight champion Oliver McCall and Erza Sellers, who is preparing to fight for the title of world-cruiserweight champion.
"I've never had to take anyone out on a stretcher. This is the first time I ever had to feel real bad about something. If it had happened earlier in my career, I don't know that I'd be training today," Lowery said.
Rickman, 29, worked full time as an intensive-care nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.
Mike Jarrell, a fight promoter, said that Rickman, who had been boxing professionally for only nine months, appeared healthy and alert during the match.
"Usually, you can look into the guy's eyes and tell if they're not there," Jarrell said. "But (Rickman) was fine. I told him stay down low, and he said, 'OK, I gotcha.'"
Ladson, a deacon at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, has been boxing for about two years, Lowery said, and sought Lowery's coaching after losing two fights. Almost immediately, he improved and started taking on boxers with long winning streaks. Rickman, Lowery said, was a formidable opponent - a boxer who had recently knocked out a bigger opponent.
"I didn't want him (Ladson) to fight this one," Lowery said. "This fight was real even until he went down. He (Ladson) did everything right, so we can't feel guilty. This can happen in any sport. It's just hurtful to me."
Rickman's death was the first attributed to boxing in Georgia since May 28, 1903, when George Feeley died after a bout, also in Savannah, according to the Journal of Combative Sports.
Officials said an autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.
As for Ladson, a large part of what was good in his life is gone, he said. "I love this right here," he said, motioning to the boxing ring of the recreation center.
"And I know I can't continue to beat myself down. I have to continue with my life," he said. "But right now, I just can't. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but right now, the answer is no, I can't hit another man."
When they asked him who was responsible
For the death of Du Koo Kim
He said someone should have stopped the fight
And told me it was him
They made hypocrite judgements
After the fact
But the name of the game is be hit and hit back
Watching an old fight film last night
Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim
The boy from Seoul was hanging on good
But the pounding it took to him
There in the square he laid alone
Without face without crying
And the angel who looked upon him
She never came down ...
Sgt. Worcester, Hamburger Hill
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