The History of Fighting

A 1964 photo of middleweight challenger Rubin Carter.

Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, who died in April 2015 aged 76 could, according to some commentators, have become the World Champion and was one of the best middleweights of his day. However on June 17th, 1966 Carter was out on the town with a friend, John Artis and their lives would change forever when they found themselves getting arrested for the murder of a bartender and two customers of the Lafayette Bar and Grill.


Rubin Carter knocking Florentino Fernandez of Cuba out of the ropes in a first round KO.

Despite not even being at the bar at the time of the murders, eyewitnesses failing to identify the pair and a long list of other inconsistencies with the prosecution’s case, the two were found guilty and sent to jail. It would take nearly 20 years for the convictions to be overturned and while serving the time, Carter wrote an autobiography called ‘The Sixteenth Round.’ This attracted a host of celebrities to his cause including Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan, who wrote the song ‘Hurricane’ about him. Years later a movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington would also tell the story of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter and his struggle for justice.

Source: nydailynews.com