BoxingMadness.com

The AP has announced that Choi Yoi-sam, the new WBO intercontinental flyweight, has been declared brain dead*.  Apparently he won the WBO title on December 25th in Seoul Korea against Indonesian challenger, Heri Amol.  During this bout he was knocked down in the 12th round and fell into a coma shortly after the fight.  He never recovered.

* Brain Dead per Wikipedia:  A brain-dead individual has no clinical evidence of brain function upon physical examination. This includes no response to pain and no cranial nerve reflexes. Reflexes include pupillary response (fixed pupils), oculocephalic reflex, corneal reflex, no response to the caloric reflex test and no spontaneous respirations.

I must admit that I’ve never heard of Choi before, but I’m sad to hear of his death.  This brings back thoughts of Diego Corrales who passed away back in May 2007 from injuries resulting from a motorcycle wreck.  These are tremendous loses to the people who knew them.  Lets hope that 2008 has no more of these surprises in store.

Choi Yoi-sam was 33 years young.

Mike Tyson has spent a few days in jail considering the “No Contest” plea to a rape charge in 1999.  However; I bet none have been like his one day stint at Tent City!  Yes, Tyson has served time once again but this time it was only a day.  Tyson’s conviction for possession and DUI put him in the famous jail in Arizona that Sheriff Arpaio has made so famous.  Reports say that Tyson spent his time reading and eating bologna and sloppy joes.

I’m a big fan of Sheriff Arpaio and his Tent City.  He re-instituted chain gangs, used prisoner labor to build the City, makes the inmates wear pink underwear, sends in cartoons for the inmates to watch, and feeds them bologna.  The Sheriff also says if you don’t like the conditions, don’t come back!  Now that’s classic.
So did Tyson wear pink underwear while in the slammer? I guess I kinda hope so.  Not because I want to humiliate Tyson, but you get what you ask for.  If you play you pay!  It’s not like he didn’t deserve it.  He knew the rules and he broke them and he had to pay.  My fear is that this sentence won’t phase Tyson.  I bet he didn’t miss a beat while there.  On the other hand, he was also sentenced to 3 years of probation.  I just wonder if he can make it 3 years without messing up.

Iron Mike, take control of yourself and use the discipline that you are familiar with in training camps to beat the tendencies that we all have that lead us into things that are bad.  Anyone can do the bad things, its the good things that we do that separate the men from the boys.  You can do it and your fans are rooting for you!