Sadly the boxing community has lost another member today. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer who was more famous for his fight outside of the ring has passed away at the age of 76. Carter who was from Paterson, New Jersey was a middleweight contender with a professional record of 27-12-1 with 19 knockouts. His most impressive win in the ring came against against the legendary Emile Griffith whom Carter stopped in the very first round. His fight outside of the ring proved to be much more difficult. Carter and friend John Artis were wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in 1967 and spent 19 years in prison, always maintaining their innocence until their eventual release in 1985. Carter was immortalized in song and film with Bob Dylan writing and performing the song "Hurricane" about his conviction and with Denzel Washington portraying him in the 1999 film "The Hurricane." Many books were also written about Carter and he even wrote an autobiography while in prison in 1974 entitled "The Sixteenth Round." Upon his release from prison Carter moved to Toronto and later became the executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted from 1993-2005 where he received two doctorates for his work. Even until the end Carter never stopped fighting for what he believed were wrongful convictions. On his death bed Carter made a plea for the release of David McCallum who was convicted of kidnapping and murder in 1985 at the age of 16. There was little to no evidence in that case and McCallum and a friend were largely convicted because they confessed to the crime albeit under duress. The boxing world along with those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes lost a great friend today.
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