Toronto

Trevor Berbick, the Raptors, NFL quarterbacks, boxing

By Edward Zawadzki

Friday, November 3, 2006

I got to know former World and Canadian heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick a little while he was living in the Toronto area a few years back. A violent, delusional man, he proved to have almost as many battles with the legal system as he had in his pugilistic career. It comes as no shock that this ring warrior met an early demise when his lifeless body was found in a church courtyard next to his home in his native Jamaica .You can never take away from Trevor the fact that he defeated the legendary Muhammad Ali back in 1981, a bout that made the quickly fading Ali finally resign himself to the fact that he was finished as a fighter. A shell of the legend but a win is a win and the Ali beaters club only has a mere membership of 5 human beings in its miniscule worldwide membership. Also never deny Berbick the accomplishment of holding a portion of the heavyweight title which he won from Pincklon Thomas in 1985 until his destruction at the hands of the 20-year-old fighting machine named Mike Tyson less than a year later.

It'll be interesting to see if the Toronto Raptors will be able to keep up their torrid 7-1 exhibition record into the regular season. Truth be told the team has some solid potential and if coach Sam Mitchell can consistently burn the fire under them to show consistency, then look for them to at least improve to a .500 team this year. The number 1 priority for them now is to get and keep injury prone star forward Chris Bosh healthy. They have a lot of talented kids to build a real future around this team for years to come. The team's ultimate success will come on just how well that talent is developed and utilized.

Sad to report the retiring of Gold medal winning sprint cyclist Lori-Ann Muenzer who is hanging up her racing bikes for good. Along with winning the Gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, she won a number of medals in the annual World Championships It was in 2004 that along with her Olympic gold medal that she was selected as the Canadian Press Canadian female Athlete of the Year. An accomplished photographer, we all hope that Muenzer keeps her many talents in the sport, training young aspiring cyclists to hopefully reach her level of success.

It looks like all the prayers and best wishes sent to Sam Ashaolo for the seriously wounded power forward for the University of Duquesne basketball team are starting to pay off. The Toronto born and raised player has shown extreme strength and faith after the incident that saw Ashaola and four of his teammates ruthlessly shot by thugs back on September 17^th of this year. He recently walked the block from Pittsburgh's Mercy Hospital to the teams' practice court to the cheers of encouragement from teammates, fans and hospital personnel. It shows the old saying that you can't keep a good man down is right on the button in this case.

It's hard to believe just how far the sport of professional boxing has fallen here in Ontario where the province has overregulated the sweet science to the point where controversial high fashion model Naomi Campbell has gotten into more fights in the past few years than any local pugilist. For the sport to survive, the boxing community has to work together and hire a good lobbyist to help amend the overregulation and rid the sport of an arrogant and uncaring Ontario Athletic Commission and replace them with people that truly have knowledge of the sport.

I think with all the accolades going to Michael Vick and Peyton Manning this season many of us are forgetting about New England's Tom Brady, who has proven himself in my opinion as the top quarterback in the league. . After watching the two-time Super bowl hero literally carve up the formidable Minnesota Vikings defense in the Patriot's 31-7 performance that could best be described as the most brutal slaying of the Vikings since the days of Eric the Red. To me Vick is still unproven as a playoff commodity and without a run defense, the Colts will wither and melt faster than Margaret Hamilton at bath time. Mark my words look for a classic Super bowl match up on February between the afore mentioned Patriots and the coming of age and to this point, still undefeated Chicago Bears and its finest defense in the NFL.

BMO Field at Exhibition stadium is without a doubt a wonder for all to see. Construction is running ahead of schedule and the new home of the Toronto FC is sure to be ship shape and ready to host our leg of next May's FIFA under 20 World Championships. With Maple Leaf Entertainment, the parent company. of the Leafs and Raptors running the show for the soon to be high profile hosts and landlords of the new stadium, look for the sport of soccer to make its long overdue big league return in Toronto a successful one.

Some may say that I'm jumping the gun, but after this coming weekend's loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFLs eastern final, look for core changes to be made to the Boatmen for next season. This will be the last chance to see Ricky Williams in a double blue uniform as the controversial signing will be on his way home to Miami to the bosom of his loving Dolphins. Also look for this to be the last hurrah for both John Avery and the aging Damon Allen, who sources say is seriously contemplating hanging up his cleats due to his inability to shake injuries as quickly as earlier in his career. The biggest story that football fans will have to wait a little for is whether Argo coach Pinball Clemons will be back at the helm of the team for next season. A distinct possibility is that Clemons just may move into a front office position fulltime and the team will shake things up with a new coach and staff. Whatever the end result is, it should certainly be an eventful off-season in Argo land, one that may not answer an awful lot of questions but add so many more to the mix.

Until next time

Glad to announce that my new radio program can now be heard daily at 4.30 p.m. daily on radio station AM740. They are radio vignettes based on my best selling Ultimate Canadian Sports Trivia Books, Volume 1 and 2. Give it a listen and let me know what you think of the vignettes. I'd love to hear from you

Copyright@ Edward Zawadzki All rights reserved

Reprinted with permission