Feb. 24, 8:59 p.m.

Times like right now I sit back and wish my life was less eventful. I wish I could live a normal, less-stressful life and maybe things would work out better.  

I am writing this a little distraught and emotional right now. I was forced to pull out of my boxing match that was set to take place Feb. 26 on ESPN2 for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

I was involved in a car accident and after talking with both my parents and under my doctors’ care, I regrettably had to pull out of my upcoming fight.

I was traveling down the highway and came upon a diesel that jack-knifed and was blocking both lanes of the highway. I was able to stop in time not to hit the diesel, but when I got slowed down a car traveling 60 mph slammed in to the back of my car causing my head and body to fly forward and back. I initially felt completely blessed and fortunate that I was not hurt or injured. For the entire day after my wreck I was OK. When I woke up the next morning I could barely get out of bed. The next day it was even worse, and on the fourth day I couldn’t turn my head left or right and the pains started shooting down my back. My right leg began to go numb and that’s when I went back to the doctor and got checked out for the second time.

When it set in that I had to call up De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and tell them I would not be able to fulfill my contract and fight Jermell Charlo, I lost it. I sat down, with my younger bro across the way from me, and I put my hands over my face and broke down crying. I couldn’t believe all the hard work and many, many hours and rounds of sparring that I'd put in were getting thrown away because some guy did not pay attention while behind the wheel.

I feel embarrassed to admit it, but this was the very first training camp that I had four solid weeks of great sparring with two very talented boxers. I say embarrassed because normal training camps should always involve four-to-six weeks of solid sparring. But good sparring partners who can push you to the next level are few and far between in the Midwest. I really wanted to prove Teddy Atlas was wrong about the things he said about me the last time I was on ESPN. I really wanted to make Atlas eat his words and really regret the way he spoke so unfairly and negative about me after I'd had just five days of training. He may have been right about some things, but give me a chance to be 100% prepared and whatever happens thereafter is warranted.

I am not proud of my performances the past two to three years as a professional. but I take full responsibility. I blame no one but myself. I will fight anybody, anytime and anywhere and I will beat one of these guys. I still stand by the words I told television’s sports guy Ryan Menely in 2006 after my fight on HBO pay-per-view. Menely asked me, “Travis, why keep fighting these world-ranked, undefeated guys?”

  The answer: Because, I don’t care what my record is. As long as they give me a chance to keep fighting them I will beat one of them. Foolish as that may sound, I don’t care/ I know in my heart and soul that with the right situation and preparation I will be able to beat them.

However, my future as a professional athlete and boxer is in limbo right now. Having a neck injury scares me to death. I participate in a rough sport, as we all know, that involves blows to the head and body—jarring the neck. I pray to God that I will be able to box again and do a sport that has consumed me since I was 6 years old. I would be lost, financially and emotionally. if I was not able to box anymore.

”Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

--1 Peter 4:12-13