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