Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest, all to be remembered as boxing greats, dealt an all too familiar blow to the sport last month, with each dying in violent fashion.  Shooting himself in the chest with a 9 mm handgun in his home and marred by accusations of fraud and corruption as the Mayor of Managua, Nicaragua, Alexis Arguelo who battled ongoing depression and a history or substance abuse, could not emerge from a personal hell that ultimately consumed him. 

Arturo Gatti, The Ultimate Blood and Guts Warrior as he was known in the ring, must have also faced some kind of unbearable despair, having used a purse strap as a noose to hang himself in his hotel room.  His suicide followed a violent encounter with his wife on a street near a beach in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil.  According to his wife and others at a bar before the fight transpired on the street, Gatti consumed seven cans of beer and two bottles of wine over the course of dinner and hard partying.  The fight itself erupted into a wild melee with a terribly inebriated Gatti lifting his wife by the chin and throwing her to the ground before he was attacked himself by several male bystanders, some of whom threw rocks while one even reportedly struck the former champion with a bicycle.

If the deaths of Arguello and Gatti weren’t enough to rock the boxing world, Vernon Forrest, one of the good guys in boxing outside of the ring, was himself struck down by gunfire on the streets of Atlanta after chasing a man who had stolen his wallet.  While the deaths of these great boxers received a tremendous amount of attention this summer, the frequency of boxers dying outside the ring in a violent manner has been all too frequent throughout the years and with far less attention.

Of these men, the names of former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick, former Olympic bronze medalist Roshii Wells and talented boxing prospect Ronny Vargas easily come to mind – all men who died violently over the past few years and generally under the media radar screen.  Self described as a spirit who had no age, Trevor Berbick was no saint, but he certainly did not deserve to go out the way he did.  During the early morning hours of October 28, 2006, the wild and crazy life of the former heavyweight champion came to an end at the age of fifty-one (he had been reported as old as fifty-five).  

Found face down in a church courtyard, Trevor Berbick was engulfed in a puddle of blood with four lacerations to the back of his head from a machete.  A metal pipe was found at the scene which was also believed used during the assault.  As it was eventually proven in a Jamaican court of law, the former WBC heavyweight champion of the world was beaten to death by his nephew and an accomplice just steps away from his home outside of Norwich, Jamaica.

Fast forward to August 11, 2008, Roshii Wells, a father of five and still with hope to land a decent payday in the ring to support his family, he was now living in a public housing complex within a very rough and desperate area of Las Vegas, NV.  Long gone were the days of Olympic glory and opportunities for a championship.  Now it was all about his survival, which would come to an end at the hands of 26 year old Roger Randolph.

According to witnesses at the scene within Roshii Wells’ apartment complex, both Wells and Randolph got into a verbal altercation over a woman and may have been in another altercation weeks prior.  Randolph vowed to return and kill Wells, and unfortunately he made good on his promise by driving up to the former Olympian later in the evening, exiting his car and firing three shots with a rifle.  One of the bullets struck Wells in the abdomen as he was walking home with his four year old son. 

Roger Randolph, also known as “Talullah” on the streets, was later apprehended by law enforcement in Arizona where he claimed Roshii Wells had earlier punched him in the face, so in his mind the shooting of the boxer was self defense.  Obviously, Mr. Randolph is not the sharpest guy out there, and the murder of Roshii Wells was out of sheer stupidity.

Also approximately a year ago, three-time NYC Golden Gloves champion and undefeated professional prospect Ronny Vargas was pistol whipped and shot in the chest after a verbal confrontation at a bodega culminated in his murder.  Vargas and five friends encountered two men and two women at a store in the Bronx at approximately 3:30 am where he allegedly flirted with one of the women which touched off the fight. 

While Ronny Vargas and his friends hopped into their car, the two couples followed in their own, cutting Vargas and company off at Hughes Avenue between 178th and 179th streets.  Vargas, the driver of the car carrying his friends, was then approached by one of the men from the bodega, beaten and shot.  After being assaulted, he slammed on the gas in reverse gear and sideswiped a couple vehicles before coming to a stop.  He was dead at only twenty years old.

While never receiving the name recognition of Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest, the murders of Trevor Berbick, Roshii Wells and Ronny Vargas should also be remembered, as they died just as violent deaths and were also warriors in the ring.  As brutal as boxing can be as a sport, these men are proof the everyday struggles of life are often far more unforgiving.