Through matchmaker Johnny Bos, Bentt met Stan Hoffman. ‘Christmas Turkey,’ read the Boxing News headline. That made me realise I still had something to give.”ĭuff got Bentt a slot on the Gary Mason-James Pritchard undercard at the Royal Albert Hall in December, 1990 – but they parted company after the hapless James Holley fell apart in a round. 5 in the world at the time and I was handling him. I said to him at breakfast one morning: ‘Are you taking it easy on me?’ and Gary said he wasn’t. “I sparred with Gary and he couldn’t touch me. “But I thought about it and decided it was time to put up or shut up, so I rang him back and decided to give being a sparring partner a shot. I was scared of getting hurt and not meeting people’s expectations. “I said: ‘No, of course not.’ I was terrified. “Months later, I got a call from a friend of Mickey Duff asking if I wanted to spar Gary Mason. “I got a job at a hospital in Queens sterilising instruments and I thought: ‘I don’t belong here.’ “People had reason to judge me as a loser and I started to see myself as a loser. It was like having your heart broken by a woman you love and I wanted to cover my head in shame every day. “With my amateur pedigree, should that have happened ? No,” said Bentt. Live on ESPN, Steward unveiled his new heavyweight hope – and journeyman Jerry Jones chinned him inside a round. It is unforgettable because the unthinkable happened. “I will never forget that date,” he said. “We negotiated a signing-on fee and I said: ‘Great, let’s do it,” remembered Bentt and he made his pro debut on February 7, 1989. He wouldn’t have cared if I had been a construction worker.”Īfter missing out on the Seoul Olympics, Bentt was set to be a college student – until Emanuel Steward rang. I felt as though he only liked me because I was a boxer. I wanted to play baseball and I was used as a pawn for my dad’s ego. He lived vicariously through me and I hated it. “I was a school dropout who travelled the world – and boxing got me out of my dad’s house, which was the most important thing. “I had a nice amateur career,” he said, “and I never intended to turn pro. He compiled a 178-10 amateur slate, but twice missed out on the Olympics, in 19, and after defeat to Ray Mercer at the qualifiers for the latter, Bentt was finished with boxing. “I would box my brother in the basement – and he would slap me around.”Įlder brother Winston – “Probably the best athlete I saw in my life” – fought Mike Tyson during his amateur career, but he was stopped in the third round of their bout in the 1984 Empire State Games. “When I was eight years old he brought over the gloves he wore when he boxed Sugar Ray,” remembered Bentt. He had 103 pro fights – including a three-round stoppage loss to Sugar Ray Robinson in 1965. He cut my mum by playing around with other women, so she got him back by naming her son after the father he hated!”īentt was born in East Dulwich and spent the first five years of his life in Peckham before the family settled in Queens in New York, where visitors included his father’s cousin, Rudolph Bent. “Dad was a rude boy, a flashy ladies’ man,” remembered Bentt, now 54 years old. One day, an actor may take on the role of playing Bentt because, right from the start, his story is remarkable. You have to embrace shortcomings, doubts, insecurities and learn empathy. In boxing, it comes down to whoever fakes it the best wins, but actors can’t have egos. “Boxers have to appear invincible, even though they all are consumed by massive doubts. “Acting is like boxing turned inside out,” said the prizefighter-turned-thespian. TO many Americans Michael Bentt is a drug dealer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |