Former Boxing Champion Berbick Murdered

Trevor Berbick, the former Heavyweight champion was found dead in a church courtyard in Jamaica with chop injuries on the head which have been inflicted with a machete. The police recovered the body on early Saturday morning. One person has been detained for interrogation; and the police believe it to be a case of homicide.

Berbick, 52 had an eventful yet troubled life. From the highs of defeating Ali and winning the WBC to the lows of defeat against Tyson and the years in prison, Berbick was a man who won more and achieved less.

With an impressive career record of 50 wins and 11 defeats, 1 draw and 33 knockouts, Berbick was scheduled for a local fight on Sunday evening at St Ann's Bay.

Born on August 1 1955, he claimed to have vision of God at the age of 16. This being one of the many unexplainable events in his life ahead. Having 11 amateur bouts at the age of 21, he represented Jamaica at the 1976 summer Olympics in Canada. He displayed lot of promise there, though he lost to the eventual silver medalist Mircea Simon of Romania.

He stayed back in Canada after the event, and lost his first professional fight only after tasting victory in 11 fights. In April 1981 he lost to Larry Holmes. The high point of his career came about eight months later when he defeated Muhammad Ali.

Berbick went down in the books as the last man to contest against the legendary Muhammad Ali as he hung up his punching gloves after the loss at the age of 39 (in-fact it was a day before his 40th birthday).

Five years later he won the WBC world heavyweight title by upsetting Pinklon Thomas in a unanimous decision on March 22, 1986. However, in November the 20 year old Tyson announced his arrival on the stage by knocking out Berbick in second round and claiming the WBC. In this way he became a bridge between the eras of Ali and Tyson.

From there on it was a journey downhill. In 1987 he withdrew from the scheduled encounter with Frank Bruno, citing a slipped disk in his back. Convicted of sexual harassment in 1992, he was sentenced to four years in prison.

His last outing was in 2000 when he had the better of Shane Sutcliffe for the Canadian Heavyweight championship.