Book Review: The 16TH Round: From Number 1 Contender To Number 45472

The Boxing Glove Book Review: by Peter Silkov
“The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender To Number 45472”    By Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

The 16th Round is the extremely powerful and often moving autobiography of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. During the early to mid 1960s Rubin Carter was one of the top middleweight contenders in the world, a feared and destructive fighter, who was considered by many to be a future world champion. However, that is not the way things turned out for The Hurricane. Rubin Carter did not win the World middleweight title, instead he tried and failed in what would be his one and only world title chance. Then in a dark twist of fate, Carter saw both his remaining boxing career and his freedom snatched away from him when he was jailed in 1967 for his part in the murder of two white men and a white woman in a New Jersey bar.

Carter, and a friend John Artis, were eventually convicted of the killings on May 26, 1967, despite the apparent lack of solid evidence against the men. Also, the fact that the prosecution’s main witnesses were two petty criminals, Alfred Bello and Arthur Dexter Bradley, who admitted to being in the area that night with the intent to burgle a nearby factory. Rubin Carter and John Artis strongly claimed their innocence of these murders from the beginning, but it would take 20 long years before Carter would finally be set free and have his indictment dismissed. With Artis being released on bail in 1981.   

Between their original convictions in 1967, and Carter’s release in 1985, his case would become known internationally and made him a focus during the civil rights movement. Rubin's gained the support of many high profile celebrities from the world of both sport and entertainment, including Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan. Carter achieved a taste of freedom for a couple of months in 1976, when he was let out on bail pending a second trial.  Unfortunately for Carter, the second trial ended with the same verdict as the first, and he was returned to prison.

In “The 16th Round” Carter tells the story of his life and details the injustice of his incarceration. This book, written in 1974, behind the bars of Rahway State Prison in New Jersey, is an intense howl of anger and despair by Carter at his unjust imprisonment for murders that he claims he did not commit. 

The 16th Round is a stark and often brutal tale of Carter’s life from a troubled childhood, through to his time as middleweight contender, when he was, for a time, one of the most feared fighters in the world, onto his conviction and imprisonment for murder. It is this book that fired up much of the campaign that resulted in Rubin’s brief taste of freedom in 1976, until in the run up to his second trial. 

From early childhood, Carter was afflicted with a severe speech impediment that he would not overcome until the age of 18. This seems to have played a strong part in him growing up with an ever-deepening sense of alienation and injustice at the world around him, including his father who was a respected deacon, but could neither understand (physically or emotionally) nor control his young son.  At the age of 11 years old, Rubin was jailed in a juvenile reformatory for stabbing a man (whom Carter describes in this book as trying to sexually assault him.) It is to be the first of a number of incarcerations that featured in Carter’s life. The descriptions of these places is at times quite chilling, and Carter provides some disturbing and enlightening material upon the inhumanity and hopelessness of prison.

Rubin’s boxing career, and the rise of his alter ego “The Hurricane”, is focused on the middle part of this autobiography, with some vivid accounts of some of his most important fights. Yet, it is his experiences with authority and the justice system where this book really excels and transcends from being just another boxing autobiography. Having read "The 16Th Round," it is not hard to see why the civil rights movement took up his case and why his imprisonment was seen by many as one of the greatest injustices of the time. The whole Carter story is mired with controversy, and there are those who dispute much of what he writes within “The 16TH Round”, especially his protestations of innocence.  Even today, a year after Carter’s death, there seems to be almost an ’anti-Carter’ industry, which opposes many of the claims and assertions made by Rubin Carter and his supporters. This debate will probably continue for many years, with both sides passionate about whether “The Hurricane” was truly an innocent man or not.

After he was eventually freed in 1985, Rubin Carter’s story would become the subject of a Hollywood film starring Denzil Washington “The Hurricane”, which gained great acclaim, despite infamously taking some Hollywood liberties with the truth in some parts.

Rubin Carter himself became a powerful voice for the wrongfully imprisoned in the years after he finally achieved his freedom. 

Although there have been other books written by and about Rubin Carter since the original publication of The 16th Round, neither of them succeed in capturing the raw emotions that one can feel literally coming out of the pages at you in Carter’s original autobiography. When all the controversy is swept aside, this book stands on its own merit as a fascinating and visceral study of human nature.  Love, hate, racism, violence, despair, and courage are all to be found in here, in a autobiography that truly goes beyond the world of boxing, and looks into the darkest areas of the human condition.
 
Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com.

The Hurricane: Rubin Carter

By Peter Silkov

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a top middleweight contender in the 1960s, whose career was cut short by a murder conviction that would see him spend almost 20 years in jail for his alleged involvement in 3 murders.

Carter was born on May 6, 1937, in Clifton, New Jersey. Rubin was a troubled child, who struggled with a severe stutter that he would not overcome until his late teens.  At the age of 14 he was convicted of assault and sent to Jamesburg Home for Boys.  Three years later, he escaped, and while on the run enlisted in the army. It proved to be a turning point in his life and while in the army, Carter took up boxing for the first time. Rubin would eventually leave the army with a record of 51-5 with 31 knockouts.  However, Carter still found himself falling into trouble and in 1957, he was jailed for 4 and a half years for his part in an assault and two robberies. 

It was following his release from this period of incarceration that Carter finally began to take boxing seriously, making his pro debut on September 22, 1961, with a 4 rounds split points win over Pike Reed. From this point, Carter’s rise was a little less than meteoric. His ultra aggressive style attracted the fans, he would stalk his opponents, and when in range throw punches in vicious combinations. A fearsome demeanor equaled Carter’s knockout power in his fists. Some 20 years before it became fashionable for fighters to shave their heads, Carter sported a bald dome, a goatee moustache and beard, and the same kind of baleful expression that was worn by Sonny Liston. By 1963, Carter was a one of the most feared contenders in the middleweight division, with impressive wins over Florentino Fernandez, Holly Mims, Gomeo Brennan, George Benton, and Farid Salim. On December 20, 1963, Carter scored a sensational 1st round knockout victory over Emile Grffith, who at the time was the World welterweight champion and would go on to become a two-time World middleweight champion as well. Griffith certainly felt that he had been run down by a hurricane on that night of December 20, 1963. It would prove to be Carter’s greatest night in the ring.

Following his defeat of Griffith, The Hurricane started clamouring for a title fight, and in the mean time, out-pointed Jimmy Ellis, the future World heavyweight champion. Carter got his title shot on December 14, 1964, when he met Joey Giardello for the World middleweight title. Giardello was a 34-year-old veteran who was considered to be years paste his best, and many expected Carter to be too young and strong for the battle scarred champion. However, it was not to be, Giardello produced a boxing clinic, using all his skills and the experience of over a decade as a professional, to out-box and at times, out-punch the fearsome challenger.

Rubin Carter & Dick Tiger

The loss to Giardello seemed to have done something to Carter, whether it damaged his confidence or focus is not clear, but certainly Carter seemed to have peaked, and then began the long slide downhill that happens to all fighters. The Hurricane himself would blame the post-Giardello fight slump in his form upon the increasing harassment, which he was receiving, from the police and media by this time.

Following the Giardello bout, Carter would be 7-7-1 in his last 15 bouts. Carter was still a hit with the fans, and there was no shame in his point’s defeats to Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Harry Scott, Dick Tiger, and Stan Harrington, but he no longer looked like an invincible fighting machine, storming towards winning a world title. 
Then on June 17, 1966, an incident occurred which would change Hurricane Carter’s life. Two white men and a white woman were shot dead at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson. Carter and an acquaintance, John Artis, were pulled over within the hour and questioned. What followed was a case of tremendous twists, turns, and complexity, which still raises heated argument today.

Rubin Carter would have one more fight while free on bail, being out-pointed by Juan Carlos Rivero on August 6, 1966. It would turn out to be The Hurricane’s final fight.

On May 27, 1967, Carter and Artis were both sentenced to three counts of life in prison. In a debacle, which would include a second trial in 1976, when the pair were convicted again, Carter was not freed from prison until November 1985. In the mean time, his case had become a cause attracting worldwide attention, with support from celebrities from the sports and entertainment world, such as Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan.  Rubin Carter’s case became an illustration of the many wrongful imprisonment cases that occur all too often, and more often than not, due to the colour of a person’s skin. While in jail, Carter brought attention to his cause with his biography “The 16th Round”, which recounted his life and boxing career, and protested his innocence. 

In 1988, a third trial was finally cancelled and the indictments on Carter and Artis finally dropped. After his release from jail Carter would spend his time giving support to other victims of injustice in Canada and America, and giving speeches about his life and experiences.  In 1999, a film “Hurricane” starring Denzel Washington was released about Carter, focusing upon his boxing career, and his wrongful imprisonment.

After his death Rubin Carter is still a controversial figure, with some people still questioning his innocence, whatever the truth, there is no denying that Rubin Carter has highlighted the problem of wrongful imprisonment in a way that was never achieved before and upon such a large scale.

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s final record was 27(19koes)-12-1.


 Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com