World of Boxing Mourns the Death of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

By Francisco Romero

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a middleweight boxing fighter whose career as a boxer never reached its peak as he spent 19 years wrongly convicted in jail, died Sunday at the age of 76.

According to his fried Jon Artis, Carter lost his fight to prostate cancer.

Carter was wrongly convicted, along with Artis, for a triple murder in 1966. After a long battle in the courts, a second conviction and numerous appeals, “The Hurricane” was finally freed in 1985; his attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court.

From 1993 – 2005 Carter became the Executive Director of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). He lived in Toronto, Ontario. The former boxer became an advocate, an icon and a voice unjustly jailed. He also became a motivational speaker.

The AIDWYC posted the following statement in its website:

“Rubin will be remembered by those at AIDWYC who were fortunate enough to have worked with him as a truly courageous man who fought tirelessly to free others who had suffered the same fate as he.  We are honored that Rubin played a significant role in the history of our organization. We will continue to fight against wrongful convictions, a battle that Rubin valiantly fought until the day he died.”

“The Hurricane’s” record as a boxer stands at 27 wins (20 by knockout), 12 losses and one draw. His last fight was a loss to Rocky Rivero by decision (10 rounds) on August 6, 1966, two months before he was arrested for the triple murders.

In an interview with CNN, a few years ago, Carter mentioned the following about wrongly being jailed, “Hatred and bitterness and anger only consume the vessel that contains them. It doesn’t hurt another soul. If I were to allow myself to continue to feel that anger and the bitterness of being a victim, I would have never survived prison itself. Prison can deal with anger; prison can deal with hatred because prison is about all those things. So I had to overcome those things.”

Carter’s life story inspired Denzel Washington’s 1999 movie “The Hurricane.”

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, May He Rest In Peace.