-The 16th Round-From Number 1 ContenderTo Number 45472
...of his situation. During his late teenage years he was arrested and thrown in a prison, which made all the other ones he had visited look like daycare centers. He was pretty deep into his corrupted way of life and saw only one way out; he escaped the prison and ran straight to the army. By doing this he figured that people would forget him, the police would forget him, and the justice system would just disregard everything he had done. By enrolling in the army Rubin Carter had managed to turn himself from a preadolescent menace, with no legitimate future into an honorable, patriot of the United States of America. When in the army, he had found a way that would satisfy everyone; he became a boxer, and not just any boxer he was among the army’s finest prizefighters. The fighting he was doing was perfectly legal, it had made his name known, and it gave him an outlet for the pent up rage in his fists. Fighting; for Rubin Carter was like a natural high, it was an escape to a place where he ruled the land (the ring) and all that had entered it (opponents). Once Rubin’s time in the army was up he came home a reasonably decorated, honorable, respectable, stronger, and confident young man. Though, unfortunately he also came back to once again become a vulnerable victim of the corrupted justice system that sent him running for the army. He came back to reality, a place where he had no job, no political power, and nowhere to fight. Though he very quickly had found a ray of sunshine in his cloudy day; a beautiful, interesting woman had suddenly walked into his life, one that would in years to come become his future wife. He was even going to take her on a vacation for the July 4th weekend, when his doors exploded and he was once again arrested for escaping the prison so long ago. Despite the fact that he had joined the army, turned his life around, to come back to society a much greater man that what he was, it was time for him to face the music of reality. He had to serve the remaining of his sentence that he had fearlessly escaped from and had to be prepared for the consequences that were to follow. Rubin Carter, honorable, respectable and now once again trapped like a fly in a sealed glass jar. He could see the world pass him by, know that he was once part of it, and then flying into the glass walls and realizing that there was nothing he could do. Though due to his constant need for self-improvement, it had dawned on him that, mean while he was in there and could not get out, he could make the best of the situation and make himself even better, even greater than what he was. He tried to obey the laws, did not cause or get into any fights, he did what he was told, unless somebody tried to start anything with him, he would always be up to the challenge. He was able to be prepared for the circumstance in which he had to defend himself because he would spend a lot of time in his cell training, daily for hours at a time, boxing against nothing. Furiously punching at the still, silent, prison air, till the late hours at night and in the early hours of the morning. He trained himself, hard, everyday, waiting, getting closer and closer to the day he would get out, he would be prepared, to enter the ring and confident to dominate it. He wanted out, and he wanted it badly, though he was quite content getting out, by serving his full sentence and then having an officer of the law pass the judgment for his freedom. Now after finishing his prison sentence, Rubin Carter is stronger, wiser, and fit enough to once again, enter the ring. After those countless nights training, alone, combined with the anger and rage he felt for so many people (judges and cops) he became a machine. One that was so powerful that opponents were almost dared to fight him. Once he got back in the ring, he was finally at a point of pure happiness. His whole family was glowing, all either had careers, or were still in school, but they were all doing well for themselves. Then as a prizefighter, between Septembers of 1961 to August of 1966, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was at the prime of his life, 34 years old, fearless, anxious and confident, the best way to feel when stepping into the ring. Throughout his career, he was determined to be the best, in s56 bouts he had, 36 knockouts, won 15 decisions, and lost only 5 times. His record in the ring speaks for itself, as his police record had done when he was a child. Rubin was finally for the first time ever, clear of any wrong doings, smart, self-controlled, successful, determined, and had a better status in the black and white communities, than any other black person he knew. Life was for the first time, looking pretty good for the Hurricane, but in every batch of fruit, there are always a couple rotten ones, who spread their germs to the others and make them as miserable as they are. Once again, those corrupt police had got him once more! This time he almost lost his mind, he was about to snap, though, by this point he has had enough experience with this type of stuff. Rubin knew that he had not done anything wrong; when the cop had pulled him and a younger (20 year old) boy, John Artis, over on his way home, from a small get together at the Lafayette Bar and Grill. They told him and the boy to get out of the car and put their hands on their heads. They had eventually taken both of them into the car and had raced them to the hospital, to find themselves watching a man die with a bullet hole in his head, entering the left eye and leaving through the other side of his head. Rubin and the boy were just standing there watching, when all of a sudden the white-faced policeman asked the man, “ …are these the two men that shot you?” Rubin thought that to any white man with a bullet hole in his left eye, and blood and sweat smeared all over the rest of his face, all black people would look the same, especially the ones that the police brought in. The man replied with a shake of his head from side to side. Rubin, then relieved for a moment, sprung to full attention, when he heard the policeman ask him, if he was sure that it was not Rubin and John. Then he almost lost it again, when he exclaimed at the top of his voice “Dirty sonofab***h!” …”Dirty motherf****r!” Rubin knew what the cops intent was, which was to frame him for the murder of that man in the hospital and others at the scene, on himself and John, because the police have never had the opportunity to permanently keep Rubin down. Eventually the police convinced a man (with $12,500), Arthur Dexter Bradley, in jail himself at the time, to testify before two grand juries, that, he was an eyewitness to the murders committed by the innocent Rubin Carter and John Artis, the boy driving him home. This man testified in court and the obvious did, indeed, occur. The judge, needed only to glance at the Rubin’s record (no the Hurricanes, but Rubin Carter’s), of all the crimes he had committed earlier in life, along with the “eye witness” account of the murder, and the prosecutions case of Rubin being a menace to society since the earl age of 9 to escaping a pris...