great story this.

by south Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:10 am

His poignant story reads like a Hollywood film script, but for Dewey Bozella it was a real-life nightmare.

He spent 26 years in New York's notorious Sing Sing prison for a murder he did not commit.

But today he is feted by President Barack Obama and has finally fulfilled his dream of boxing professionally - at the age of 52.

He won his first and last fight by a unanimous decision despite giving away 22 years in age to his opponent.

'This is the greatest moment of my life,' said Bozella who fought with a simple message: 'Don't give up.'

For more than a quarter of a century he knew daily despair as he battled to clear his name over the brutal killing of a 92-year-old woman.

He could have become a free man FOUR times if he had pleaded guilty. Each time he refused, maintaining his innocence.

Bozella found comfort in boxing, training daily in the prison gym and studying at night for his bachelor and master's degrees.

Finally In October 2009, Bozella was formally cleared. This summer he was honoured by ESPN as its 2011 Arthur Ashe Award winner for his courage.

Legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins heard Bozella's story and offered him the chance to fight against 30-year-old Larry Hopkins on the undercard of his own championship bout.

Hopkins told the Los Angeles Times last week 'This is not a charity case. This man is fulfilling his dream.'

Born in Brooklyn, Bozella was nine years old when he saw his father beat his pregnant mother to death. Later one brother was killed in a stabbing and another shot in the head.

Bozella became a petty criminal, but tried to start a new life by moving to upstate Poughkeepsie and taking up boxing at a gym run by former heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson.

But at 18 he was arrested for a local woman's murder. Seven years later he was convicted of the killing.

Champion: Bernard Hopkins invited Bozella to fight on the undercard of his own bout

Bozella said he had been bicycling far from the scene, but two convicts claimed he was the murderer in return for their own freedom. He received a sentence of 20 years to life.

'Every day I had to ask myself, 'How do I survive this nightmare, Sing Sing,' a place where hate and anger are the order of the day,' Bozella told ESPN earlier this year.

'I didn't merely want to survive, I wanted to thrive. Boxing awakened me. I felt free during my workouts for the first time. I was no longer a prisoner.'

In 1990, Bozella won a second trial. The prosecutor offered him a deal - admit the crime and go free. Stubbornly, Bozella refused. And then the jury convicted him.

He said: 'I'd die before I would tell you I did it. I can't, I can't. You are not going to make me say something I didn't do. I’m not a murderer.'

Bozella had to spend 19 more years at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining where he became the prison’s light-heavyweight boxing champion.

He fell in love with a woman who was visiting another inmate, and got married.

He said: 'I learned to take myself from the bad position and make it a better position. If I have to die in prison, that's just the way it is.'

Bozella wrote the same letter to the Innocence Project week after week, asking them to take up his case.

Five years after receiving the first letter, the Innocence Project agreed, but police had destroyed all of the physical evidence in the case.

Follow link to see the video.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049704/Dewey-Bozella-Boxer-spent-26-years-jail-wins-fight--age-52.html