Nunn’s Opponent Facing Fights of a Sterner Nature

LAS VEGAS —  Since middleweight Curtis Parker comes from Philadelphia and resembles former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in style and build, it is logical to guess Frazier might be Parker’s hero and role model.

Logical but far from accurate.

It’s not that Parker has anything against Frazier. It’s boxing he’s not crazy about.

He would rather follow Martin Luther King than Don King. He would rather stop the fighting in the world than take part in it.

Boxing, you see, is just a temporary stop on the road toward a life in perhaps politics or maybe social work for Parker, whose immediate business at hand consists of challenging champion Michael Nunn of North Hollywood in tonight’s 12-round North American Boxing Federation middleweight title fight at Caesars Palace.

A title shot is the realization of a dream for any fighter. But all Parker talks about is beating more intangible opponents--like poverty, illiteracy and the deficit.

As a matter of fact, he insists, even if he wins, he may retire.

“I’ve got things to do,” Parker explains. “I feel there’s a greater calling for me than in boxing. There’s a bigger purpose without a doubt.

“The only way I would fight again if I beat Nunn is in a title fight. But otherwise, I want to go to college and then maybe into politics. The government needs to be reformed. We need to alter the monetary system, to try and educate our people.”

Sound like most fighters you’ve heard?

Try to steer the conversation to left jabs and right hooks--subjects most fighters love to jump into--and watch Parker give you a head fake and steer it right back to that which is near and dear to him.

“We’ve got to stabilize our country,” he says, relishing the verbal sparring. “Other countries own us. It shouldn’t be that way. We have it all here. Why can’t we benefit from what we have? Why should we let other countries benefit? Are we going to take care of our own? Right now, there is too much power in the hands of too few.”

You want heroes? Parker has a few in Martin Luther King and Johnny M. That’s Johnny M. Parker, Curtis’ mother, who worked full time while raising five children.

“She laid out a good table for us,” Parker says. “She’s my hero.”

If Parker has all these doubts about boxing, why has the 29-year-old stuck with it for the 15 years his career--amateur and pro--has spanned?

Actually, he had his doubts from the start. Parker wandered into a Philadelphia gym at age 14 purely out of curiosity. But trainer Willie Reddish took one look at Parker’s frame, short but built for power and toughness, and decided opportunity had come knocking.

Parker proved as good as he looked. He amassed a 56-8 amateur record.

Reddish wanted him to turn pro, but Parker resisted until his 18th birthday. That day he gave Reddish a present--an agreement to become a professional boxer.

In the ring, Parker excelled, winning his first 17 pro fights, including a victory over Willie (The Worm) Monroe, who once beat Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

But outside the ring, Parker continued to have his doubts about his career choice.

“It’s like being in the service,” he says. You miss a lot that you’d have if you were a civilian. That’s the way I feel sometimes because of the isolation of living as a fighter.”

On the night of Nov. 14, 1979, a new, far more overwhelming doubt about boxing hit Parker.

He was in his hometown that evening, facing Gary Guiden. In the fifth round, Parker scored a knockout victory to improve his record to 15-0. The beaten fighter left the ring under his own power and walked to his locker room where he collapsed and died.

“It really got to me,” Parker says. “I still feel the wounds. I wanted to quit. Even though he left the ring before dying and I heard he wasn’t supposed to be fighting that soon because of another knockout, I still feel I was the cause of it. I went to his funeral, but I had to be held up there. I crumpled thinking about his family.”

But Parker pulled himself together and now stands 29-8 with 22 knockouts and a shot at Nunn.

Maybe we should all root for Nunn. After all, the sooner Curtis Parker loses, the sooner he can act out his dream by starting to fight the really important battles in life.