Interview with Rob Garris- Part II

By Boxing Reporter and Writer Chris Cercola

A lot of stuff I learned late… I learned about my mother, my father… I learned that just a few years ago… A lot of stuff… I was in the dark… I’ve been cutting hair for 30 years, and my father was a barber, and two of my brothers were barbers, and I was wondering where I picked that up at! My father used to box as a amateur, and I’m a boxer now… I never knew my father, I met him one time…But, when one of the sisters told me the story… I always wondered, why did James always act funny towards me, ‘cause, what happened was, The Kuykendall’s that never got adopted, they stayed with the family, and they aged out at the age of 18, so when the parents passed away, everything was left to the biological daughter, they wasn’t biological you know, nothing can be left to them. They was state kids, there were a ward of the state. They wasn’t biological you know, nothing can be left to them. They was state kids, they was a ward of the state.

It’s funny, in 1998, my adopted mother passed away. My adopted father gave me my paperwork from my adoption, he gave me my birth certificate and all that, and he said, “I don’t know what you want to do with this”… That year, at my mother’s death bed, she said, “ I brought you up in church, I want you to go back to church and get God back in your life”… I said, “I got God in my life”…

So in 1998, I went back to church, I was about 32, this lady called me to the front of the church … Everybody was getting in this line, and they was holding they hands up, and this lady was touching their foreheads, and she was telling them what they were going through and how things were gonna end up… I wasn’t getting in that line because I was like, “I don’t need that”… Them people was fainting, falling down. Got the Holy Ghost… And I always questioned if that was real… So she called me down, I’m like, “Why she calling me down?”… She put her hand on my head. She was telling me things I was going through, she said, “You got a rare sickness”… I had a kidney problem at the time,

At that time, I found out I had another son at the age 8 years old… I mean, I was involved with a young lady years ago, and she got pregnant but she didn’t know who the father was, so come to find out, it might be mine… She prophesized that… Even though I just met the kid, and she was telling me little things about myself, How this lady know me… She just met me… The last thing she said, she said, “You gonna get back into boxing to help kids”… and I looked at her like she was crazy man, boxing was out of my system… I wasn’t thinking about getting back in the ring, I was living a comfortable life, I had a barbershop, just bought a BMW, I was doing good you know, boxing… I ain’t trying to get up early in the morning, running, eating different, you know, I like drinking my beer and everything… She told me that the vision kept coming back, every time I came to church, she kept getting this vision, then I started running into people that I was in the amateurs with…

I went to Harlem one day right, and I ran into Mike Tyson, and we was talking you know what I’m saying, and we was in the amateurs together, and then I went to White Plains, and I ran into Carl ‘The Truth’ Williams, then I went to 28th St. to pick up some clothes and stuff and I ran into Mark Breland… All these people, we was in the amateurs together, and they went on to become champions, and fight for titles and the question always came up, “Why you stop boxing?’…’Did you ever get your injury fixed?”…

And then 2003, I got my nose fixed… I was cutting the hair of a throat Doctor, He told me to come to his office. He checked my nose out, and they did something with the vessel, collarized it…My nose ain’t bled since… I started training. I set up a camera in my garage and I documented me training for the last 12 years, getting my body together. Everybody thought I was crazy. I went to go turn pro, but I ripped my rotator cuff training. I knew I couldn’t fight.

I never told them I was coming back, so not too long ago I ran into Iran Barkley and he said, “Wow, you getting ready to come back at this age?”… Ya know, a lot of people didn’t really believe that, but it was prophesized, so I believe that…

As far as my foundation, in 1998… I started to look for my biological mother. I got some information about my biological mother, and while I was looking for my family, I started helping other people look for their family. I had no success, for at least a good 10 years before I located my family, but I was successful in helping other people find their parents, get their kids out of the system, and that’s why I made this foundation…” Throwaway Kids”, kids that are thrown away to the system, the politics, and the negative parts of the system, or why kids are being taken away and money’s being made, and because of experiments been done on the kids. Ya know, I think they exposed that, at the same time motivating kids that’s coming out of the system, or who’s still in the system, believe in theyself. The statistic today, 35% of the kids out of foster care, or leave foster care, end up homeless or in jail or mental institution… That’s a big number…

I started training… I set up a camera in my garage and I documented me training for the last 12 years, getting my body together, and everybody thought I was crazy. I went to go turn pro, but I ripped my rotator cuff training. I knew I couldn’t pass the physical, so I said, “I’m gonna do some exhibitions”… So, I started putting on my own shows, putting my own audience together. I was boxing like a pro, I was wearing no headgear, no shirt, just getting out there, fighting and I was getting a big crowd. People was coming to see me fight, and people was looking at my documentaries that I was putting on the street… I was putting out little, street documentaries about what I was doing, so I built up a big following.

Every time I try to apply for a license, they were giving me a hard time. In 2011, after my shoulder fully healed up, and I went to go apply, and get my license, and they put me through all these tests, and at the last minute, they tell me I couldn’t fight… They said they saw something on my MRI. I went to see a specialist, and there was never nothing about my MRI… I was a liability… They ain’t never gave nobody a license after 26 years, so I fought them on that. I went to see all the specialists. I ended up going to Virginia to see George Foreman’s son fight, and I spoke to George Foreman, and he said, “Who’s the doctor that you had to see?’… I said, ‘Doctor Barry Jordan’, he said, ’That’s the guy that cleared me 24 years ago’… I said, ‘That’s ironic then you know, that same man who cleared you, it’s the man that’s gonna clear me”… Once I came back to New York, I got the phone call… I’m cleared to fight… I got my license, so that was a battle by itself you know !

When I heard the message that I could fight, it was the opposite of the worstest day, when they told me I couldn’t fight, ‘cause, it was two weeks before the fight, snowstorm, I just finished running five miles in two feet of snow, chopping some logs, and they gonna tell me I can’t fight… Wouldn’t give me no real reason. The day that he told me, I’ll never forget it, I just came back from Virginia. I just finished having a long conversation with George Foreman about my comeback, and I got the phone call at the barbershop, this guy said, “You cleared to fight, you could get on the card…You good”…

Now I had to go through a whole other hassle, trying to get on a fight card ‘cause nobody believed me. I was like, “Can I get something on paper?”… They was like, “If anyone has any problems, have them call the Commission’s office”… Nobody was giving me a chance. Everybody thought it was a joke, and when they see my pictures, they didn’t think my age matched the pictures they’d say, “You can’t be 46 years old, looking like this”… I was like, “Damn, now that I’m fit, and I got videos to show that I can fight, everybody wanna try to give… When you envision somebody 46 years old, you don’t envision somebody with a six pack you know, who got all they teeth, all they hair on they head…

Last time I though I was gonna be on a fight card was in September, I was just working out in the Judah Gym ‘cause Judah and them, they wanted to see me workout. They didn’t believe my age, you know what I’m saying? They saw a couple of the videos, but they said we gotta see this guy work out man… When I went, they couldn’t believe It, you know…

A whole year later, I been trying to get a fight card, and there’s always an excuse. I don’t have a contract with them… “The fight card is filled up’…’ I’m too old’… ‘We can’t find you a fighter”… there’s always something you know… Five fights! In the whole year!

 

When I got my license, I was 45, so when I fight this summer, it will be my first pro fight. When they saw the thing on my MRI they thought I was a liability, ‘cause they said, “We looked through your paperwork, and we thought you said it was 1995 that you didn’t fight, I said no it was 1985. The commission was new. The lady that they appointed, she just got the job, and the fight doctor, who moved up from amateurs to the pro’s, he just got the job, so they was like, “We ain’t gonna take a chance with this guy on our watch”… They put me all through these special tests, and I passed everything, so they didn’t have no choice but to give me my license ‘cause I would’ve sued them for discrimination, because there is no age limit… But, nobody got a license after 26 years… When I walk Ito the ring, during the summer, and of the 27 years… technically… I’ll be the first athlete to go from amateur to pro in 27 years…

And you wanna know something… I’m gonna tell you something that’s real crazy… My last amateur fight was January 13, 1985 you hear that, the date of my first pro fight was supposed to be January 13, 2011… 26 years, same date! That’s amazing! I didn’t realize it at the time I looked at the poster, I had a billboard that was advertising my fight… I’m looking at the date, and that’s the same date that I had my last amateur fight!

People don’t look at it like a big thing now, till it’s real… Nobody never came back from amateur, to pro after 27 years, it’s unheard-of… It’s like leaving high school football and joining the Giants twenty years later, it’s unheard of… My motivation is helping these kids believe in theyself, coming out that foster care system ‘cause I was one of those kids… I was one of those kids, so you know, I want them to believe in theyself like I believe in myself… Don’t give up on your dreams, I just tell people, “If you want to do something, you gotta work hard toward it, believe in yourself, don’t let nobody tell you, you can’t do it, because I’m a living example”…

One day someone said, “Ya know, you’re breaking George Foreman’s record by coming back and I said, “Well, I only been back 22 years, the last time I fought was in 1985”… There was only two people who did it, they did it in 23 years. There was a Russian guy, and there was a guy from Detroit back in the 80’s, so I said, “I’m gonna prepare my body and I’m gonna turn pro”. I’ve been training for 12 years man. I trained every day. I work out every day… It’s like religiously. I’m ready, I’m just waiting for that phone call to do my thing… Waiting.

Mike Tyson was in the amateurs ,‘cause he was a year younger than me. Hector Camacho is two years older than me. Carl “The Truth” Williams is three years older than me. Mark Breland is one year older than me, and we was all fighting around the same time. They all went to become champions and made money, I’ve never have the opportunity you know, my injury derailed me, but I get my opportunity now . I’m not trying to be no world champion, I just wanna be the true champ for the kids… I don’t have the desire to go that far, it all depends on what my body can take, even though I’m in shape. It’s a lot of wear and tear my body. The recovery process, it takes longer to heal ,like if I hit my body, it takes a while, before, when you younger, you heal quicker. I bump my leg now, I feel it for a week…This is not easy…

Bernard Hopkins never stopped fighting when he came out of jail, he’s been consistently fighting. If you take care yourself, it’s nothing to keep fighting. The only fighters that break down, is when you don’t take care of yourself. You don’t consistently stay in shape, keep the diet right. If youre out there drinking and smoking, it takes a toll on your body as you get older but if you don’t do no drinking or smoking, and you consistently training, you could fight like they did back in the 40’s and the 50’s till they was in they was in they fifties …May, June, you know, they got a couple of fight cards, all I gotta do, is just get a contract with the promoter, and get on the fight card.

I’m sparring young guys. Everybody who just trying to dominate me in the ring…Nobody dominated me yet…Nobody wannna look bad against a old guy… Right now I’m just waiting to get on a fight card. I made a few connections and they got some fight coming up in May, June, July, that I could possibly get on and make history and help my foundation you know, raise some money for my foundation… I wanna make a difference by making a change.

Real Combat Media wants to sincerely thank Mr. Rob Garris for this unique interview. Rob shared his personal story which was very moving to say the least. He is a great inspiration not just to boxers but to people from all walks of life!

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