One-Handed Boxer Shatters Boxing Stereotypes

By: Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media Correspondent

After watching a one-handed cruiserweight boxer win in Brooklyn, as a boxing writer I have to wonder……should professional boxing have a handicap division?

“Anything is possible if you work hard and believe in yourself,” is the viewpoint of 33 year old boxer Michael Constantino, who fought in a four round cruiserweight bout held on the undercard of a seven bout card at Aviator Arena this past October. The debuting Queens, New York boxer entered the ring with a most unusual handicap. Costantino has only one hand! Costantino does however have use of both of his arms. The right arm is a stump after the elbow. Costantino is able to use the right arm (which has the benefit of a glove on it) for defense, for holding, and to land body blows at close range.

Constantino’s left hand power shots and hooks had his opponent, Nathan Ortiz of Florida, staggering around the ring in round 2. Ortiz appeared beaten and tired when referee Randy Neumann stopped the contest at 1:16 of the second round. Ortiz appeared a foot shorter than Costentino. Whereas the New York State Athletic Commission approved this ‘test’ handicap bout, Neumann, a noted heavyweight boxer of experience and standing, saw it differently. “I hope he (Costentino) does not fight again.” However, Neumann fails to see the larger picture of the aspiring handicapped athletes, and aspiring athletes overcoming the adversity of advanced age attempting to participate today in all professional sports.

Athletes with one hand, one arm, one foot, or no arms and no legs may seem unusual, but they are not unique.

Michigan lefty pitcher Jim Abbott, who also had only his left hand and a right arm stump, threw professionally in the Major Leagues between 1989-1999, compiling a record of 87 wins and 108 losses. Born with fibular hemimelia, Oscar ‘ Blade Runner’ Pistorius, a member of South Africa’s national track and field team, runs with two high performance carbon fiber artificial prosthetic legs, and ran in the 2012 Olympics in London in the men’s 400 meter and 4 X 400 meter relay races. Pistorius, who won two gold medals in the 2012 Paralympics, states “You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.” Kyle Maynard is the world’s only active MMA quadruple amputee Mixed Martial Artist, gym owner, author and motivational speaker, who has not allowed being born without his arms or legs to get in the way of his athletic ability and other successes.

Constantino’s spirit can be lifted by the true story of cruiserweight boxer Craig Bodzianowski, who lost his right foot in a motorcycle accident after starting his career as a 13-0 prospect. Bodzianowski completed rehabilitation with an prosthetic right foot and returned to the ring, compiling a professional record of 31-4-1 with 23 knockouts between 1982 and 1993.

Amateur welterweight Rob Garris (63-3 with 38 knockouts), whose career ended at 19 due to a nosebleed injury recently corrected by modern technology, will turn finally turn professional at the age of 47 on the undercard of a boxing show at Resorts Casino Aqueduct Raceway on December 8. Let’s also not forget the ageless B-Hop, magnificent Bernard Hopkins, who turns 48 in January 2013, still ranked as the number one light heavyweight professional boxer in the world by BoxRec, who will next appear on a boxing card at the Barclay’s Center on March 9, 2013.

In the case of Michael Costentino, the nature of his handicap-boxing with one hand-calls for creation of new world boxing titles for handicapped boxers, by division, in the future. Also, amateur boxers with certain handicaps could mandate a new Paralympics category. Guidelines to determine which athletes qualify need to be developed

At present, handicap athletes like Michael Costentino remain in an uncategorized no man’s land, competing against the odds to achieve their goals. One can safely conclude athletes who overcome adversity must have an outstanding confidence and an unshakable self-belief to achieve their dreams. Not all who watched Constentino fight believed it was a good thing, but at least some of the spectators in Aviator Arena Brooklyn this past October 27 came away believing if a one-handed boxer can achieve his dreams, perhaps anything is possible if you believe in yourself. For what would a man have left if you took away his dream? Michael Constentino wants to be a professional boxing champion. Constentino has a dream. Perhaps a bit for fetched, but a real dream nonetheless. Give the kid an ‘A’ for courage in the least.

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