THE INCIDENT
“A TWIST OF FATE AS CRUEL AS ANY SUFFERED BY A BOXER IN THEIR ATHLETIC PRIME”
FIVE years ago, Ahmet Patterson allowed me to watch one of the last sparring sessions of his training camp, not knowing that it would also be one of the last times he would ever set foot inside a ring.
Shortly after that, he delighted in telling me his upcoming British super-welterweight title fight against Liam Williams would be the launchpad to great success, not knowing it was both a fight destined to never happen and a title he would never win.
As blissfully ignorant as any 17-0 prospect, Patterson was 28 at the time of our last Boxing News interview and seemed to have time on his side. He had been a Southern Area champion, as well as an English champion, and most who watched him day-to-day at the Peacock Gym considered the idea of him winning other titles an inevitability.
Because of this, the first of Patterson’s twists of fate, a common one, appeared relatively inconsequential: an original fight date of October 22,
