Going the distance video by WINK TV

Inside the SJC Boxing Gym, "Home of Champions"
Fort Myers, Florida
January 18, 2012

Freeman Barr vs. Roni Martinez Rounds 3 and 4

Rounds 3 and 4 of Freeman Barr's successful NABO title defense against Roni Martinez on July 28, 2001, in Fort Myers, Florida. Although Barr was the #1 mandatory challenger for Joe Calzaghe's WBO title he never got the opportunity. This was the last fight in which Barr was healthy as he was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, although he did fight for several more years since he was initially mis-diagnosed. It's a shame that he never got the opportunity when he was 100%.

Freeman Barr vs. Roni Martinez Rounds 1 and 2

Rounds 1 and 2

Freeman Barr vs. Roni Martinez NABO Super middleweight title defense on July 28, 2001 in Fort Myers, Florida. It was the last fight that Freeman fought healthy, before he was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. He fought for several years after this fight, as his condition was initially mis-diagnosed

Esteban De Jesus: This foe's tougher than Duran

This Foe's Tougher Than Duran

(The New York Times Published: April 22, 1989)

The former lightweight champion of the world, the first man to beat Roberto Duran, is now 37 years old and weighs 90 pounds. His dark skin stretches over protruding cheekbones and his clothes hang loosely on his frame. His eyes are dull; his speech is slurred. Esteban de Jesus is living with AIDS.

''You look into his eyes and you see sorrow,'' said Jose Abreu, another resident at the clinic where De Jesus is being treated.

The clinic is in an abandoned milk factory in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico that has been converted into a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. There, de Jesus lies on a bed in a room with 17 other men, all former drug addicts, all suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome. He gets medication-free treatment: vitamins, a high-calorie diet and rest. Sentence Commuted

Until March 28, de Jesus faced the possibility of dying in jail. He was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, and was still four years away from possible parole, when his second request for a commutation of the sentence was granted by Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon. The parole board agreed to release him on the condition that he receive treatment at the AIDS clinic.

De Jesus was the underdog when he won a decision from Duran in 1972, in a non-title bout in New York that was Duran's third fight after he won the lightweight title. That fight made de Jesus a celebrity in Puerto Rico, and the second time he fought Duran didn't tarnish that status. It was in Panama in 1974, with Duran's title at stake, and de Jesus lasted until the 11th round before being knocked out.
Later, de Jesus was the World Boxing Council lightweight champion, 1976-1978, and he defended his title three times. But he lost to Duran again in 1978, and with that, he lost his title and began sinking fast. His last opponent was Saoul Mamby, who stopped de Jesus in the 13th round for the W.B.C. super lightweight title on July 7, 1980. His record was 57-5 with 32 knockouts. From Marijuana to Cocaine
But even before his first bout with Duran, de Jesus was slowly burying himself under drug addiction. He began by smoking marijuana, then snorted cocaine, and by the end of his career, he was shooting up ''speedballs'' of cocaine and heroin. He, his older brother, Enrique, and their friends shared syringes of cocaine and heroin bought with de Jesus' earnings, according to his friends.
''You start first with friends and you get so wrapped up with the drugs, that before you know it, you're hooked,'' de Jesus said last Feb. 12 on ''Pulso Preciso,'' a half-hour news program on Puerto Rican television. ''They take you to parties and you start using the stuff. The worst part is when you open your eyes, it's too late. You're already addicted.''
On Thanksgiving Day in 1980, de Jesus was dressing to attend a family holiday celebration when cocaine tempted him. ''I injected myself with it,'' he said on the news program. ''It hit me very hard. I felt the reaction very badly. Then I left in my wife's car.''
Somehow he got into a traffic dispute with 18-year-old Roberto Cintron Gonzalez, who was in another car. De Jesus jumped out of his car and shot Gonzalez in the head with a .25 caliber pistol; Gonzalez died Dec. 1, 1980.
''I didn't even know that I was killing someone,'' because of the reaction to the cocaine, de Jesus said in the television interview. ''My wife told me that I had killed someone. I feel very bad for what I did.''
De Jesus was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. 'Didn't Use It to Fight'
Gregorio Benitez, the father of the former world champion Wilfred Benitez, trained de Jesus at the end of his amateur career and for part of his pro career. In 1974, before the rematch between de Jesus and Duran, the elder Benitez learned de Jesus was using drugs.
''I knew that he used cocaine,'' the trainer recalled. ''He didn't use it to fight. An undercover cop came to me and said that Esteban used to be out at midnight with bad people, and they knew that he used the drugs. I told him that if he wanted to keep boxing, he should quit the drugs. He said, 'What?' He denied it.''
De Jesus, Benitez said, used to give money to a drug dealer named Louie, who would take de Jesus to parties where cocaine and women were plentiful. De Jesus and Louie bought a restaurant together, on which de Jesus lost $40,000, according to Benitez.
''He was a good guy,'' Benitez said sadly of de Jesus. ''People made him bad.'' But, Benitez said, his frustration at de Jesus' continued drug use prompted him to sell the fighter's contract for $25,000 to Jose Santiago, another Puerto Rican-based boxing promoter. Santiago managed de Jesus and the boxer's trainer was Manny Siaca. 'A Very Big Thing'
In 1978, de Jesus lost to Duran for the second time, in Las Vegas, but he earned $150,000, the largest purse of his career. ''The loss to Duran was a very big thing to him,'' Siaca said, referring to the 1978 fight. ''He felt depressed, that it was the end for him, that he didn't have it anymore.''

Siaca and his wife, Nitza, had become close friends of de Jesus and his wife, Nelly.

''He was very close with his family,'' Mrs. Siaca rcalled. ''He didn't like too much of a crowd. He was a very kind man, sweet and courteous. I never saw him angry. But as soon as he became champ, it was a new environment. He had new friends, big shots. Then he started using drugs.

''When he was a champ, he had a lot of money, a lot of power. He was one of the kings of boxing in Puerto Rico.''
Over the course of 10 years, the Siacas and Nelly de Jesus several times prodded the fighter into receiving psychiatric help and other medical assistance.
''He stopped taking drugs,'' said Mrs. Siaca. ''But he had a group that he went with. Nelly had no control over him.''
De Jesus was said to be very close to his mother, who died of a heart attack in 1980. ''He was affected very emotionally by her death,'' Mrs. Siaca said. ''He was very depressed.'' 'He Didn't Show Up'
After that death and the loss to Mamby a few weeks later, Gregorio Benitez tried to help de Jesus again.

''I told him I wanted to make him a champion again,'' he said. ''Santiago said that he would give me Esteban free. I would put him in a fight for $15,000. He didn't show up. I said, 'Those people are going to kill you or you're going to kill someone.' ''

Four months later, de Jesus killed someone.

Sentenced to life in prison, de Jesus discovered the religious life, and he became a minister, preaching daily sermons in prison.

In 1985, he learned his older brother, Enrique, had died of AIDS. The brothers had shared needles, and Esteban de Jesus tested positive for the AIDS virus in 1985. Last January, the AIDS symptoms began to appear.

As he has lost weight and grown weaker, his faith in God has increased, his friends say. His wife and three children -Esteban Jr., 14 years old, Vivian, 16, and Lillian, 18 - visit him at the clinic regularly.

De Jesus may live for a month or two, or he may live for a year. ''I'm waiting to see what's to be God's will,'' he said in that Feb. 12 television interview. ''I'm in God's hands.''

Courtesy: The New York Times

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