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| he left the board of the Livestrong cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997. He is still worth about a reported $100 million. Livestrong might be one reason to issue an apology. The |
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Virgil (Rezdog) Zwicker knows a thing or two about second chances. One of 12 kids, the Strikeforce light-heavyweight grew up on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation in California. Zwicker wouldnt back down to anybody and paid the price. "I always made dumb decisions when I was younger," Zwicker acknowledged. "When I was 17 or 18, I made a really big dumb decision and I went to prison for it. "But I had been going in and out (of detention) from 11 years old to that time." He credits mixed martial arts for helping putting him back on the right path. On Saturday, Zwicker (10-2) takes on Brazils Guto Inocente (5-0) on a Strikeforce card in San Jose. The main event is the final of Strikeforces heavyweight Grand Prix with Josh (The War Master) Barnett (31-5) facing Daniel (DC) Cormier (9-0). But last year, Zwicker thought his fighting days were over. A test at a pre-fight physical indicated blood clots in the back of his head. "When I first got the news I was devastated," he said. "I love fighting, its one of those things Ive always done. But I had to sit back and go OK, well do I want to see my kids get raised and be normal and be happy to be here. Or do I risk fighting and get injured? "What they thought is I had suffered from minor strokes in my sleep and it had caused air to get into my brain ... and caused blood clots. "When they told me Im like What? I feel better than ever. Who are you talking about? It was scary, it was definitely scary." To make matters worse, he was initially cleared to fight after the first test. Then a week before a scheduled Strikeforce Challengers fight last September, the doctors called him back and gave him the bad news. It took a parade of visits to doctors and specialists before he was finally cleared in February. "When an injury like this happens, doctors arent just going to sign you off and say OK, youre OK to go. Its a liability thing," said Zwicker who saw five doctors and four specialists. It also cost a lot of money, with Zwicker forced to get his own medical insurance. That wasnt cheap. "No insurance plan would really cover me so I had to go under this pre-existing insurance plan, basically saying that I have a (medical) condition, which I didnt. But I had to do it just to get the insurance." It was the latest setback in a life filled with detours. Growing up, Zwicker estimates there were 15 years in which he was incarcerated for some part of the year. "Being out a year was like my accomplishment and then I was like "Yes, Ive been out a year. And then I ended up doing a big term in state prison. That was a wakeup call for me. Just seeing how ugly it was in there. "When I got out, I saw two of my close friends doing so well with training (MMA) and fighting." He joined them, a decision would eventually help change his life. His longest stint in prison was 44 months for uttering terrorist threats and assaulting a peace officer arising from an altercation with a sheriffs officer on the reservation. Zwicker was sentenced to five years. The first, he said, was spent hating everybody. After two years, he started examining "whats it going to take for me to change and get out of this behaviour." "Prison is an ugly place. You see a lot of ugly people in there. And theres a lot of good people too, but it seems like the majority of people, they love to prey on each other. They love to bully." Race was also all-important. And while he hated the ugly cliques and having to watch who he talked to, he says he connected with "a lot of good Indian brothers" and got to refocus on his spiritual life. He returned to prison just one more time after that long stint. He says he was jumped in his backyard by three men. "One of the guys I hit, his eyeball came out and they violated me for that," he said referring to his parole. "Even though they were jumping me in my backyard, pulled a gun out. My wife was pregnant." He spent nine more months behind bars and was paroled in 2006. "That was the last one." He has stayed on the straight and narrow ever since, training at Team Quest in Temiculah, Calif. He credits his family and MMA training for the turnaround. Today he lives with his wife, five-year-old son and four-year-old daughter in San Diego, about an hour away from where he grew up inland. Zwicker started training full-time when he signed with Strikeforce, but has had to get another job recently to help pay for his medical costs. He works on the reservation, mentoring youth and coaching basketball and T-ball teams. His goal is to lead by example and show kids that the tough guy act isnt necessary. His first two fights, in 2003 and 2005, came between prison stints and he took them without a single day of training. "Went in there, beat them up and walked out." His first fight, he was on the run from the law and took the fight for the money. But his third fight, in 2007, he got out of prison and went to the gym and "trained, trained, trained." He knocked out Ty Montgomery in 41 seconds. The six-foot-two Zwicker is making his debut at 205 pounds for Strikeforce, although he has fought at light-heavyweight before. His last Strikeforce fight, a win over Brett Albee in April 2011, was slated to be at light-heavyweight but was contested at a catchweight after his opponent failed to make weight. The fight before was a knockout loss to heavyweight Lavar Johnson in October 2010. Zwicker was holding his own against the much bigger Johnson until he took an uppercut to his nose at the fence. The fight was stopped via TKO in the first round. "For a couple of weeks after I could just touch my nose and it would start pouring (blood)," Zwicker recalled. It doesnt get any easier. Inocente, whose proper name is Carlos Augusto Filho, is new to North America but Zwicker says hes a world-class striker who has been a Shooto, Muay Thai and kickboxing champion. "He has a lot more accolades that people know of," said Zwicker, who has trimmed down from 245 pounds for the fight. "Hes definitely not to be taken lightly." But given his recent medical road, he is not complaining. "I thought I was done. Not that I wanted to be done, but Id rather be alive with my kids ... I was looking at the fight game at a whole other way than I am now. "And they gave me another tough opponent. This guy is very, very good. So Ive been motivated from the moment I signed on to fight this guy. Hes pushed me harder than Ive ever really trained, I think." Darrelle Revis Super Bowl Limited Jersey .J. Watson to back up Deron Williams at point guard. Tedy Bruschi Super Bowl Black Jersey . This time, they found a way to avoid another meltdown. Will Venable hit his second home run of the season and the Padres pounced on Tim Lincecum in a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday, getting a small dose of satisfaction against the defending World Series champions. http://www.superbowl49patriotsonline.com/rob-gronkowski-supe r-bowl-xlix-jersey/ . Twice this season, the team has been dealt three consecutive shutouts against MLS opponents. Tedy Bruschi Super Bowl Jersey . And in typical Federer fashion, he did it in the most dramatic way possible. After four hours of exhilarating, record-setting tennis, Federer finally put away del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (7), 19-17 on Friday to advance to the gold medal match for the first time in his storied career, securing Switzerlands first medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Darrelle Revis Super Bowl White Jersey . Perhaps the Angels ace can turn things around against the last team he was able to beat. Weaver tries to avoid dropping five straight decisions for the first time in his career this evening when Los Angeles opens up a four-game series with the Oakland Athletics at Angels Stadium. AUSTIN, Texas -- Lance Armstrong may be considering a change in course, dropping his years of denials and admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs -- though whether such a move would help him is uncertain. The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported late Friday that Armstrong has told associates he is thinking about the move. However, Armstrong attorney Tim Herman says that the cyclist hasnt reached out to USADA chief executive Travis Tygart and David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency. A USADA spokeswoman declined comment on Saturday, while Howman was quoted by the Sunday Star-Times in New Zealand, where he is vacationing, saying Armstrong has not approached his group. USADA stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles last year and issued a report portraying the cyclist as the leader of a sophisticated doping operation on his winning teams. Public confessions and apologies have been the route of redemption for several athletes who have gotten in trouble. For example, Tiger Woods said he was sorry for cheating on his wife in televised speech, and baseball slugger Mark McGwire eventually admitted to steroid use. Yet Armstrong faces serious legal entanglements those megastars didnt, and a confession to doping could end up complicating matters for Armstrong -- not making them easier. The U.S. Department of Justice is considering whether to join a federal whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis alleging fraud against the U.S. Postal Service during the years the agency sponsored Armstrongs teams. A Dallas-based promotions company has also said it wants to recover several million dollars paid to Armstrong in bonuses for winning the Tour de France. And the British newspaper The Sunday Times is suing to recover about US$500,000 paid to Armstrong to settle a libel lawsuit. Armstrong has testified under oath that he never used performance-enhancing drugs, which could theoretically lead to charges if he confessed. Former U.S. track star Marion Jones spent several months in federal prison for lying to investigators about her drugg use.dddddddddddd And after so many years of vehement denials and sworn statements that he never doped, at this point, what would Armstrong gain from a confession? There would be no guarantee that his personal sponsors would return or that the public would accept it. Is the public even interested in an Amrstrong confession? Gene Grabowski, executive vice-president of Levick, a Washington, D.C.-based crisis and issues management firm, said "it may be too little, too late because hes been denying it for so long." A confession would only work to salvage Armstrongs reputation if he accepted full responsibility and blamed no one else, Grabowski said. And it would have to include some public act of atonement. "If he does all three, he has a shot," Grabowski said. "You have to show people you are willing to pay a price." The New York Times reported the 41-year-old Armstrong may be considering a confession in an attempt to reduce his lifetime ban from cycling and Olympic sport so he can return to competing in triathlons and elite running events. Armstrong lost most of his personal sponsorship worth tens of millions of dollars after USADA issued its report and he left the board of the Livestrong cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997. He is still worth about a reported $100 million. Livestrong might be one reason to issue an apology. The charity supports cancer patients and still faces an image problem because of its association with its famous founder. And if Armstrong did confess, the corporate sponsors who abandoned him might support him again, Grabowski said. "Theyll do what the public does," Grabowski said. Betsy Andreu, the wife of former Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu, was one of the first to publicly accuse Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs. She dismissed a potential confession from Armstrong as self-serving and too late. "Sorry, your chance is over. Youre banned for life. Its not with an asterisk, that because you are Lance Armstrong you get to come back," Andreu said. "He does not belong in sport." cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '
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| Beitrag vom 23.01.2015 - 05:58 |
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| qian1993 |
23.01.2015 - 05:58 |
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