Bradley Rone

Name: Bradley Rone
Birth Name: Bradley A. Rone
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Birthplace: USA
Died: 2003-07-18 (Age:34)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 178cm
Pro Boxer: Record

Rone's mother died the day before his last fight of heart failure, and he planned to spend the $800 from this fight for her funeral.

Rone, who also worked in a convenience store, took a five-year break from boxing from 1990 to 1995 after losing his first four fights. During that time, he was incarcerated for an assault in what friend and early trainer Larry Mullins called a fight involving someone who had "messed with one of Brad's sisters."

"If he didn't have boxing, he'd probably have been back in jail," Mullins said.

Pete Susens, who booked many of Rone's Midwest fights, added: "Brad loved boxing. Boxing made him somebody, not just another schmo in a convenience store."

Said Sean Gibbons, another boxing matchmaker and friend: "Boxing gave Brad a chance to make a little money and see the world. He fought in Germany, Denmark and Hawaii."

Despite Rone's record, Susens said he believed "he was a good fighter because he fought hard fights against big names. He didn't have a big punch to make it big, but he was a real good journeyman fighter."

During his 14-year career, Rone fought several top heavyweight contenders and even sparred with Mike Tyson.

"Rone didn't look like he wanted to be there," said sports editor Bob Hudson of the St. George Spectrum, who was seated at ringside. "He moseyed into the ring, while Zumbrun came in excited, raring to go."

Even so, Zumbrun's early punches seemed not to faze Rone. Yet when the bell ended the first round, Rone collapsed before he could return to his corner.

"I had turned away for a second, so I didn't see him fall," Susens said. "I thought maybe he'd been hit after the bell and was going for a disqualification. The other guy was standing there, looking confused."

But as Dr. Randy Delcore, the ringside physician, jumped into the ring and struggled to find Rone's pulse, a stunned crowd realized Rone had not fallen to a punch.

The night after his mother died, Rone was pronounced dead at Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City. The state medical examiner's office has not released autopsy findings, but preliminary reports point to aberrant cardiac arrhythmia, which can lead to a heart attack. Preliminary results revealed he may have died of a heart problem that he might have just as easily suffered running the bases in a pickup softball game.

His bout was the third on a four-fight card. The fourth was canceled.

Rone grew up with nine siblings in a home headed by a single mother. His extended family included a coterie of boxing friends in Las Vegas, including former light heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, who called Rone "T.C.", short for his other nickname, "Top Cat."

"I was with T.C. the whole week, laughing and joking, before his mother died," said Muhammad, now a manager and official with JAB, the newly formed boxers' union. "When he told me his mom had died, I knew how much he loved her. He flew back and forth to see her. He was trying to hold it in, but his heart was broken."

Muhammad thought Rone was going to forego his fight and return to Cincinnati. He learned of Rone's death on the Internet.

Rone's sister, Celeste Moss, who lives in Cincinnati and was planning their mother's funeral, was just as shocked.

"He was in it for the love of boxing," Moss said. "Next to his mother, he loved boxing most. But if I knew he was planning to take that last fight as a tribute to her and for funeral money, I would have tried to talk him out of it."

Rone did tell a few people he planned to fight, and they told him to reconsider, Ruffin said.

"When he phoned me and told me his mother had died, he was just crying so hard," Ruffin said. Though promoter Cornelius Boza-Edwards told Rone he could get out of the fight, "T.C. said he was going to fight this one for his mother," she added.

Rone listened to religious music on a CD player as he drove to Utah with Boza-Edwards but did not appear focused once they got there. He had forgotten boxing socks, and was taken to a nearby store to buy some.

Despite his girth, he easily passed the physical and prefight test, according to Richard Weinsoft, director of the Utah Athletic Commission. Though the commission knew Rone had problems with high blood pressure, Weinsoft said he tested normal on the day of the fight, and that the commission was satisfied with prefight testing and medical efforts after Rone collapsed.

After the fight, friends found five dollars and Ruffin's cellular phone in Rone's gym bag. Since he had Ruffin's phone, no one knew how to reach her in Las Vegas. The job fell to Gibbons, the matchmaker.

When he found Ruffin's apartment, "she had all his clothes laid out on the bed for his mother's funeral," Gibbons said. "She had bought some new clothes for him."

Rone and his mother were buried in adjacent plots at Landmark Cemetery in Evendale, Ohio.

His family and friends repeated two images of him: He was a bear of a man who demanded attention, mostly with a playful demeanor. He died of a broken heart.

"Being with him was like having a teddy bear, a big kid, with you," Susens said. "He was high maintenance if he got frustrated. You know, if you don't feed the bear once in a while, he might bite you."

"His heart couldn't handle our mom's death," said Celeste Moss. "If he didn't have a heart attack there, he might have had it here. He wanted to be with his mother and God put him there.

"It's God's work. I don't question God's work."

Source: Chicago Tribune