Boxing, Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow
By Bert Perry
"The referee is dirty, we want you to knock him out!"
That was the instruction from the guys in my corner, during a fight in my early days of boxing.
At first, I couldn't believe what they were saying to me. Although I was a boxer, I was also a serving policeman.
So, can you imagine what was going through my mind when they told me to knock out the referee?
I asked them to repeat that again.
"Bert, the referee is a dirty guy, so when he do foolishness, we want you to knock him out cold!"
Well, of course I smiled, but none of them smiled back and I wondered if they considered the fact that I would have lost my job as a policeman, and that I would disgrace my country, if I did what they were asking of me.
"Bert," said my corner man, taking a deep breath, "you know how much money we spent on you to come to New York and train? We have to pay Freddie to spar with you.
"We had to give the guy at the top newspaper a few bucks to put you in their paper and not only that, they brought Joe Louis up here to see you train."
You know, it was not until much later that I finally got the picture.
At that time, the black Bahamian PLP party had taken over the Government from the white Bahamian Party (UBP).
So, just what good it would have done for me as a serving black policeman to go and not only hit a white referee, but to knock him out cold?
Well, this is one lesson that is good for a boxer who wishes to be known overseas.
You see, they knew that I had a good punch and that I was relatively a quiet police officer from The Bahamas.
But they were looking at it from the business point of view, and so what they were asking me to do was just business, as far as they were concerned.
"We have thousands of guys here in New York with a good punch and some may even be police officers, but just how many fans in New York would consider that as something outstanding?" They continued.
"We need a great crowd drawer."
In other words, they thought it would have been great or exciting, if this black heavyweight boxer from a country that recently elected a black government, would knock out a white referee.
They thought because of this background, I would bring them lots of money.
In other words, they knew that the American press always looked for a real gimmick in New York. The only thing The Bahamas had for me was to win the heavyweight championship from a guy named "Boston" somebody and at least I would have been champion.
Well, as history would now tell it, the first fight was won by this guy named "Boston Somebody," so we must find a new gimmick, as New York is too far to travel to and from The Bahamas.
Well, let me end here and state that if Bahamians (like Obed) wanted to make anything it had to be done in The Bahamas.
