http://www.boxingnewsonline.net JULY 4, 2019 lBOXING NEWSl 35
the cherub-faced fighter who had entered the ring 45
minutes earlier and, adding insult to significant injury,
was handed his maiden loss as a professional.
Billy’s father, also his trainer, shook Resto’s
gloved hand to congratulate him, but what
he found was a mitt without padding. It later
transpired that cushioning
had been removed by
Panama Lewis, Resto’s
notorious cornerman. One
of boxing’s darkest days had
been exposed and, within
months, Collins’ injuries led to
a premature retirement and,
shortly after, he died driving
his car into a culvert whilst
intoxicated and depressed
about the end of his boxing career. Thirty-six years
on, Resto, taking the occasional pause, tries – and
largely fails – to recount the events of June 16, 1983.
“I’ve said so sorry so many times, but nothing
is going to change what happened that night,” he
muses. “I listened to the wrong people and I wasstill young in my head. You know I saw him [Panama
Lewis] in Florida one time a few years back and I
should’ve punched him in the face. I heard it
was all to do with betting. A bet had gone on
me and I had to win the fight no matter what.
So much changed that night. I hurt so many
people and all I can do is try
and live with what I’ve done.
I’ve said sorry pretty much
every day since it happened.
I don’t know what else I can
do.”
The crimes of Resto and
Lewis received mainstream
negative attention and were
handled by the highest
authorities in New York
State. Permanently punished by boxing’s athletic
commissions, both perpetrators also felt the wrath
of criminal prosecutions, with Lewis receiving a year
for his part in that fateful night at MSG. Resto was
handed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence and,
even in jail, remained desperate to repay his debt
to Collins and the stricken fighter’s family, but the
perpetrator could not escape from the crime he had
committed.
“The Irish guards in the prisons made my life s**t,”
he tells me. “I’d walk past with my tray of food and
they’d knock it out my hand then go, ‘Resto, clear
away your rubbish.’ Any job that no one wanted to do
or refused to do they would be like, ‘Resto, we’ve got
a job for you to do.’ The time I did in prison was the
worst time of my life and it was made even harder
by people who couldn’t get over what had happened
between me and Billy.”
After leaving me today, Resto will return to his
modest apartment where friends may visit him
from time to time. His days in 2019 are spent taking
long walks and helping out in Aaron Davis’ gym.
The dreams possessed by Resto as a swashbuckling
teenager were stalled by typical vices throughout his
career, and they were forever destroyed when he
decided to enter the ring holding a brutal advantage
over his opponent, over three decades ago. As well
as halting his fighting days, Resto’s actions that night
have also suffocated any chances he had of going in
the corner to lend the next generation his wealth of
experience. It was an understandable decision by the
NYSAC and Resto, who pleaded with the commission
on an annual basis, has given up on any hope of
becoming a trainer.
“I’ve asked them so many times,” he laments.
“What’s the point anymore? I can’t even be in the
corner as a number two. There’s nothing I can do to
be involved in the sport even though I’ve said sorry
so many times and served my time inside. I’ve had
three world champions that have asked me to train
them; all from this area. They know I’m a good trainer
and they always listen to the advice I try to give them
when I’m with them in the gym. I could make good
fighters even better, but the commission won’t allow
that.”
With the restaurant becoming more congested,
the privacy Luis and I so recently experienced is
diminishing by the minute. The growing crowd and
increasing sensitivity of our subject matter brings his
voice to a whisper and it makes sense to let Resto
have closure on a story that he must think about
every day. For one final question, I ask him if Collins
were to take a seat in our comfortable booth at
that very moment, what would he say to him? Resto
thinks, his head in his hands, and, after wiping both
eyes, he stares straight at me and with a nod states,
“I don’t know.” bnTHE GUARDS WOULD
KNOCK THE TRAY OF
FOOD OUT OF MY
HAND AND TELL ME
TO CLEAN IT UP”