*This edition is not an easy one to do folks, but I’ll try and do my best. You see the gentleman that I’d like to talk to you about is no longer with us. He returned to God last week and it caught everyone of us who knew him personally off guard. I mean this was a guy who we thought would last for a long time to come, but obviously God had different plan.
Macka Foley was one of the most kind, and gentle, people you would want to meet in life (at least he was to me). I have a very short list of real friends and truly folks, he was on that list.
This was a guy that was a Viet Nam war vet who went on to become a professional fighter after he came back and was in the ring for a total of 54 times and garnered 21 knockouts in his career.
After he got out of the ring he began to train young and upcoming fighters and eventually began working in the film industry on several films that included “Annapolis”,”The Ghost”, and “Las Vegas Weekend” just to name a few.
He was originally from Portland, Maine and I first had an opportunity to get acquainted with him many years ago through my good friend Freddie Roach ( who by the way is also on that short list folks) over at his Wild Card Boxing Gym on Vine in Hollywood. I used to bring my grandaughter along with me quite often when she was about 3 or 4 years of age (she’s now 16) and Macka took a fondness to her and would always be concerned about her well being.
The one thing that was remarkable about him was that he was a walking boxing encyclopedia. You could ask him anything about the history of the sport and he would have the correct answer for it.
After many years of working over at Freddie’s he went over to Justin Fortune’s new place on Sunset Blvd., and started training his many clients over there that included actor James Franco among others. This guy was someone special to me and I’m going to miss those many days and times when we would sit out on the porch at Justin’s and talk about everything in life. And the one thing that we had in common was our love for whom we considered the greatest fighter of all, Jack Johnson the first black world heavyweight champion.
In all of Macka’s days of fighting in the ring and throughout his 65 years of being here on the planet he never became champion, but outside the ring he was indeed a champ in the way he treated people, and walked in life. We are surely going to miss him, and our sincere thoughts and prayers go out to his daughter Caroline Walsh. May God’s peace and blessings be upon his soul.
Mohammed Mubarak’s Ringside Update can also be read in the High Desert Inland Valley News, and the Pace News. He is an artist as well and you may feel free to go to his website mubarakart.com and view his works. (Mohammed Mubarak –Â [email protected])
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