The Story of Johnny Barbosa: Barbosa Forever

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Game: Fight Night Champion

With his past behind him, a once broken Barbosa returns to boxing. This time because he wants to.

Trailer

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The small 800 square foot apartment is again cold and dreary. Howling sounds of the tired, routine city creep through the slightly opened window, surprisingly serving as background music to a good night’s sleep. In darkness an alarm clock violently rings and then fades. It’s morning again for this broken spirit.

Johnny Barbosa is a retired, one-time Heavyweight boxing champion. “Champion” served as a shallow title and not so much a milestone achievement for Johnny. A tumultuous life he would lead, almost existing in paranoia, only to be sometimes grounded by an ailing but dedicated trainer and then forever supported by his loving, older brother, Victorino. Yet, Johnny’s external hauntings kept him unsteady, and when a tragic accident would end his only true source of absolute, Johnny would again wander from himself, never mourning...never truly grieving.

But time, as it most assuredly does, makes you count the nights and the moments. It can break a man for the good, ground him and offer a healthy perspective. And now what was fractured, time healed. And now..hearing his brother’s words, “You’re better than this, Johnny” gives life.

It’s morning again, and for Johnny Barbosa that cold dark living space is lucid and beautiful. His spirit is broken for the better.

[WeLLWeLL]

Awesome write-up. I usually don't follow these but I'm very interested in this.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

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The Other Main Event
Written by Jared Watts

We’re not too sure what to make of this one. While Stanley Knight was doing business and easily taking the heavyweight title from Leo Cutter, there was an unspoken of main event going down on Saturday night. At first rumored to be, but now confirmed here at BI, an amateur video circulating on Youtube does in fact contain footage of former heavyweight champion, Johnny Barbosa...in the ring...boxing. As we know, Barbosa left the sport very early and hasn’t been seen or heard from in over 4 years.

By the way, the video claims “40 year old Johnny Babrosa” to be fighting, when in fact we have Barbosa at 36. Anyway, check out the footage below:

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Need to edit this card.

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Written by Jared Watts

Johnny Barbosa's Quiet Return to Boxing

He’s 36. His optimism puts him at 22. This is not the Johnny Barbosa that showed zero emotion when he defeated Joseph Curtis for the heavyweight championship, almost 5 years ago.

Everyone has since witnessed the Youtube footage of Johnny Barbosa’s return to the ring, which caused a bit of interest in boxing fans and at the same time, speculation. The interest because Barbosa has always been fun to watch, but the speculation comes because Johnny has been out of the sport for over 4 years. “I’ve been out of the sport, but I feel I could easily step back in,” Barbosa claims.


Barbosa raising his hand in victory in his now famous Youtube video

Okay, we’ll give him that. Barbosa looks to be in excellent condition and claims his morning routine is more intense now than it was then. But what about the abrupt retirement and the odd behavior after winning the championship...do real champions act like they didn’t want to be there? “I didn’t want to be there,” exclaims Johnny. “I wasn’t boxing for me or those closest to me, and then I lost what was closest to me.” Johnny lost his brother, Victorino, in a tragic accident shortly after his championship win, something that took him much time to heal over.


Five years ago.

So we have the video and now the admitted interest in Barbosa returning to boxing. There is definitely room for him, and Barbosa answers the speculation. “A fighter knows when it’s not there. It’s still there,” he says.