Stevie Morgan: Beyond The Ropes

Stevie Morgan: Beyond The Ropes

I’ve had to sadly write a few obituaries over the last year or so. Georgia O’Connor and Hannah Rapp spring to mind. Two fighters with their whole lives seemingly ahead of them. Both were taken from us far too soon.

O’Connor, an unbeaten British fighter, was just 25 when her brave fight against cancer ended last May. Rapp, a recent challenger for the WBC lightweight championship of the world, was just 26 when she was tragically and needlessly killed whilst she was cycling in Texas in July. Two lives that had so much more to give.

Only last week, I was close to having to write another obituary. Too close.

Stevie Morgan, an American lightweight contender, was robbed at gunpoint in Bogota, Colombia. Morgan was on her way to weigh in for a scheduled fight with the unbeaten Jenny Tulcan. She never got there. Two men on motorcycles pulled up alongside their car and put guns to the heads of Morgan and her coach, Monyette Flowers. The robbers escaped with a small amount of money and jewellery. Morgan and Flowers escaped with their lives. They were lucky. I wrote about the horrific event, but as Morgan says, it could have been a completely different article.

I’ve thought about Georgia O’Connor and Hannah Rapp a lot this week. Two young fighters who never got to finish their stories. They leave memories. But they could have left so many more. It’s beyond sad what happened to them. They inspired many, and still do.

Unlike O’Connor and Rapp, Morgan gets to live and fight on. But her story could have been very different. When a gun is pointed at your head, you understandably fear the worst. Morgan said it was like something out of the movies. She is right; it was. Boxing is a crazy sport. Often referred to as the Wild West. The events like we saw last week in Bogota highlight that perfectly. Albeit, it was a little too close for comfort with that vague description of a western movie.

Life goes on for Stevie Morgan. Fighting and picking up her career is never far from her mind. Currently on hold, waiting for a shot at Stephanie Han for her WBA world lightweight title, the 37-year-old knows she needs to stay busy. Morgan is already looking at rescheduling her fight with Tulcan, potentially in October. It won’t be in Colombia, for obvious reasons. A neutral venue. As it should be. But what happened last week in South America tells us just how fragile life really is. Morgan never got to fight, but it was still her biggest victory to date.