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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Berbick hailed as friend, legend and hero</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY EVERARD OWEN Sunday Observer correspondent
Sunday, November 12, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Port Antonio, Portland - Former world heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick was yesterday remembered as a friend, legend, hard worker, hero and a man who was positive, helpful, caring and sharing.
Hundreds of mourners, among them Leroy Brown of the Jamaica Boxing Board; boxers Richard 'Shrimpy' Clarke and Bunny Grant; and boxing promoter Lucien Chen, packed Christ Church in this town on Jamaica's north-eastern coast to pay their last respects to the slain fighter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Berbick, the first Jamaican boxer to hold a world heavyweight title, was found dead near his gate in Norwich, two miles west of Port Antonio, on the morning of October 28. He had machete wounds to the back of his head.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Trevor Berbick's widow Nadine (left) and her eldest daughter Tricia mourn for the slain ex-boxer at his funeral service at Christ Church in Port Antonio, Portland yesterday. (Photo: Everard Owen) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>One of his nephews, Harold Berbick, and a teenager have been charged with his murder.
Yesterday, Brown traced Berbick's career from the Montreal Olympics, where he was not successful, to his winning the World Boxing Council heavyweight title in a 12-round unanimous decision over Pinklon Thomas in March 1986.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Brown also spoke of how Berbick was the last boxer to fight boxing legend Muhammad Ali, beating Ali in 1981.
Other tributes came from Dexter Roland, Jennifer Lambert and another of Berbick's nephews, Charles Berbick.
His sister, Elaine Dreyer, remembered him as "one of the only athletes in the world to have five championship belts".<P class=StoryText align=justify>A boxing robe and a pair of gloves donated by Ringside magazine, one of the sport's more authoritative publications, were placed on Berbick's casket, which also bore a black and white photo of Berbick holding aloft the heavyweight belt.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dreyer expressed the family's appreciation to Ringside, while another sister, Beverly Besley, remembered her brother as "a big baby, a veteran in the ring, softest in the heart and a health fanatic".
Berbick's eldest daughter, Tricia, read one of the lessons and his niece Joan Johns read another.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Reverend Georgia Jervis, in a stirring sermon, challenged mourners to "be our brother's keeper". She called on parents to teach and raise their children properly, saying that this will help to reduce the high murder rate in the country.
Jervis also said that "Jamaica needs healing and we can start it here".
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY EVERARD OWEN Sunday Observer correspondent
Sunday, November 12, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Port Antonio, Portland - Former world heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick was yesterday remembered as a friend, legend, hard worker, hero and a man who was positive, helpful, caring and sharing.
Hundreds of mourners, among them Leroy Brown of the Jamaica Boxing Board; boxers Richard 'Shrimpy' Clarke and Bunny Grant; and boxing promoter Lucien Chen, packed Christ Church in this town on Jamaica's north-eastern coast to pay their last respects to the slain fighter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Berbick, the first Jamaican boxer to hold a world heavyweight title, was found dead near his gate in Norwich, two miles west of Port Antonio, on the morning of October 28. He had machete wounds to the back of his head.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Trevor Berbick's widow Nadine (left) and her eldest daughter Tricia mourn for the slain ex-boxer at his funeral service at Christ Church in Port Antonio, Portland yesterday. (Photo: Everard Owen) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>One of his nephews, Harold Berbick, and a teenager have been charged with his murder.Yesterday, Brown traced Berbick's career from the Montreal Olympics, where he was not successful, to his winning the World Boxing Council heavyweight title in a 12-round unanimous decision over Pinklon Thomas in March 1986.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Brown also spoke of how Berbick was the last boxer to fight boxing legend Muhammad Ali, beating Ali in 1981.
Other tributes came from Dexter Roland, Jennifer Lambert and another of Berbick's nephews, Charles Berbick.
His sister, Elaine Dreyer, remembered him as "one of the only athletes in the world to have five championship belts".<P class=StoryText align=justify>A boxing robe and a pair of gloves donated by Ringside magazine, one of the sport's more authoritative publications, were placed on Berbick's casket, which also bore a black and white photo of Berbick holding aloft the heavyweight belt.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dreyer expressed the family's appreciation to Ringside, while another sister, Beverly Besley, remembered her brother as "a big baby, a veteran in the ring, softest in the heart and a health fanatic".
Berbick's eldest daughter, Tricia, read one of the lessons and his niece Joan Johns read another.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Reverend Georgia Jervis, in a stirring sermon, challenged mourners to "be our brother's keeper". She called on parents to teach and raise their children properly, saying that this will help to reduce the high murder rate in the country.
Jervis also said that "Jamaica needs healing and we can start it here".