{"id":336348,"date":"2011-03-24T18:25:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/"},"modified":"2011-03-24T18:25:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T18:25:00","slug":"charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles won’t go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Anyone who has followed boxing for any length of time knows that fighters just can\u2019t quit. There is something in the ethos of the sport which brings them back.<\/p>\n

Joe Louis. Muhammad Ali. Sugar Ray Leonard. Floyd Mayweather Jr. They quit, and then they came back. As if lured by a Siren\u2019s song, they always come back.<\/p>\n

The latest exhibit is Nick Charles, as tough a fighter as there is. Charles can\u2019t find it within himself to quit, to give up, to stop chasing the dream.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

Veteran announcer Nick Charles shares a dinner with his daughter, Giovanna.
Photo courtesy Cory Charles<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI love boxing; I love everything about it,\u201d Charles said, firmly. \u201cOf course, I love the fighters, but I love the officials and the timekeepers and everyone who is around it and a part of it. There is nothing like it, if you ask me. I\u2019d rather go to a fight than anything else: Super Bowl, World Series, Masters, you name it. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, though, isn\u2019t your average boxing comeback story. Nick Charles\u2019 comeback is a story of life and, soon, death \u2013 of persistence and love and passion and friendship.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a broadcaster, once among the country\u2019s most prominent, who was wishing, hoping that somehow, some way, he\u2019d get the opportunity to call one more boxing match. Top Rank hired him to do play-by-play for its Dec. 4 show in Anaheim, Calif., and the card ended with a bout between Humberto Soto and Urbano Antillon. It was a brilliant match, one chosen by many outlets \u2013 including Yahoo! Sports \u2013 as the 2010 Fight of the Year.<\/p>\n

If that was the last fight he\u2019d get to call, Charles said, he considered himself lucky. It was a magnificent bout that contained all of the elements he loves about boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was packed with drama and action and smarts and pure aggression and passion,\u201d Charles said. \u201cHow Soto got out of some of those situations he was in still amazes me. And when the fight was over, Soto won and he was asked about fighting Antillon in a rematch in March and he said, \u2018There\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to be ready for a rematch in March with this guy.\u2019 It was so brutally honest, and that\u2019s what I love about fighters: They have such character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles is 64 now, and his lustrous, curly black hair is mostly gone, a casualty in the battle against Stage 4 bladder cancer.<\/p>\n

There are, Charles says, more than a few times when he\u2019s in such searing, nearly unbearable pain that he lies in bed and asks for it all to be over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Christian,\u201d Charles said. \u201cI talk to God a lot. And sometimes, when I\u2019m in pain, if I\u2019m really hurting, I\u2019ll tell Him, \u2018OK, I\u2019m ready. If you want to take me, I\u2019m ready.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite such serious pain and the fact that Charles knows he\u2019s in a fight he cannot win \u2013 \u201cWho knows how much longer I have to live?\u201d he asks. \u201cTwo weeks? Six? Six months? No one knows.\u201d \u2013 he\u2019s ultimately not ready to give up.<\/p>\n

Lesser people might feel unlucky or sorry for themselves, cursing the fate of a terminal illness while there\u2019s so much to live for. His wife, Cory, is more in love with him now than she was when she married him nearly 14 years ago. His 5-year-old daughter, Giovanna, worships her father, who was a stay-at-home dad as her mother went back to work at CNN International after her maternity leave ended.<\/p>\n

Charles is overseeing the construction of a home for his family in Santa Fe, N.M., and is remarkable in his ability to pay attention to the tiniest details. It\u2019s mostly a happy experience, but he sometimes thinks of the future and knows that, barring a miracle, he won\u2019t be there to see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick has such an eye for detail,\u201d Cory Charles said. \u201cHe\u2019ll walk into Giovanna\u2019s room and see her closet and it hits him and he realizes that he\u2019s not going to see her prom dress hanging in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles, though, doesn\u2019t want you to feel sorry for him; he clearly doesn\u2019t feel sorry for himself. His life, he said, has been \u201ca wonderful, magical, wondrous ride,\u201d and if it is about to come to an end, so be it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d he said, \u201cyou don\u2019t have to be terrified about this thing. You really don\u2019t. I want to be an inspiration to people. I still have a lot of great books I want to read and champions I want to see crowned and music and literature that I want to experience. This is a great world with a lot of amazing things and tremendous, caring, giving people. I don\u2019t want to give up on all of that just because I am sick. I want to continue to experience it and try to be an inspiration to people who maybe need someone to tell them to keep up the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those inspirational moments will come on Saturday night, in Atlantic City, N.J., of all places. Charles will get the opportunity one more time to live his dream and call another fight. HBO hired him to do the play-by-play of the opening bout, between featherweights Mikey Garcia and Matt Remillard, on the doubleheader it will broadcast from Boardwalk Hall.<\/p>\n

Charles has had a casual, lengthy relationship with Rick Bernstein, the executive producer of HBO\u2019s boxing broadcasts. Charles used to serve as the host for pay-per-view broadcasts on HBO in the early-to-mid 1990s, when it was known as TVKO. Though most of Charles\u2019 boxing play-by-play experience came on rival Showtime, most of the top executives at HBO knew and liked Charles.<\/p>\n

Bernstein was on the train going to work in New York one day earlier this month, reading the wonderful tribute to Charles in Sports Illustrated<\/a> written by the great sportswriter Joe Posnanski.<\/p>\n

One brief passage in the story touched him: When he talks about how much he\u2019d like to cover one more fight for television, he smiles and admits it probably won\u2019t happen. \u201cIt\u2019s O.K.,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve covered a lot of fights.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Those words resonated with Bernstein, who knew that Charles\u2019 wish was one he could fulfill. When he arrived at the office, he went to see HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. He showed Greenburg the article and told him of his plan to offer Charles the opportunity to call the Garcia-Remillard match.<\/p>\n

Greenburg wholeheartedly endorsed the idea, so Bernstein set out to make it a reality. But he didn\u2019t want to upset Charles, worrying that if he offered Charles the job and Charles wasn\u2019t physically up to it, it might be a major disappointment. So Bernstein reached out to a family friend, boxing publicist Fred Sternburg, and asked Sternburg to do a bit of reconnaissance to see if Charles would be able to physically handle the job.<\/p>\n

Sternburg spoke with Nick and Cory and relayed Nick\u2019s interest in the gig to Bernstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to be in a position to afford Nick this opportunity,\u201d Bernstein said. \u201cThis is a guy we\u2019ve had a long relationship with and, obviously, it means a lot to Nick. It was a no-brainer, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick has thrown himself into research on Garcia and Remillard so that he\u2019s as prepared as possible. It\u2019s lit a fire under him; his wife said he\u2019s been a different person the past few weeks as he\u2019s gotten ready. Instead of lying in his bed as often, he\u2019s sitting in front of his computer, reading and watching boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows how long he has to live, but the opportunity to do this has rejuvenated him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s at his computer and he\u2019s banging out notes and making calls. The Nick I know is at his best when he\u2019s working and involved. He\u2019s watching tapes, getting up to speed, and he\u2019s gotten his voice back. This is what he loves. Boxing is like his other child, and getting the opportunity to do this \u2013 on HBO, where these guys are at the top of the business \u2013 has really been a huge honor for him and has given him a great motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran actress Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday, and Charles regaled his wife with stories of his personal experiences with Taylor. He used to date Taylor\u2019s publicist and knew the actress well. He once picked up the massive 33-carat diamond that Richard Burton gave her.<\/p>\n

Charles is smiling a lot, upbeat, looking forward to the next day. Saturday, Cory Charles said, can\u2019t come soon enough for him. And though the effects of the cancer and the chemotherapy he\u2019s undergone are clear, Cory said Nick has never once worried about it and isn\u2019t ashamed for people to see him now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such a handsome guy with this beautiful, thick head of hair and was voted the sexiest sportscaster in the country, but he understands those things are just temporal,\u201d she said. \u201cThe thing that makes Nick Nick is what\u2019s inside of him. He\u2019s like no one else I\u2019ve ever met and he has this amazing presence about him. He\u2019s got such a great spirit and he\u2019s so interested in the world and in other people, and he makes everyone feel at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves people and loves learning about them and their lives. He\u2019s an effusive, caring guy and you\u2019re that kind of person whether or not you have a handsome smile and a gorgeous head of hair. He understands that it\u2019s what is inside of a person that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The voice isn\u2019t as booming and resonant as it once was and Charles now tires easily. The trip from Santa Fe to Atlantic City was burdensome because of all of the medications he had to pack and the precautions he had to take. Still, he never for a second considered rejecting Bernstein\u2019s offer. He\u2019s a broadcaster, after all, and this is boxing \u2013 the love of his life after his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose they\u2019re going to pay me for this, but I don\u2019t know, to be honest with you, because I never asked,\u201d Charles said. \u201cAnd to be honest with you, I don\u2019t care. This is such a wonderful sign of fidelity, friendship and respect. I love boxing and I love calling boxing, and for these people at HBO to do what they\u2019ve done and to give me another chance, I\u2019ll be honest: I\u2019m overwhelmed. I never, ever expected this and I am so thankful, I\u2019ll never really be able to express it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fighting cancer is tough, he acknowledges, both physically and mentally. But Cory Charles said that her husband\u2019s outlook strengthens everyone around her. He is dying, but he has had time to prepare for his death. He\u2019s making the most of whatever time he has left.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, the poor people in Japan who were caught up in that earthquake and the tsunami, they didn\u2019t have what Nick has,\u201d she said. \u201cThey woke up and went about their day and then, all of a sudden, they were gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese last 20 months have been emotionally draining, but Nick has been able to tell everyone who has been close to him how much he loves them. He\u2019s lived so much life in these last 20 months and squeezed in everything he could. He\u2019s taking advantage of every second he has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Bernstein said, the Garcia-Remillard fight is not a quick one. He hopes that Charles gets to call a long fight. Charles, though, will be happy no matter how good or how dull the fight is, whether it\u2019s a lengthy classic or a quick knockout.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I want to do justice to HBO and do a great broadcast because HBO has set such a high standard and people who tune in expect nothing less,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also want people to know that just because you may get cancer, it doesn\u2019t mean you stop fighting or stop living. I am a fighter and I\u2019m going to keep fighting until I can\u2019t fight anymore. That\u2019s just the way that I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Excerpt from:
\nCharles won’t go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has followed boxing for any length of time knows that fighters just can\u2019t quit. There is something in the ethos of the sport which brings them back. Joe Louis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-336348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nCharles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Charles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Anyone who has followed boxing for any length of time knows that fighters just can\u2019t quit. There is something in the ethos of the sport which brings them back. Joe Louis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Charles won’t go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-24T18:25:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\"},\"wordCount\":2114,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\",\"name\":\"Charles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-24T18:25:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Charles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Charles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Anyone who has followed boxing for any length of time knows that fighters just can\u2019t quit. There is something in the ethos of the sport which brings them back. Joe Louis.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Charles won’t go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports)","datePublished":"2011-03-24T18:25:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/"},"wordCount":2114,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/","name":"Charles won't go down without a fight (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-24T18:25:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/charles-wont-go-down-without-a-fight-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/14b6950b1300991365.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}