Emmanuel Augustus shot and in critical condition

[amat]

This sucks. I don't know Augustus but he is a part of my freaking childhood. I was born in 1990. My dad and oldest brother have always been decent boxing fans. I remember vaguely the fight with Ward. That's how I knew of Ward. When he went to face Gatti, I watched it live as a child.

Augustus though, by the product of his name change, was a source of confusion for us until about 2004 when the internet became a big part of our lives. I was starting to sprout as a young man, my dad looked to me to go on the computer to find out if Emanuel Augustus was Emanuel Burton. He was. I knew them as different people but my Dad always knew the truth but was never able to confirm without the internet's help and that's what I was there for. That's pretty much when I became the boxing dork I still am today, I would show my friends videos of Augustus. He was fun, and I was able to use Augustus to make them take an interest in boxing. Suddenly all of them were pretty sure Jeff Lacy was was gonna beat Joe Calzaghe. I was a freshman, Peter already lost to Klitschko. Was Taylor gonna beat Hopkins? My high school friends had conversations about this stuff! None of it happens without Augustus! Not kidding, it was because of the .GIFS I put on my Myspace as a highschooler of Emanuel Augustus. It's surreal typing this out.

If Emmanuel Augustus had his life turned into a motion picture, it would probably be called "Robbed." He *may* have just robbed of his life and this is one decision that I won't forget about so soon. My childhood might be robbed alongside him. Fuck.