"My first question was would I be able to fight
again"
Kevin Palmer
WBC's No. 3 middleweight contender
The road back to
Tuesday’s fight, in which he improved to 22-0-1 with 14 knockouts, was a
long and arduous one. Learning of the slipped disc was bad enough. That led to
two operations -- one of which failed --over the last three months of 1999, then
six months of rehab.
“My first question was would I be able to fight again," said Palmer, a
petty officer second class assigned to Fleet Activities Security at Yokosuka.
Non-athletes are generally discouraged from having surgery to repair herniated
discs. In Palmer's case, if he wished to continue fighting, it was necessary.
There was a lot at stake. Palmer was ranked No. 3 by the World Boxing Council,
and he and his manager, Kentaro Kaneko, had been seeking a world title bout.
Assured that with the proper rehab, he could continue his eight-year ring
career, he went ahead with the surgery, which took place in November at Tripler
Army Hospital in Hawaii.
It wouldn’t be
his last visit to Tripler. Just before Christmas, the disc reherniated and he
was rushed back to Hawaii.
“It was not a
very good Christmas,” Palmer said.
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