Glass Joe
In his heart, Glass Joe was a boxer. He knew he was born to box. In 1982 he stepped into the local gym just a few blocks from his home in Paris, France and immediately fell in love with the boxing ring.
His small height and slender build made him a tenacious opponent. He rose quickly in the amateur ranks, taking out opponents int he super-fly weight category. Things were sailing along for Joe until he got to the United States in late 1984.
The spiral down hill was swift and painful. Never winning a another match, the final crushing blow was losing to a small, brunette kid named Li’l Mac. Knocked out in record time, Joe says of that match, “Everything was over in an instant. I took 0ne good uppercut swing, Mac dodged me and then proceeded to fuck me up with left-right cross jabs and then he punched me in the gut. I saw stars, and then he wound up and knocked me out. I think the match was over in about 25 seconds.”
After the match Joe returned home to Paris, and struggled for next 20 years to find an identity outside the ring. Last week rumors surfaced that Joe had switched to a life of in the theater. I confirmed with Joe via international telephone call that he indeed was working in the French National Theatre’s production of The Outsiders: The Musical.
Stay Gold.
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