As we celebrate the holiday season, the Boxingtalk family pauses to remember a warrior who didn't live to see 2006. Julian Letterlough would have been 36 years old this week, but a senseless act of gun violence on a Reading, Pennsylvania street took his life earlier this year. Letterlough got a late start in the sport, turning pro at age 28, and he had a good but not great career, going 21-5-3 overall. He might have become a world champion had he been introduced to the sport earlier in life, but anyone who witnessed his epic 2001 battle with Julio Gonzalez doesn't have to be told that Letterlough had the heart of a champion if not the technical skills. More importantly than his record, Letterlough came out of prison and stayed out of prison, showing that boxing can be a vehicle to turn a troubled life around. According to a close friend of Letterlough's, the alleged shooter, a man named Kenneth Blunt, remains in prison without bail while he awaits trial. -Scott Shaffer
