Emanuel Augustus may not be a household name, and he may even be considered a journeyman to some, but as a fan of the sport of boxing, you couldn't have asked for a more exciting journey from the always entertaining veteran, who plans on lacing up the gloves for the last time this weekend. When Tim Coleman was forced to pull out of his scheduled bout against undefeated prospect Vernon Paris (23-0, 14KOs) on the undercard of this Saturday's super fight between Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley, the promoters scrambled to search for a replacement, but it didn't take them long to find a worthy opponent. In typical Augustus fashion, he gladly accepted the fight against Paris on less than 2-weeks notice. It's a situation that he's become all too familiar with as Emanuel likely needs only one hand to count the number of times he's had a full training camp for a bout during his 77-fight career.
Augustus may be best known for his valiant efforts time and time again on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. Winning the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights awards for Fight of The Decade and Most Memorable fighter, his most memorable bout was a 2001 showdown with Micky Ward. Although Augustus, who was known as Emanuel Burton at the time, lost a 10-round unanimous decision, the fight was voted Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year. Less than one year prior to that, Augustus gave undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather all he could handle before his own corner stopped the bout in the 9th round. To this day, Mayweather still calls that his toughest fight to date. With a flashy, unorthodox, and yet affective style, Augustus always had a way of making opponents and referees confused as fans cheered him on.
Shortly after accepting his latest bout, Augustus took to his Facebook page to announce to his fans that this would indeed be the last fight of his career. Fed up with the politics of boxing, the on-call road warrior has made the decision to step into the squared circle one final time to bid farewell after nearly 17 years in the sport. Hopefully, HBO will do the right thing and televise his bout with Paris, giving fans an opportunity to say goodbye to a fighter who deserves just as much recognition as a Micky Ward or an Arturo Gatti. Augustus has vowed to exit the sport the same way he entered it...with guns blazing. Considering that fans are drawn more to exciting fights than trumped up records, the stage is set for one of the most exciting and eccentric fighters of this era to exit in style on HBO. Don't be fooled by his 38-33-6 record! Augustus can flat out fight and he can entertain even more. So what do you say HBO? Let's bid a proper farewell to the "Drunken Master". At the very least, if it's Vernon Paris who has the good night, it will increase his exposure as a rising star, something that the network will need more of should more fighters decide to follow Manny Pacquiao's exodus to rival network Showtime.
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