02-01-2015, 02:43 PM
Disgraced fighter Robbie Berridge on road to redemption
STEVE KILGALLON
Regretful: Robert Berridge says he is working to save his marriage.
"I hate myself for what I've done," says top boxer Robert 'The Butcher' Berridge. "This is the pits. This is rock-bottom."
Six months ago, Berridge was New Zealand's highest-ranked boxer. Now, the only fight he's interested in is saving his marriage and his own emotional health.
Berridge is a fortnight into a family violence course after losing his promotional contract and almost his marriage after a drunken night at last December's Fight for Life.
Berridge says he blacked out and has almost no memory of the evening. He also admits to being abusive and aggressive towards the sister of fellow professional boxer Joe Blackbourne, and rude to other guests, and to attempting to leap from a car at 100kmh an hour and "lashing out" at Renee and his manager, Vasco Kovacevic.
Kovacevic left Berridge beside a field somewhere between Hamilton and Auckland and he had to walk and hitch-hike home.
Berridge says he rarely drinks - and has pledged to stay sober for the whole of 2015 - but made a bad decision to drink when invited to Fight for Life as a guest of his promoters, Duco Events. "But it's no excuse for anything I did. I fully regret having that first glass of wine."
Berridge says he was "rude and slightly aggressive" towards Blackbourne's sister after she overheard his conversation, and was loud and rude to others that evening. He intends to apologise.
On the way home, he decided to leap from Kovacevic's car at full speed as it drove north on State Highway One to Auckland. Kovacevic said he heard the door open and hit the brakes hard; Berridge jumped out and was "pretty much incoherent".
He then ran away up a hillside in a farm paddock. When his wife and manager tried to get him back to the car, he says: "I lashed out, and my wife was on the receiving end . . . she was all right, just shaken . . . it's pretty hard to talk about, eh." Kovacevic says Berridge flailed his arms wildly when they tried to put him back in the car, so they decided to leave him.
Berridge says he realised what he had done, and walked and hitch-hiked home, with his wife returning in the early hours to pick him up on the outskirts of the city.
He immediately looked up the government anti-violence It's Not Ok! website, found a Living without Violence course near his North Shore home and enrolled, having his first one-on-one session three days later. He is now on a 20-week course. Already it has taught him he has "a few issues".
He says he's lucky that his wife stood by him against her parents' advice and he has been working hard to regain their collective trust.
Shortly after the incident, Duco cancelled his contract, which still had four years to run: "Duco helped me out, I still respect them," says Berridge. "I am the one who messed up."
It leaves Berridge without a backer or any imminent fights. It seems likely he will pair up with Duco's rivals Sky Arena, but he and Kovacevic agree he's not mentally ready to return to the ring.
But first, he says, he has work to do. His wife didn't want him to go public, but he felt he needed to own up. "I want to apologise to my wife and family, to the people it has affected and to my supporters and fans," he said.
Kovacevic says he would have quit as Berridge's manager if he hadn't taken action. "He needed to explain his actions and the steps he's taking right now are, I believe, the correct steps."
Last year, Berridge was ranked number 10 light-heavyweight with the World Boxing Organisation, the best ranking of any Kiwi fighter, but his professional fight record of 23-1-1 was sullied by a fifth-round knockout by Russian Vasily Lepikhin in Pennsylvania in August.
- Stuff
STEVE KILGALLON
Regretful: Robert Berridge says he is working to save his marriage.
"I hate myself for what I've done," says top boxer Robert 'The Butcher' Berridge. "This is the pits. This is rock-bottom."
Six months ago, Berridge was New Zealand's highest-ranked boxer. Now, the only fight he's interested in is saving his marriage and his own emotional health.
Berridge is a fortnight into a family violence course after losing his promotional contract and almost his marriage after a drunken night at last December's Fight for Life.
Berridge says he blacked out and has almost no memory of the evening. He also admits to being abusive and aggressive towards the sister of fellow professional boxer Joe Blackbourne, and rude to other guests, and to attempting to leap from a car at 100kmh an hour and "lashing out" at Renee and his manager, Vasco Kovacevic.
Kovacevic left Berridge beside a field somewhere between Hamilton and Auckland and he had to walk and hitch-hike home.
Berridge says he rarely drinks - and has pledged to stay sober for the whole of 2015 - but made a bad decision to drink when invited to Fight for Life as a guest of his promoters, Duco Events. "But it's no excuse for anything I did. I fully regret having that first glass of wine."
Berridge says he was "rude and slightly aggressive" towards Blackbourne's sister after she overheard his conversation, and was loud and rude to others that evening. He intends to apologise.
On the way home, he decided to leap from Kovacevic's car at full speed as it drove north on State Highway One to Auckland. Kovacevic said he heard the door open and hit the brakes hard; Berridge jumped out and was "pretty much incoherent".
He then ran away up a hillside in a farm paddock. When his wife and manager tried to get him back to the car, he says: "I lashed out, and my wife was on the receiving end . . . she was all right, just shaken . . . it's pretty hard to talk about, eh." Kovacevic says Berridge flailed his arms wildly when they tried to put him back in the car, so they decided to leave him.
Berridge says he realised what he had done, and walked and hitch-hiked home, with his wife returning in the early hours to pick him up on the outskirts of the city.
He immediately looked up the government anti-violence It's Not Ok! website, found a Living without Violence course near his North Shore home and enrolled, having his first one-on-one session three days later. He is now on a 20-week course. Already it has taught him he has "a few issues".
He says he's lucky that his wife stood by him against her parents' advice and he has been working hard to regain their collective trust.
Shortly after the incident, Duco cancelled his contract, which still had four years to run: "Duco helped me out, I still respect them," says Berridge. "I am the one who messed up."
It leaves Berridge without a backer or any imminent fights. It seems likely he will pair up with Duco's rivals Sky Arena, but he and Kovacevic agree he's not mentally ready to return to the ring.
But first, he says, he has work to do. His wife didn't want him to go public, but he felt he needed to own up. "I want to apologise to my wife and family, to the people it has affected and to my supporters and fans," he said.
Kovacevic says he would have quit as Berridge's manager if he hadn't taken action. "He needed to explain his actions and the steps he's taking right now are, I believe, the correct steps."
Last year, Berridge was ranked number 10 light-heavyweight with the World Boxing Organisation, the best ranking of any Kiwi fighter, but his professional fight record of 23-1-1 was sullied by a fifth-round knockout by Russian Vasily Lepikhin in Pennsylvania in August.
- Stuff