Book:  Unclaimed Destiny "The Heart of a Champion" by Rusty Roseberger June 27, 2011

In “Heart of a Champion,” boxer Rusty Rosenberger tells his story of how he was cheated out of the World Title by his manager Lou Duva. In 1979, Rusty had already become the New Jersey Middleweight Boxing Champion. He was well on the road to his goal of the World Title when his manager encouraged him to rapidly lose weight and then take some pills right before the title bout, held inside of Giants Stadium. Rusty trusted Lou because he felt that as his manager, he should have his best interests at heart. Reflecting back, Rusty realizes that Lou was giving him a lot of bad advice, even prior to the pills.

Shortly after Rusty lost the bout, he realized that he had no recollection of what happened during the event and for several days after. A short period later he was hospitalized with severe head pain. Rusty almost died. He acquired brain damage as a result of this. It affected his speech permanently. Rusty also had an injury that affected his vision. In spite of his losses, Rusty never gave up. He continued to fight when he could. He also started a Boxercise program that involved getting non-boxers into a fitness program. He developed a program that allowed people to box without getting hit in the head. This allowed him to continue his fitness program and be able to box without doing further damage to his head.

While all this was happening, Rusty and his wife had six children. Two died very young with horrible illnesses. They had to overcome the pain of losing the two boys and Rusty’s betrayal by Lou. Rusty also had some bad luck with employment, so there were many times that finances were really tight. He continued on, and kept up his fighting spirit.

This is a "must read" for  boxers who are just getting started. It will help them to be more aware of what kind of advice they are taking. Boxing fans will also love Rusty’s inspirational story. In spite of the bad things that happened, he also had some incredible experiences and you enjoy reading about his successes. As a martial artist, Rusty’s story instilled a greater sense of perseverance in me. With all that Rusty went through, he keeps training. How can I, who have had a few, minor injuries stop training? I really am glad that Rusty shared his story, he is an inspiration.

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