One Title Lost, Two Found For Down But Not Out Boxer

By David Greene

Like the roller-coaster life he has lived until now, former middleweight boxing champion Iran "The Blade" Barkley, who recently regained one lost title belt, has now learned he will be getting a second belt--19 years after defeating Thomas "The Hit-Man" Hearns.

Barkley, 50, lost his first belt, the WBC Middleweight Championship belt he'd won from Hearns with Ring Magazine's "Upset of The Year" performance in 1988, back in October when a relative changed the locks to the family home at the Patterson Houses on Third Avenue.

The fighter would get a box of his possessions, minus the coveted belt. Barkley recalled, "I had it where I kept it." He reported the theft of the missing belt on October 28, and the NYPD released a photo of the belt to media outlets on December 8.

Barkley's Middleweight belt was recovered recently after it was
 sold to a sports memorabilia dealer. (Photo by David Greene)

Days later, a sports memorabilia dealer would contact Barkley and return the belt, Barkley recalled, "He didn't want no part of this and gave me back my property." Barkley thanked the man as well as the detectives at the 41st Precinct. Barkley declined to give the seller's name, in hopes of saving what family ties remain.

Barkley now says, "I don't have anything to say, it's a new year now and I'm just going to go on with my life, and I'm going to look forward to something new and better."

"Winning the belt was a great feeling," Barkley says of his first title, now holding his prized green belt with both hands, with Hearns' name written on it in magic marker. He continued, "Knowing that there was a lot of people, believing that I couldn't do it."