‘The Harry Simon I used to be’
NAMIBIA’S boxing legend Harry ‘ The Terminator’ Simon remains unbeaten but he is not the man he once was. Everything changed when the car he was driving in 2002 killed a child and two other passengers. He talks to John Evans of Boxing News. But one thing remains and it’s the fact that there is a weight to Harry Simon’s voice. “Sometimes people ask me, ‘How are you, champ?’ and I think to myself, ‘Champ? Where is that boy? I want to see that boy again.’ I have to remind myself that it’s me. I want to know what happened to him. I tell my children this and I always break down when I tell them what happened. When people say they want to see the champ I look at myself in the mirror and tell myself ‘Harry, come on. This is still you, man’.” Simon will at all times be ‘Champ.’ It is a title fighters proudly carry into old age, long after many belts are consigned to the trophy cupboard. Whether uttered by a buddy or stranger in the streets, that one easy phrase is an instantaneous reminder of who that particular person was. But the phrase haunts Simon. Allowing himself to remember the man he once was means confronting the reason why that assured, brash character no longer exists.
Thursday, 21 November, 2002. The occasions of that autumn day will likely be eternally burned into Simon’s thoughts. He spent the day exhibiting a documentary movie crew round his hometown of Walvis Bay in Namibia. He laboured out for the cameras, took them to the bank to film him counting his cash and drove them over to some close by sand dunes in his new Mercedes. Later that night that very same Mercedes was involved in a head-on collision with another car and three Belgian vacationers – together with a child – died. In 2005, Simon was held responsible for culpable homicide. Two years later, he went to jail. These days, he’s recognised for greater than being ‘Champ’.
“I lost everything. It’s hard to talk about. It is too painful. I remember it very well. You try to forget but now and then you remember it,” Simon tells Boxing News.
“Life was nice. I used to travel a lot. My children were all small, life was good. The only regret I have is that after the car accident I had, my life instantly changed. I have washed my hands of it. I have forgiven myself. I moved on. When I talk about it, it hurts me to remember that day but I’m clear. I have made peace with myself and I have made peace with everyone else. When I talk about it I can’t help but fascinate about what happened to the Harry Simon I used to be? His life was crushed in 2002 and it has not been the same. I didn’t take any alcohol. I was driving from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund along a long beach. I could see a car ahead. I could see the lights. I was relaxing talking to my friend and then boom. I didn’t even have time to brake. I didn’t overtake.”
“Everybody hated me. I couldn’t understand it. This was a mishap. I didn’t do it purposefully. It wasn’t in my will. I had everything I needed. I had my own home and car. I had a little bit of deposit. I didn’t owe any person. Why should I attempt to kill myself or eliminate other people?”
Namibia is a stunning but barren country. Walvis Bay sits out on the west coast where the desert runs into the ocean. In April 2001– 17 months before the crash which would destroy his career– two Namibians died when Simon’s car hit them from behind at high speed.
It’s said that in the middle of a near-death experience your life flashes prior to your eyes but from the moment his Mercedes came to a juddering halt, Simon has actually replayed over and over on an agonising loop.
Simon’s daddy was never ever an aspect in his life and he lost his mom when he was four years old. Look at the method I went through my entire profession,” Simon stated.
The fantastic Ronald “Winky” Wright was 38-1 when Simon came from no place to take his WBO super-welterweight title and dangerous punchers Kevin Lueshing and Wayne Alexander were swept aside in ruthless style by Simon.
“I do not understand how fast I was driving [during the second crash] and I don’t even think I was speeding. It was simply an accident. People talk about witchcraft but I do not believe in that. I think the accident simply happened and it was perhaps implied to be”
Simon uses the word ‘I’ a lot. However, he wasn’t the victim. He might have lost his profession but others lost much more. The good news is that there is a refining change to his tone.
“Namibia is such a little country. Nearly every second individual understands me. I constantly say that even an unidentified infant knows me. They do have big regard for me,” he said.
“There are great deals of people like soccer players and all that but there are only two heroes here. They don’t get the attention that I and Frankie Fredericks [the Olympic medallist] get. If we talk about individuals who have actually raised Namibia globally it is me and Frankie, there are a lot of soccer and netball stars but I am happy to say that”
He grew up in poverty and did what he could to generate income. He found a skill for combating when he was “a naughty kid” on the street. “I’m not naturally talented. I’m gifted. It is a present from God. Why do I say I’m gifted? Look at the way I went through my entire profession,” Simon stated.
A streak of knockouts bought him to the attention of Sports Network and he invested 18 months boxing in the UK and Ireland, appearing on Naseem Hamed undercards and investing much of his time training at the Peacock Gym in East London. The kid who matured with nothing in a remote station of the boxing world was being connected with the most significant names in the sport. He started to feel and act as though he had made it.
He is now 45 years of age and is still active and holds the world record for the longest unbeaten run in professional boxing. He has dreams of training five world champs and has hopes that son, Harry Simon Jnr, can duplicate his success.