The Next Bout for Wrongly-Convicted Boxer Dewey Bozella — Transcript

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1. 0:01I'm guaranteed either dying in prison or
2. 0:04walking out in the box.
3. 0:06Dewey Bazella spent 26 years in prison
4. 0:10for a murder he did not commit. That
5. 0:13moment when you were in the courtroom
6. 0:16and you were
7. 0:17convicted. What did that feel like? I'll
8. 0:20put it to you like this. It was so
9. 0:22devastating. I fell on the floor and
10. 0:24just started crying. I couldn't believe
11. 0:26that they convicted me with nothing. He
12. 0:28got 20 years to life. Time and time
13. 0:32again, he was offered deals to shorten
14. 0:35his sentence if he just admitted that he
15. 0:38did it. Can't do it. I can't tell you
16. 0:41something I didn't do. I'm
17. 0:43sorry. And so I I made my conviction was
18. 0:46that I'd rather die than tell you I did
19. 0:48it.
20. 0:50Then two years ago, they found new
21. 0:53evidence. Dewey Bazella was set free.
22. 0:57took all them years, 32 years it took
23. 1:00for me to prove my innocence and was
24. 1:01finally over. So that was the blessing.
25. 1:03That was the gift. That was my second
26. 1:04chance at life. Boxing helped save him
27. 1:07in prison. Without it, I don't I I I
28. 1:10know I wouldn't be the same person I am
29. 1:12today. Dwey had a dream when he became a
30. 1:14free man. One professional fight. 30
31. 1:18seconds. 30 seconds. Bernard Hopkins is
32. 1:22giving him that chance.
33. 1:26It's a gift. I'm I'm happy. I'm, you
34. 1:28know, like, thank you.
35. 1:31Thank you for, you know, letting me see
36. 1:32that, you know, dreams can happen.
37. 1:35All of the emotions and everything that
38. 1:37you've had bottled up inside you for all
39. 1:39these years. Is this going to come out
40. 1:41in the ring that night? Do every single
41. 1:43thing in my possibility as a human being
42. 1:46to not
43. 1:47lose. I refuse to lose.
44. 1:51Dwey also refuses to be angry. Society
45. 1:55owes me nothing. I owe society. If I
46. 1:57have something to offer back to society,
47. 1:59then all the blessings will come back.
48. 2:01But if I offered nothing but negativity
49. 2:03to society, the only one I hurt is
50. 2:04myself and the people that are around
51. 2:06me.