For the first time since his release from prison in 2009, Namibia boxing legend and two-time world champion, Harry “The Terminator” Simon, has publicly opened up about his trials and tribulations as a boxer and how prison impacted his outlook on life.
In his new book, titled Lifestyle and Treatments in Prison, the 47-year old Simon narrates how a horrific car accident in 2002 forever changed his life in and outside the boxing ring.
That car crash left three Belgian tourists – two adults and a baby – dead after their vehicle collided with Simon’s onrushing Mercedes-Benz at Langstrand, just between his birthplace of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
Simon remains one of Namibia’s most decorated fighters of all time and a former two-weight world champion. He lost his WBO world middleweight title owing to injuries sustained from the car accident, being stripped of the belt for failure to defend it.
After protracted legal battles, Simon was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2007. He was released in 2009 and immediately returned to action, recording several victories over journeyman opposition.
“The Terminator,” who to date remains undefeated with his record of 31 wins from the same number of fights, also stole headlines in 2013 at the Windhoek’s Ramatex Hall when he outsmarted Serbian boxer Geard Ajetović to clinch the vacant IBF International light heavyweight belt. He went on to successfully defend it against Ajetović again in 2014.
In his book, which was officially to be launched on Saturday but had to be postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Simon speaks about his ordeals in prison, how his fellow penitentiary inmates treated him and all other life lessons he drew from the 2002 horrific car accident, which changed his life forever.
Not only does Simon share his experiences from prison in his new offering, but he goes to great lengths to share essential pieces of advice on how to remain humble and focused when life is on your side, as one never knows what tomorrow holds.
In the 25-chaprter book, there is a part where Simon says: “My advice to everyone is to keep yourself away from things that will turn your normal life upside down due to imprisonment. Living such a life is hard and complicated more than one can imagine.”
On the back cover of the book, the blurb partly reads: “…he went from millionaire to a pedestrian, from luxury mansions in Walvis Bay to a prison cell. The torture, provocations, prison scandals, intimidations and negligence in prison is all detailed in this memoir.”
–NEWERALIVE.NA
