What became of Rufus Hurricane Hadley?

In the late 1970s, Former Marine, Rufus Hadley was a budding amateur heavyweight carving a reputation onto the Detroit boxing scene.. In 1979 by the tender age of 18 Hadley found himself representing his country in the Pan American Games, miraculously reaching the semi finals where would face the legendary Teofilo Stevenson. Although the fearsome Cuban knocked out the youngster in a single round, an appearance on this kind of platform was a moral Victory for Rufus.. The tall handsome 220 pounder turned pro in 1983, and within 3 years would rack up an unbeaten run of 10 fights including notable victories over Rick Keller and Donnie Long.. The 4th round knockout of Long came only months after the tough Ohio man had fallen in front of future champ Mike Tyson.. By the time Tyson had captured a portion of the title in the November of 1986, Hadley had just scored another knockout of one of the champions former victims, Sammy Scaff.. a month later Rufus Hadley was on the champions payroll.. As a sparring partner Hadley proved invaluable, not only to Mike, but for the whole camp morale.. Rufus was an eccentric character, a hysterical comedian who often featured on the Las Vegas standup circuit along with a penchant for hairdressing, serving as an unlikely camp barber.. I remember Hadley mostly from being around the Las Vegas gyms in the late 80s, he’d been part of team Tyson for at least 4 title defences and appeared a more successful spar-hand than his professional fighter in his own right.. By 1989 Hadley had wrapped up his own career following losses to promising fighters Orlin Norris and Michael Williams, with a closing record of 10-4-1 (8 Ko’s). Rufus still hung in familiar surroundings with guys like James Broad and Jesse Ferguson, was always impeccably dressed and made great first impressions wherever he went, I remember standing next to him in Johnny Toccos gym, eager to get a glimpse of Michael Dokes who was getting ready for the Holyfield fight, very often he’d let out a random shreak whenever a clean shot found its mark, a trait he often carried into his own sparring, a rarer more unique character you’d struggle to find..
I lost touch with Rufus in 1991, but kept occasional contact with guys from camp like Tyrone Armstrong and James Broad, but based on past appearances, I often pictured Hadley sitting somewhere smoking a cigar with a huge smile on his face surrounded by a gang of young offspring..

Two and a half decades later as I thumbed through some old photographs, I thought for a moment about Rufus Hadley, acting on my reminiscent nature I googled his name to see if any recent photos emerged from possible social media activity.. unfortunately something else emerged which I hadn’t prepared myself for, a recent unfiltered photo of a grinning black man, with shrunken ageing features next to a caption, 55 year old Rufus Hadley, Missing since 2015.. The Detroit press release detailed how the former talented fighter, was now 80% legally registered blind and was now diagnosed as Bi-polar. In November 2015 Hadley was admitted to hospital by family members following a fall at home, but in bizarre circumstances had literally walked straight out of the building and literally disappeared.. The last report was of a 6 foot 4 Male weighing 200 pounds, wearing a black and gold Phat Farm jacket and black cargo pants was missing, last seen in the Detroit area.. I have yet to discover what became of Rufus, he’d be 58 by now, and I’m still in the process of researching police reports to uncover the conclusion to the story.. Very rarely is the story of former professional sparring partners an optimistic one, but the stark reality of the decline of this once handsome athletes health paired with the uncertainty of his future is shocking.. I’m praying for a happy ending to this episode..