Boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter has died at the age of 76.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a middleweight boxing contender who spent 19 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of a triple murder. Rubin Carter died today in Toronto, according to a representative for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. Carter, 76, reportedly died of complications from prostate cancer.
His story inspired at least a half dozen books, including his own autobiography entitled “The Sixteenth Round”. A major motion picture that opened years after Carter’s release would earn actor Denzel Washington his fourth Oscar nomination.
“God bless Rubin Carter and his tireless fight to ensure justice for all,” Washington said Sunday.
The 1999 film played a key role in introducing Carter to an audience that had not followed his two-decade legal saga, but the ex-boxer said Washington, in a way, also introduced him to himself.