We spent so much time demonizing athletes in sports that we forget just how much some of these people have overcome to get to this point. Take Lamont Peterson, for example. Peterson is fighting Amir Khan for the IBF and WBA light welterweight titles at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. He also grew up in the city.
But did you know that he spent a year and a half as a child homeless? Sometimes, he slept in friend's homes. Sometimes, he slept in station wagons. Sometimes, he slept in Greyhound bus stations. Sometimes, he just wandered the streets and didn't sleep at all. All this when he was a child. Truthfully, Peterson is lucky to be alive, much less fighting in D.C.'s first HBO fight in 18 years.
This video by B.J. Koubaroulis of the Washington Post is stirring. Well worth the watch.
For more on the Khan vs. Peterson fight, visit that StoryStream, Bad Left Hook and MMA Nation.