The name has changed – from Celebrity Boxing to Celebrity Sports and Entertainment. And yes, the Celebrity Boxing title does elicit laughs and the rolling of eyes from most boxing fans. But that cannot diminish the excitement that Todd Poulton feels when he even speaks about walking into the ring. At 46-years-old, Poulton is living his dream, and nobody can take that away from him.

Some of you might remember an interview that I did with Todd just a little over a year ago. He was about to step into the ring for his first professional boxing match at the age of 45, facing off against Chris George. He won that fight. In fact, he is 4-1 (4 KO’s). His only loss came to Jose Canseco, who has actually become a good friend of Poulton’s.

“I went the distance with him,” he told me. “It was like a Rocky story. I had friends coming up to me before hand and saying, ‘You know Todd, you don’t owe us anything, don’t even come out of the dressing room!’ Canseco was 275 pounds, with a 91” reach, compared to my 69 inches.

“I made it through the fight but woke up in the hospital. I passed out right after the fight. The doctor asked me if I knew what happened and I told him that I had been in a car accident.” Well, kind of!

This time Poulton is supposed to fight the infamous (for all the wrong reasons) Rodney King, but there was some talk about him being in trouble yet again, so there might be a last minute substitute. “I’ve been training hard and looking forward to it. I’d like Rodney because I’ve trained for him, but a different opponent would be OK. And right after that fight my promoter has talked me into doing a Battle Royal Rumble, the same night, with 10 wrestlers.”

The biggest story for Todd remains his battle with OCD, which he is more than willing to talk about. He feels that it is very important to bring more attention, and with that understanding, to this disorder. Over the years Poulton has found many ways to keep his attention on other things and not be smothered by his OCD. One of those is working out.

“If I was to retire today I would stay in the exercise mode because that seems to help the OCD that I’ve got. The more I work out, I can kind of keep my mind off of the other stuff. It’s a huge mental health issue. A lot of people suffer from it and they’re afraid to come out and talk about it. They don’t want to be labeled mentally retarded, when really it’s a mental health issue.”

So while Todd is fulfilling one of his dreams by stepping into the ring, he would love to be able to educate the public about OCD and what it means to those both affected by it, and living with someone suffering from it. A big problem for him is that he will not touch a computer, which really limits him to contacts and communication.

He has had some conversations with a prominent television show about appearing, and they were stunned when they found out that he would not touch a computer.

“I couldn’t, no matter how much money was offered to do so. What is really bad is that, because I am so obsessive and I’ll go and go and go, that if ever I was a computer guy, I’d already be on a show, because I’d never let up!”

But that is in the future. For now his focus is on Rodney King, or a possible replacement, and the fight that looms ahead of him this Friday night. I want to thank him for his time, and wish him the best of luck, in that and any other endeavor he may choose.

Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.