NY Post: Austin Trout enters ring with a heavy heart

The theme of Brooklyn heritage runs deep in Saturday’s boxing card at Barclays Center. Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi, who will meet in the main event, were both born and honed their boxing skills in Brooklyn. But it’s Austin Trout who might carry the most emotional connection to the borough when he enters the ring to regain the WBA junior middleweight title.

Trout was born in Texas and raised in Las Cruces, but his grandmother Wilhelmina Ann Johnson was a native of Brooklyn, as was Trout’s mother and a host of other relatives. He would visit the borough, often spending as much time as he could with the grandmother he cherished.

When Trout lost his WBA junior middleweight title to Canelo Alvarez last April before 40,000 in San Antonio, Trout’s grandmother was in a coma after suffering a heart attack. But a month later and following some difficult rehabilitation, she was back on her feet. Her goal was to attend her grandson’s wedding in May in New Mexico.

She later died.

To read the complete story in the New York Post, click here.