Luton-based American boxer Manny Muhammad received a standing ovation from fellow pros at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town yesterday, when he arrived for a training session ahead of his upcoming July 5th fight.
Manny seemed more than a little surprised that anyone at the gym should even be aware of his daring rescue of a reverend, who had been trapped under a car following a collision.
However, the power of social networking sites came into play, after local Hertfordshire newspaper headlines, praising his heroic actions, were posted on Facebook.
Manny, who also works as a personal trainer at a local gym in Luton, had been making his way to work along Castle Street when he heard the crash, between Reverend Mike Jones, who was riding his bicycle, and a car.
Manny and taxi driver Zulfiqar Afsar ran to the aid of the stricken reverend, who was trapped, along with his bicycle, underneath the car.
Both men managed to lift the car off Reverend Jones so that others could pull him clear and tend for him whilst they awaited the emergency services arrival.
Following his training session, at the East London fight factory, Manny seemed surprised that he was being hailed a hero, as he made clear when he said.
“You know sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time and that’s exactly what happened.
I was on my way to take care of some of my clients, because I also do personal training at the gym, and I literally just parked my car and was walking towards the gym.
I heard a smash, bang and then hear someone screaming, so I try and figure out what is going on, didn’t take that much notice really, but as I turn my head I see someone trapped under a car.
A couple of people were also rushing toward the incident, so luckily another innocent by-passer assisted me lifting the car off the guy, we literally lift the car off him as he it was lodged on top of him and his bike.
So we had to lift the car, there was another big power lifter guy, luckily he was there also, so he helped me lift the car off the vicar so we could get him from under the car.
I have to give a lot of credit to the emergency services, because they were there pretty swiftly, helicopter and everything, they stabilized him, he was in pretty bad shape, but luckily he didn’t have any spinal injuries or anything like that or it could have been a lot worse.
I was kinda worried about moving him, because of that, you don’t want to aggravate a spinal or neck injury, so hopefully he’s doing alright now.
I guess all our training paid off, the power lifter and myself as it wasn’t a small car, it was a four door saloon, I guess God gave us the strength that day.
It all happened so fast, when you leave the house you don’t expect that you would be lifting a car of a priest, it’s definitely something I don’t want to see again, it makes you think that you should be thankful to get home sometimes, you just don’t expect things like this, but at the end of the day I’m just glad I was able to help.”
