At 21, a tragic end for 'Izzy'
Izzadeen Burgos, who lost an arm as a child but boxed at the Blue Horizon, was murdered Sunday.
EDWIN "BO" DIAZ studied the boy who walked into the Feltonville gym where he was dishing out boxing lessons to neighborhood kids.
Izzadeen Burgos was quiet, shy, wide-eyed. And he had one arm.
Diaz, a Philadelphia police officer, already knew Izzy's story. He'd lost his left arm at age 2 when his father, Dennis Burgos, shot him with a high-powered hunting rifle.
The boy overcame gruesome, life-threatening injuries. He stood before Diaz that spring day in 2005 because wanted to learn how to box.
"I figured, 'Hey, why not?' " Diaz said yesterday.
After a few months of training, Diaz arranged for Burgos, then 12 years old, to go three rounds against another adolescent boxer at the Blue Horizon, a sight that brought a roomful of tough-as-nails boxing fans to tears.
It was an amazing moment, a living, breathing testament to the strength of the human spirit.
But in the years that followed, Burgos lost his way. Court records show that he had several run-ins with the law, and served prison sentences on drug and assault charges.
And shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday, Burgos, 21, was gunned down outside of his home on Wingohocking Street near Lawrence in Feltonville.
He died a few hours later at Temple University Hospital. Detectives yesterday had no suspects or motives in the slaying.
According to initial news reports, Burgos was shot in the face in front of his father, who a state prisons spokeswoman said was released on parole in March.
Dennis Burgos was sentenced to 10 to 25 years behind bars for shooting his son in 1996. Relatives long insisted the shooting had been an accident. Police officials said at the time that Dennis Burgos had claimed his son had shot himself, even though the hunting rifle was taller than the toddler.
Burgos' family could not be reached for comment yesterday. Candles and a large photo of a bearded, tattooed Burgos marked the spot on the corner where he was slain.
Diaz, now retired from the police force, said Burgos' story "was like a 'Rocky' movie. Izzy had this incredible will to live, and a tremendous punch. We called him the 'Bionic Arm.' "
Reporter Joseph Santoliquito, who documented Burgos' inspirational appearance at the Blue Horizon in stories for ESPN.com and Ring Magazine, recalled it in an interview yesterday.
"People were shocked. Here's this kid with one arm, boxing in the ring," he said. "It was very courageous. There was not a dry eye at ringside."
Santoliquito wrote a book about the boy's remarkable journey, but a potential publisher backed off when rumors began to surface that Burgos' life was drifting in the wrong direction.
Diaz said he tried to reach out to Burgos over the years, offering him a job at a cafe to keep him out of trouble.
City prisons spokeswoman Shawn Hawes said Burgos was released from jail last September after serving time on an aggravated-assault conviction.
"He could have been a champion for the handicapped, but he had this downfall," Diaz said.
"It's a sad story," he said. "I've been getting calls from guys who feel like they should have done more for him. But in the end, everyone's responsible for themselves."
- Staff writer Dana DiFilippo
contributed to this report.