Clifford Etienne “The Black Rhino” Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison

24.06.06 - By Craig Parrish: In a sad tale, Clifford Etienne, nicknamed “The Black Rhino”, has been sentenced to 150 years in prison due to his involvement in a crime spree in Baton Rouge. Etienne, who in his career fought the likes of Mike Tyson and Nikolay Valuev, learned to box in prison and now returns to those roots from where he sprang into the boxing world. He was convicted in March for a robbery of a check cashing business, then, in a desperate move he hijacked a car with two children inside before being apprehended when he wrecked the stolen vehicle.. According to police, Ettienne attempted to fire at them but his weapon jammed. A jury did not believe his defense team’s claim that Etienne did not know what he was doing due to drugs and sentenced him to 150 years, without the possibility of parole.

Ettienne has previously served 10 years in prison for armed robbery. He was paroled in 1998 and began his professional boxing career. Mike Tyson destroyed Etienne in a bout that lasted 49 seconds, and current WBA Champ Nikolay Valuev scored a 3rd round KO over the “Black Rhino” on May 14th, 2005.

Often in boxing we hear inspirational tales of men who come from prison and conquer the heights of our sport, such as Bernard Hopkins. Other times, we read of sad tales of fighters like Etienne on the last page of the sports section

This is one of those stories.