Lack of fingers, feet doesn’t stop boxer from Ohio

MADISON TOWNSHIP (AP) — George Wilson III is concerned about his left jab. An amateur boxer, Wilson, 21, checks in at a trim 170 pounds, but his left fist includes just one finger because of a birth defect.

“When you punch, you want all four knuckles,” Wilson said, demonstrating against his cheek with his right hand, which has four abnormally short fingers. “My trainer and I are thinking about taping up the left more, to form a real fist.”

Not only is Wilson lacking five digits, he lacks both feet too, getting by on prostheses and persistence. Unemployed, boxing has become a way to keep busy, but, the truth is, he just started. Before that, he was too busy learning to weld.

“When he first came in here I was a little anxious,” said Bob Adams, his 62-year-old teacher.

Adams has taught a nighttime welding class at Madison Comprehensive High School for 19 years. Wilson walked in a little less than a year ago and graduated in November.

“I was nervous about it until he showed me that he’s been learning how to deal with it his whole life,” Adams, a retired Ideal Electric staff welder, said. “As far as his ability to weld, he’s not going to have any problems in the least.”

Wilson puts it a little differently.

“I get annoyed when people keep asking if I need help,” he said from the floor of Madison High School’s welding machine shop. “If you see me out here, it means I can do it.”

Born lacking some appendages, Wilson has learned to make do.

“He was on life-support when he was born,” his mother, Sussan Warner, 42, of Lucas, said. “They said, ’He’s fighting.’ And I said, ’If he’s fighting, let him go.’ And the rest is history.”

Wilson grew up to become a varsity wrestler at Madison, grappling without his prostheses after getting the approval of his doctor.

His latest endeavor, the welding course, was 630 hours of class time: nearly five hours a night, four days a week for months watching a white light with a heavy mask on.

Certified in two separate specifications and waiting for a third, now all Wilson needs is a job.

“Everywhere you turn something needs to be welded,” he said.

In Columbus, his girlfriend, April, attends the Ohio School for the Deaf — and keeps him going.

“When I found out she was deaf, it made me more comfortable,” he said.

Two years after meeting, they’re still together.

But, never mind, Wilson has to run. Boxing practice, or maybe wrestling, or maybe pickup basketball.

“I got a new foot, and it’s the best foot I’ve ever had,” Wilson said.

Others might be surprised, but his mother isn’t.

“When his foot was broke, he even tried to find a way to weld another one,” she said.