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“Bobby Gunn,” as he’s known in the sports world, had been a fugitive in the September 2019 crash that killed a 51-year-old woman until June 2020, when he surrendered to New Jersey State Police's Woodstown Station in Pilesgrove.
Gunn was due to appear in Superior Court on Thursday, April 7, but didn’t show apparently due to medical issues, according to NJ.com. He was charged with death by auto and aggravated assault. A judge issued a bench warrant for Gunn's arrest.
Gunn was driving a northbound Dodge Ram 3500 that crossed into oncoming traffic on Route 635 in Salem County’s Upper Pittsgrove Township and slammed head-on into a Hyundai Elantra last Sept. 28, State Police said.
Pronounced dead at the scene was Polly Tornari, 51, and injured was her husband, Robert Tornari, 52, of Glassboro.
Gunn was born Robert James Williamson in Niagara Falls, Ontario to a family of Irish “travelers.” He has dual citizenship in the United States and Canada, boxing publications say.
Known as “the Celtic Warrior,” Gunn was one of the last to hold the bare-knuckle cruiserweight title and was the first living inductee into the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame.
Bare-knuckle boxing differs from street fighting because it has rules established nearly 300 years ago, including not hitting a downed opponent.
It was never legal under any federal or state laws in the United States until Wyoming became the first to legalize it on March 20, 2018.
There have been many publicized unsanctioned bouts, including an August 2011, match at Fort McDowell Casino on the Yavapai Nation reservation in Arizona that was won by Gunn.
Gunn has also boxed professionally with gloves and mouthpieces against, among others, Roy Jones Jr. and James Toney (he lost to both) since beginning his professional career in 1989.
Click here for the complete story by NJ Advance Media
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