Life was never really normal for Jerrico Walton. He grew up in one of the poorest sections of New Orleans, living in Section 8 public housing. His father, John Sebastian Holmes, was a notorious drug dealer who was in and out of prison, and rarely played a part in his son’s life.

He was doing well in school — “Straight A’s,” Walton said, proudly — and showed promise as a football player at Landry High School.

He lived with his mother, Gail Walton, his half-brother, Alvin Charlie Walton, and his half-sister, Clarenisha Shagail Walton. He was 14 years old in August 2005 when New Orleans residents were urged by local officials to leave the city because of the impending Hurricane Katrina.

The Walton family chose not to heed the warnings, and they paid a terrible price.

“We didn’t think it would do the kind of damage it would do,” Jerrico said. “We didn’t really know what would happen.”

Finances also played a role, as the family was struggling and couldn’t afford to spend money to travel.

On Aug. 29, 2005, winds began to blow and rain began to pelt the city. Jerrico and Alvin were in the bedroom on the second floor of their apartment. The brothers looked outside and saw the water already at the window.

“It was just crazy, man,” Jerrico said.

Soon enough, all hell broke loose as Katrina unleashed its wrath on the city. The levees broke and a storm of epic proportions washed over New Orleans. When it was over, the damage it caused exceeded $160 billion. More than 1,800 people died. Tens of thousands more were displaced from their homes, among them Gail, Jerrico, Alvin and Clarenisha Walton.

At first, they stayed in a shelter. Soon, they traveled to Lafayette, Louisiana, where they stayed free in a hotel provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After a while there, they decided to make the four-hour drive to Beaumont, Texas, where they would live with relatives.

That turned out to be a fateful decision.

Not long after they arrived in Beaumont, Hurricane Rita hit. Though it wasn’t nearly as destructive as Katrina, it killed seven people, caused more than $23.7 billion in damage and displaced countless more people.

Among those were the Walton family.

Managers worry if Walton’s past will catch up to him

Jerrico Walton is now 29, a promising professional boxer unbeaten in 16 pro fights with seven knockouts after an abbreviated seven-bout amateur career. On Friday, he’ll face Montana Love in Philadelphia on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” in the biggest fight of his career.

His trainer, Ronnie Shields, is high on his potential and believes he can be a world champion. Walton has only worked with Shields for four fights. Prior to that, he was wild and didn’t have much structure in his approach. Shields wants him to be aggressive while working behind a jab and not just turning a bout into a brawl.

“He’s got a lot of talent and he’s no question good enough [to win a world title],” Shields said. “He has this style where he can put a lot of pressure on, but he can box also. He likes to counter punch, but I’d like to see him be more aggressive. He’s a good puncher. When he sits down on his shots and lets them go, he can bang.”

View photos Jerrico Walton lands a punch against Juan Rodriguez during a boxing match on March 28, 2019, in San Antonio. (Photo courtesy Square Ring Management) More

The question that keeps his co-managers, Forris Washington, Joseph Vredevelt and Mike James, up is whether his past will catch up to him before he fulfills his potential.

Walton has been through more in 29 short years than 10 people are in a full lifetime.

“He’s an incredibly street smart kid,” said Vredevelt, who was a criminal defense attorney for 25 years and now represents boxers. “ ... He’s had quite a crazy life and we kind of talk to him every day about doing the right thing and staying the course. I think I talk to Jerrico more often than I talk to my wife.”

Walton exacts revenge on his father’s alleged murderer

It’s been a more than crazy life. If it weren’t all documented by police records and news reports, it would be laughed off as a poor attempt at a rags-to-riches movie.

Story continues