He was the B.J. Penn of our generation in some ways—including the most important criterion for us high school junior boys: He could beat up just about anyone else in the world.

We adored him for it; that's your mentality when you're a kid.

And he came from the town right next to ours.

But now Andy Ganigan is down for the count following a beating he suffered in a street fight, allegedly from a 21-year-old assailant. Doctors say the 57-year-old former champ may never recover and likely has permanent brain damage.

His family should be comfortable because of the winnings from his boxing career. Instead, its savings are drained paying for his medical care. Universal health insurance is too late for Ganigan, who has none.

HE REPRESENTED Hawaii well as a world champion ... just for a few months, but yes, a world champion lightweight during boxing's heyday, especially for his weight class.

One of his nicknames was The Sugar Man. It was because of where he came from, Waipahu, the town in Leeward Oahu known for producing sugar as well as champion boxers. But it didn't really match his fighting style; he wasn't a sweet stick-and-move artist, he was a brutal pound-and-stand-over-you artist. Ring magazine named him one of the 100 hardest punchers ever.

After methodically climbing the ranks, he crushed Sean O'Grady with a second-round KO for the WAA title. Then he put the great Alexis Arguello on the canvas before falling to him in five. Ganigan went 34-5 as a pro before hanging 'em up in 1983 after a loss to future world champion Jimmy Paul.

He wasn't worshipped worldwide the way Penn is, but he was our guy ... and remains a legend of our youth. It wasn't like today for Hawaii sports fans 30 years ago, with so many of our great athletes in so many different sports performing at the highest levels of their endeavors.

Ganigan's ascent was THE “;Hawaii Grown”; sports story in the late '70s and early '80s. You could watch him on free TV in really big fights sometimes, live on Saturday mornings. Maybe at the Columbia Inn, while chugging the coldest draft in town and sitting where O.J. sat.

THERE WERE other world champs from Hawaii, but for me and my friends, Ganigan was the guy. We were just the right impressionable age when he made his mark, some of us dabbling in martial arts, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Andy Ganigan wannabes.

Some stuck with it, I barely got started. No talent, no discipline.

Ganigan began with the former but had to develop the latter. Just about a year ago, his eyes sparkled when his old trainer Al Silva told a story at a gathering of world champs in Waipahu. “;He would go hide in the cane field when he was supposed to be running. When I caught him, he said, 'Don't worry, I won't get tired, my fights won't be long.' And most the time, the bugga was right.”;

I want to always remember the smiling and joking world champion Andy Ganigan. But right now it's hard to shake the image and sad reality of him losing the joys of his golden years in a street scuffle, 27 years after his last fight in the ring.

A fund-raiser to help with Andy Ganigan's medical expenses will be held at Ige's Restaurant in Aiea on June 8 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.