The mementos of a championship boxing career are arrayed around Andy Ganigan these days like a museum diorama.

There are carefully arranged black-and-white photos, aging news clippings and proud keepsakes, family members say, from a time when he was a world contender — and champion — in a highly competitive lightweight division.

In the darkened room of a daughter’s Las Vegas home, they are some of the few memories that the bed-ridden and brain-damaged Ganigan still clings to.

The 59-year-old Waipahu native once drew sellout crowds of more than 8,000 to Blaisdell Center in the late 1970s and early ’80s. They witnessed a string of knockout victories and stirring toe-to-toe bouts in a 34-5 (30 knockouts) career.

Ganigan now battles to comprehend where he is and what goes on around him. He struggles to remember the apparently unprovoked assault two years ago that has robbed the Hawaii Sports Hall of Famer of his independence.

Ganigan, who was named to Ring Magazines’ list of "100 Greatest Punchers of All-Time" in 2003 — 20 years after he retired — now needs assistance to perform the simplest tasks of daily life.

"He can’t brush his teeth by himself or open a can of juice without help," said Bridget Ganigan, one of Andy’s seven children and his legal guardian. "Sometimes he has these tremors and cannot speak for days," Bridget said.

Family members fear, "he might not make it through the year (alive)," Bridget said.

"His life and our lives changed the day (March 26, 2010) he got assaulted," Bridget said.

No longer independent

On Wednesday, Matthew M. Kupa, who pled no contest to first-degree assault earlier, was sentenced to five years probation and 18 months in jail with early release for substance abuse treatment by Circuit Judge Glenn Kim. Deputy prosecutor Scott Bell had sought the maximum penalty, a 10-year sentence.

Yet for the closure the sentencing brings to Ganigan’s family members, they still struggle with the "why" of the tragedy and unresolved questions. Because Ganigan has no recollection of the night and Kupa, who claimed he had been drinking heavily, said he couldn’t recall the incident, Ganigan’s family and prosecutors say they still don’t know what led to the beating that left Ganigan bleeding and unresponsive on the gravel of the Waipahu Shopping Village when police and emergency personnel arrived after 11 p.m.

In a statement to police, the then-21-year-old Kupa said he did not know Ganigan or what prompted the attack.

"I don’t remember anything," said Kupa, who told an investigator he had been drinking and last recalled purchasing more beer at a nearby store.

An employee of another business told police she witnessed the 6-foot, 290-pound Kupa, barefoot, shirtless, throwing repeated punches at the 5-foot-6, 160-pound Ganigan before two other men pressed Kupa against a glass panel and instructed him to "stop already." A security guard said he saw Kupa standing over Ganigan.

Dylan Wint, a Nevada neurologist who has treated Ganigan since 2010, said in court documents, "Andy is unable to care for himself because of poor memory, limited cognition, impaired judgment and movement problems that resulted from the injuries he sustained in the assault."

Wint said, "These injuries could be caused by one massive application of force (such as a high-speed motor vehicle accident) or repeated application of force (such as punches, kicks or striking with an object) to the head."

Though Ganigan had appeared in 39 professional fights before his 1983 retirement, Wint wrote, "none of these injuries could have resulted from Mr. Ganigan’s prior career as a boxer, as the appearance of acute blood products on (a) CT scan is quite different from signs of chronic brain injury." Wint added, "It is beyond medical doubt that the assault is the main reason for Mr. Ganigan’s current problems with cognition, movement and emotions."

"Before the assault he was able to live independently," Bridget said. "Now someone always has to be with him. We have to put up signs to tell him where he is."

Box-office phenomenon

Ganigan’s ring nickname, the "Sugar Man," paid homage to his Waipahu roots, Oahu Sugar Co. employment and a sweet left hook. On Tuesday nights, when most of his fights were held at the Blaisdell, it seemed half of the Ewa plain was there to see him unleash the hook.

"That Andy could stop a train with it," the late trainer Al Silva liked to say.

Famed fight trainer Eddie Futch said, "He leads with everything and he doesn’t have a pattern or sequence you can follow."

"One of the best punchers ever to come out of Hawaii," said 94-year-old Bobby Lee, retired chairman of the Hawaii State Boxing Commission.

The knockouts — 23 in 25 fights in one stretch — that made Ganigan a box-office phenom here, earned national TV appearances and carried him to the North American Boxing Federation title (1978-80). They also made world title shots hard to come by. Not until Olympic champion Howard Davis suffered a rib injury late in training, leaving World Athletic Association champion Sean O’Grady desperate for a replacement for their TV bout, did Ganigan finally get a call.

Ganigan went to Little Rock, Ark., and on March 31, 1981, won on a stunning second-round knockout after which Pat O’Grady, Sean’s father, and trainer observed, "We have nothing to complain about except the horseshoe in Andrew Ganigan’s glove."

Yet for all the fury he could unleash in the ring and the menacing lion tattoo across his back, Ganigan was genial, remarkably soft spoken, humble and deferential. "That’s Andy Ganigan?" a Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reporter marveled upon seeing Ganigan quietly waiting his turn at a busy California restaurant as others jostled for seats.

Judge chose probation

Bell, the deputy prosecutor, said, "Sentencing is committed to the sound discretion of the judge. He only had two options, probation or incarceration, and he chose the former, against my recommendation."

Kim said he took into account Kupa’s young age and an absence of violence in the previous record in handing down the sentence. Kim told the 15 assembled members of the Ganigan family "I have no doubt if it was my father, my brother or grandfather I would feel the same (about a longer sentence)."

Kupa’s attorney, Edward Harada said, "It was a decision the judge had to make between ‘do I lock him up for 10 years or do I give him a chance at probation,’ which is really meant to supervise this young man who is only 23, and give him a chance at learning about himself and getting the necessary help?"

Kupa said, "I am truly sorry for this."

Said Bridget, the family spokesperson: "Why should he (Kupa) get another chance? We don’t get another chance to get our dad back. My dad was in the (Hawaii Sports) Hall of Fame at Bishop Museum. Now, he lays in a bed to die."