Roberto and Coach Mengel after Roberto's Golden Gloves fight.

We're back on our regular Monday, Thursday, Saturday schedule now that the Golden Gloves is over. Coach Jimmy is training hard for his upcoming fight and we have several fighters who hope to be fighting in Terre Haute soon.

The National Golden Gloves tourney starts this week in Indy. It's your chance to see the best amateur fighters in the country close to home.

The weather is finally starting to look like Spring. Time to get outside and do some roadwork. There are lots of 5K runs in our area. Pick one and start training. If you're only going to do one thing besides what you do here in the gym, it should be running. All that it requires is a good pair of shoes and you're all set. Mix up some distance and sprint training and it'll improve your boxing game as well as your overall conditioning. It helps keep the weight down as well.

Roberto

Roberto made the web site for the Indy paper: http://photos.indystar.com/galleries/12530?odyssey=mod|lateststories. Photos 21 &22.

He fought a good fight but lost the decision. His opponent was taller and quicker. He would stick and move and Roberto would give chase. Roberto had him figured out by the third round as was able to corner him and land some good shots but it was too little, too late.

The Gloves was a little bit disappointing this year. We didn't have near the competitors or near the results that we've had in the past. That's an issue that needs to be addressed for the club to continue. The economy certainly has played a part but we need to start actively recruiting it appears to keep things moving forward. The numbers at the Golden Gloves were down this year, so it's not just here, but . . . .

The Nationals are going to be in Indy at the end of the month. If you're looking to see some top-notch boxing action, this will be the place to be. I've been to the Nationals a couple of times and the action is always great. We might be putting a group outing together. Let us know if you're interested.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated this year in the Gloves. Keep up the good work.

Golden Gloves Tonight

Roberto fights tonight in the Golden Gloves for the championship. He's ready - looking real tough in fact. Biscuit fought last week and lost a tough decision.

We've been batting .500 since the club started but we'll be a little shy of that this year. Several of our better fighters either moved away, entered the Army or just quit showing up. That's always a problem with a small club. It's hard to keep guys in the gym. They graduate, get jobs, start families or just reach their goal and move on to other things. We've had some real good fighters come through the club and we've got several in the pipeline right now. One of the fighters I worked with before the club started is planning on coming back in. It'll be nice to have him around again - he's a title holder as well.

Coach Jimmy is back in training again. He's scheduled to fight May 20th. I'll update you as soon as I get a few more details.

Fight Recap

Photo From Here:

The fundraiser Friday night went extremely well. We had quite a few of the young fighters on the card and they all looked pretty good considering that this was their first outing. Tim and Roberto sparred in the main event and they both looked really good, providing the crowd with some great action. Both of these guys are getting to be excellent fighters. Tim wore "The Cage" for the bout - I think this was the first time he's fought on one of the shows that he didn't end up bleeding.

There was also a "Professional" wrestling match between Coach Jimmy and "Peaches" Grady. I'm not sure how it all came about but it was pretty entertaining. I don't think we should make it a regular part of the show but if you were there, I'm sure you'll remember it.

In addition to the great boxing action we also did a Ten Count for the recently departed Charles Wheet. Charles won a Golden Gloves title our first year we participated as a club. Rest in Peace, "Chuckles".

Thanks to all our sponsors and a big thank you, as always, goes to our excellent announcer, Chris Guzman.

Friday Night Fights

We'll be having an in-house show this Friday. We've got nine bouts scheduled including a special bout featuring Jimmy and "Peaches". Doors open at 6:00, fights start at 7:00. Tickets are $8.00. Come out and support all of our fighters.

Steve "The Biscuit" is fighting tomorrow night at Indianapolis in the Golden Gloves and Roberto fights next week.

Golden Gloves 2011

Matt with the Win!

Jonah Landing the Big Left

Photos by Surly

The Golden Gloves tourney is fast drawing to a close. There are two more weeks and we have two fighters still in the tourney, one each on the next two Thursdays. We haven't been quite as successful this year as we have been the previous two years nor have we as many fighters entered. We do have quality fighters entered and that's what counts.

I missed the first night of action when Tim "The Bleeder" fought due to being out of town. By all accounts, however, it was a good fight with Tim rocking his opponent several times. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and they stopped the fight in the third round. Tim's a tough boy and he just keeps getting better, so I look for some big things from him in the future. He needs to work a little on his defense yet but he'll be something once he sharpens up just a little more.

This week we took three fighters down but only one fought. Doug experienced a growth spurt and took himself out of contention by being a couple of pounds over. No ones fault here. Doug just grew about three inches since he signed up! Usually you don't have such a long lead time between signing up and fighting but with the Gloves there was about six weeks that elapsed. All part of growing up.

Matt got a walkover win in his division. He really wanted to fight but unless the other guy was pretty spectacular, Matt would have won anyway. He's a hard worker and is extremely fit. He's always outworking most of the other guys. Couple that work ethic up with good solid skills, and that's a tough combination to beat. Congratulations Matt!

Jonah lost a very close decision against a real slick looking opponent. His opponent came out with a couple of nice right uppercuts that caught Jonah by surprise. Me too, as far as that goes. I've never seen anyone at that level throw an uppercut as nicely as that. Plus, he either set it up with the left or followed it with the left. He won the first round easily. The second round was very close with Jonah gaining control and staying away from the uppercut a little bit better. Jonah was solidly in control the third round and won that one by at least the same margin as his opponent did the first one. The judges awarded the decision to the other young man but after the fight the referee told Jonah that if he had pressed the kid a little more in the second round he would have won the fight and he complimented Jonah on his abilities. Nice to hear that from the man in charge.

We have an in-house show this coming Friday night, April 8th. Show starts at 7:00 and tickets are on sale now. Come out and see some really good amateur boxing.