Professional boxing is mostly predicated on long-anticipated fights shown via Pay-Per-View and featuring hand-picked opponents who prepare for one ginormous payday for months at a time. It would be hard to find a Boomer or Gen Xer who doesn’t know of Evander Holyfield, George Foreman - if for nothing more than his personalized grills - or infamous ear biter Mike Tyson. The amateur boxing organization has never adopted another moniker, and that continuity has led to at least name recognition among commonfolk.īoxing as a spectator sport has experienced ups and downs over the last few decades, and even those who aren’t committed consumers of combat sports are aware of recent superstars like Oscar De La Hoya or Floyd Mayweather. People are familiar with - at least as a brand name - Golden Gloves. The humble building off Jacksboro Highway is essentially an exhibition of how trophy architecture has evolved over the last century. Texas is easily one of the most successful states. This 96-year-old nonprofit boxing organization open to anyone encompasses more than 30 franchises nationwide that send teams to a national tournament every year. Fort Worth is the 86-year-old hub of Texas’ Golden Gloves franchise. If you’re a youngster, or new to the area, you may not know that Cowtown is known for more than cattle and crooked politicians. The young father says he’s all-in on pursuing a professional boxing career. David Anguiano, 22, is a Northside High School graduate looking to revive his junior career after losing at regionals in 2017.
I arrived at Fort Worth’s lone Golden Gloves gym with a notepad and phone - standard materials in the journalism world - but quickly realized I’d be best served by taking the occasional note while letting the boisterous coach walk the east wall of the gym (which is wallpapered in team photos and castled with trophies) and trying to avoid interrupting him. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a walking and talking boxing museum, but Coach Guzman epitomizes a sweet science sage if ever there were such a thing. The man outside fervently giving instructions is Joe Guzman. Many at this facility are training for an upcoming boxing tournament, hosted in Fort Worth, the first step in a progression to the national Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Tulsa this year. At 10 to 6, the doors were unlocked from within, and the amoeba of humanity slowly filtered inside, except a few who were devouring instructions from a gentleman in jeans and a ball cap who emerged from behind the locked gates.
Slowly, additional vehicles carrying men, women, and children parked as the sun began to set. One of these men’s hands were immediately noticeable, as they were wrapped in neon-yellow duct tape. almost every night, the gravel parking lot becomes dotted with vehicles, and one night not too long ago, a trio of men mixed and mingled outside the iron-gated entrance. In an area most just pass through, should they be headed to the Stockyards, sits an unassuming metal building across a bridge from downtown.
0 kommentar(er)
