Grassroots News Week of August 8
by USA Boxing
Reading High senior Eric Martinez has Olympic dreams with Star City Boxing
Eric Martinez, a Reading High senior and nationally ranked youth boxer, has big dreams. The 17-year-old, a three-time national champion with USA Boxing, has his sights on making Team USA at the 2022 USA Boxing National Championships in Lubbock, Texas, in December, and taking another step toward being a U.S. Olympian.
“Once I finish school, I’m trying to really take boxing real far,” Martinez said. “So I’m going to try to make the Olympic team and then after that do professional boxing, for sure.”
South River teen overcomes challenges with ADHD, autism, finds strength in the boxing ring
SOUTH RIVER – Sixteen-year-old Troy O’Connor was far away from his hometown – 1,400 miles away – when he stepped into the boxing ring in Wichita, Kans.
He was competing for his hometown of South River.
From July 9-16, hundreds of U.S. boxers traveled to Wichita for the 2022 USA Boxing National Junior Olympics. The competition featured an array of weight-classes and skill levels that ranged from collegiate athletes to pee-wee competitors.
Angel Martinez shines in his return to the boxing ring
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - While the youth of Rockford was on display at the Rockford Boxing Classic, one of the night’s co-main event’s featured the return of one of the best to ever step foot in the squared circle.
“I didn’t think it was going to hurt that much.”
After a four year hiatus from the sport, 2018 Auburn grad Angel Martinez returned to the boxing ring Saturday night.
‘Every day is a fight, in life and in the ring’: Allentown boxing program gets kids off streets
A small boxing gym on the top floor of a gritty warehouse that’s home to Azar Towing in Allentown is changing lives.
Co-founder Paul Pinnock, 53, has transformed young lives for 11 years with his nonprofit Lehigh Valley Pound 4 Pound Boxing. He finally got his own place two years ago and will celebrate the gym’s third anniversary later this month.
Can New Jersey boxing fight back from the brink of extinction?
Latrell Mitchell was a fighter long before he learned to box.
Mitchell grew up in the Bronx, "in the streets, running around." After his father died when Mitchell was 14, he "walked around with a lot of anger," and realized he'd wind up either in jail or dead. Determined to spare his single mom from having to deal with that fate, he walked into Morris Park Boxing Club.
Three Flint boxers from same gym to compete at national Golden Gloves tournament
FLINT, MI -- Three boxers from the same gym will be representing Flint on one of amateur boxing’s biggest stages next week.
Jaquan McElroy, Christopher Thompson and Sardius Simmons, all who train out of the Berston Field House boxing gym located on the city’s north side, will compete in the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week.'
Peace & Gloves boxing event shows the power of communal togetherness in Reading
It proved to be a banner day in Reading Saturday as many came out for Star City Boxing's Peace & Gloves event at Fifth and Penn streets. The block party that started at 1 p.m. and lasted well into the evening consisted of 15 amateur boxing matches, as well as musical performances and a car show.
Reading High senior Eric Martinez, 17, won the main event by judges' decision against Dennis Thompson, 16, from Philadelphia. The three-round fight that started around 7:30 p.m. drew a large crowd, including Reading Mayor Eddie Moran.