Yesterday was April 1st—April Fools. But there certainly aren’t any fools here at the New York Daily News Golden Gloves Finals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. At least not in the squared circle. There are only champions, even the young men and women who don’t necessarily get the golden gloves put around their necks tonight.
Anyone who sacrifices so hard for a goal is already a winner. Anyone who may have a job, a kid, school, and still find time for two- or even three-a-day workouts, the food restrictions, the grueling sessions in the gym, is already a champion. And that’s not even considering what it feels like to get hit with those 10-ounce gloves.
All it took for me to understand what is really behind this great amateur sporting event is to see 165-lb open class winner and newly crowned Sugar Ray Robinson most outstanding boxer of the tournament Chordale Booker (NYAC) let the emotion of the moment come through as New York Daily News Golden Gloves director Brian Adams placed those coveted golden gloves around Booker’s neck and placed the belt for winning best boxer around his waist.
“It’s an honor—it’s definitely an honor. I knew this was an award, because I see it every year. You know when you’re the boxer of the tournament that means they felt you were the best of the tournament. That’s an honor. There’s so many great, talented boxers up here. You got Titus Williams, you got Brian Ceballo who’s fighting tomorrow. It’s just an honor. For me to be awarded this feels great. I know I’m doing something right, and I’m gonna continue to work hard.”
When I ask Mr. Booker what it’s like to train with Ceballo, a three-time New York Daily News Golden Gloves winner, ranked 1 in the country at 152, he says,
“Working with Brian who’s number one at 152 and me at 165 is good because I’m not a big 165, so we can spar all the time. It elevates my game, because we’re going hard. We don’t spar to play around. We spar like we’re trying to win. Like it’s a fight.”
And that work paid off tonight for the 165-lb bull from Stamford, CT against Aaron Katzman (unattached).
“I came out patient to see what he had. I realized he was thinking about how he should go about attacking today. And I saw Ok, If he’s gonna think, I’m gonna let my hands go. Because while he’s thinking, if I keep touching him, he’s gonna have to think more. So that’s why I jumped on him, and then I tried to pull him into shots because now he had to come get his punches back.”
Soon after Booker showed Brooklyn he’s the champ, perhaps a more anticipated battle made ready for the fans in attendance.
Many local fight fans will agree that the 141-lb open division has proven the beastiest division in this year’s tournament—where three sharpshooters of the division: Christian Bermudez (Atlas Cops N Kids), Michael Hughes (John’s Gym), Richardson Hitchins (Atlas Cops N Kids) have been gunning for each other all year.
After Hughes did away with Bermudez in the semis, tonight saw him against Hitchins, who could have just as easily won the Sugar Ray Robinson fighter of the tournament. This kid’s that good, and just 17 years old. He’s that good because he outclassed a very strong and conditioned and skilled Michael Hughes for three rounds of boxing.
After, here’s what the new champ had to say:
“I didn’t win it the way I wanted to. Remember I told you I was gonna look good. I told you he was gonna be an ugly fighter too. Like it was gonna be ugly. I didn’t expect it to be like that inside the ring.
“I started off a little slow. He was trying to outwork me but then I adjusted—even though it was still dirty—but I felt like I landed more effective shots and took control at the end and kept it up.
“He’s a fighter who can sneak up on you, and give you an upset, but I knew I pulled it out with the clean and effective shots. But my style is more clean boxing; his style is more let’s get it done and let’s get the point. That’s more of an amateur style and I have more of a pro style. I was just happy to get the W.”
I next ask the young champ if he feels he should have been named the Sugar Ray Robinson winner and he says that although he feels his division is the toughest in the tournament, he can take nothing away from Chordale Booker because he knows how hard he works.
Hitchins explained that he will have more opportunities to win the best fighter of the tournament before he hopes to win the award he really aspires to: gold in Rio for the U.S. in the 2016 Olympics and then immediately turning pro after that.
Until then, NYC is more than lucky to have the caliber of Richardson Hitchins in the amateurs.
– Ryan Agius/@RyanJAgius
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