Year-round training a plus

Old School Boxing earns accoldaes

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006

Boxing is one of the few sports that take place on a year-round basis.

While sports like basketball and football offer athletes some down time, if an athlete stays true to boxing, a big bout can occur in all four seasons.

Philosophies differ from coach to coach as to how late summer should be approached.

Beech Road Boxing coach Troy Fox and his two sons, Alantez and Mykal, recently returned from a vacation and school has begun for the two boys.

‘‘They’re kids. Let them take a little break,” Troy Fox said. ‘‘They do it all year round. My sons just came back from Florida. But now, they are back in the gym.”

At this point in his schedule, 11-year old Mykal said everything is business as usual.

‘‘We’re kind of getting back to basics,” Mykal said. ‘‘We used to run in the morning. It’s kind of getting hard for me now that school’s back in.”

Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Director Junious Hinton said the apparent lull in the schedule, with serious competitions not beginning for another month or so, could be deceptive.

‘‘Now that school is opening up, this separates the wannabes from real fighters,” Hinton said. ‘‘Now the ‘sometime boxers’ are going back to football and other sports. The kids who you see in the gym now rise above that. There are those kids like [Upper Marlboro native] Antoine [Washington], who are going to be world champions.”

Washington was the lone county representative to win at the Mayor’s Cup held last weekend in the District.

Notes

Old School Boxing in Clinton has been busy, according to head coach Buddy Harrison.

Harrison’s 12-year old son, Dusty, won an invitational in Puerto Rico earlier this month. USA Boxing took all current Silver Gloves champions to the invitational.

Several other county fighters claimed victory at the Ringside World Championships earlier this month including 14-year-old Nate Davis of Old School Boxing, who won the 115-pound Junior Open Division championship.

One of Old School’s coaches, 30-year old Buck Pinson, won the 178-pound Master’s Division title at the Ringside tournament.

Potomac Valley Association boxing official⁄judge Brent Bovell was honored as an outstanding official at the Ringside World Championships.

A number of county fighters captured titles at the Juan Diaz Festival in the Bronx, N.Y. on Aug. 12.

Old School’s Rock Warden won the Outstanding Boxing Award at the Festival. Clinton resident Terron Grant, 15, captured the 125-pound championship in only his third fight. Davis captured the 115-pound title and Pinson won the 178-pound division.

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.