Jeremy Hall, right, lands a left jab against Jose Romero in his 147- pound semifinal victory at the Chicago Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament held over the last four weeks in Gary, Ind. The amateur competition can often lead to advancement in the sport of b
The Chicago Golden Glove Boxing Tournament took place over the past four weeks at St. Andrews Gym and the fight-loving public got a close-up look at many of the young boxers who might one day carry an Olympic torch or join the ranks of the professionals.
Golden Gloves draws an eclectic mix of boxers of various skill levels and experience in the ring. The Novice division lets boxers with fewer than eight fights get a chance to prove themselves and improve in the ring, while the open division is geared toward experienced fighters who want to move up the national ranks and get the notoriety that will carry their careers forward.
The two groups possess a big difference in skill level but they all share two things and that is the courage to step into the ring and the stamina to let it all hang out for three grueling and mettle-testing rounds.
“If your heart’s not in it don’t play around with it because this is a hard sport and you’ve got to stay focused,” said Wynten Ellis, an 18-year-old light heavyweight out of Gary, Ind.
Ellis has fought 35 bouts in his young career. He won his first two open division bouts at Golden Gloves by knockout. In the finals he went up against the more experienced Armando Pina, and quickly proved that his highly regarded punching power was true. He pounded Pina with furious blows throughout the fight and was confident that he had earned a victory. The judges saw it otherwise, however, and he lost a close decision.
“He was doing little stuff but it didn’t affect me. He wasn’t doing any damage,” Ellis said. “I won, I don’t know how they gave it to him.”
But losing close or controversial decisions is not uncommon in the sport of boxing, said his coach and father, Chalton “Cash” Ellis. They are based in Gary and don’t get a lot of quality bouts there. Consequently they have to travel to Michigan and Illinois to fight.
“I was happy with his performance against Pina,” said Cash Ellis. “I thought he fought superbly and I really felt like they gave him a raw deal. But losing fights like that is what happens when you’re boxing in other people’s back yards – Wynten is like a boxer with no home.”
Getting a win and a belt would have been a nice boost to Ellis’ career, but it’s not the end of the road for him and they’ll keep soldiering on with their sights set on the U.S. boxing tournament in Indiana and then advancing to the U.S. regionals.
“Losing Golden Gloves will not affect a boxer one way or another as far as his advancement through USA boxing,” Cash Ellis said.
Jeremy Hall is another boxer who performed well at the Golden Gloves and he knows quite a bit about soldiering on in the truest sense. The 25-year-old is a corporal in the Army and has served the armed forces in Iraq and Kuwait.
He took up boxing in the military and felt comfortable in the ring right off the bat.
“I felt good, I felt relaxed,” Hall said of his first experience in the boxing ring. “Most people put too much pressure on themselves. I was real calm and I got my first knockout in the first round of my first fight.”
Hall’s calmness has also helped him deal with situations in Iraq, especially in 2005 when he was injured in a mortar attack in the city of Tikrit. His base was attacked and he was hit in both legs by shrapnel. Surprisingly, he didn’t even know he was hit until he noticed blood on the ground and realized it was his own.
“It didn’t hurt that bad,” Hall said of the wounds that landed him in the hospital with cuts so deep that he could see muscle and tissue. “ I was in the hospital for three days, but I left because I didn’t see any reason to stay,” he explained.
Hall’s job in the Army overseas and now with the National Guard, where he works out of Midway Airport, isn’t directly combat related. On a daily basis his job is to check the fuel quality of planes and helicopters. But life-threatening situations can arise at any time in the unlikeliest of situations. “One morning in Iraq we were out running and working out and I heard a sound, ‘boom!,’ and a bomb had blew up about a half-mile away in front of us,” Hall recalled. “We turned around and ran back and decided we’re not working out this morning – that’s what can happen any time.” His fighting spirit and ability to deal with pain is helping him excel in the boxing ring as well. At Golden Gloves he won a belt in the 147-pound novice division, giving him the confidence to pursue boxing full time, while mulling over his military career options.
“I’ll fight in tournaments until August and if I’m not well on my way to a professional career by then I’ll sign back up and maybe go to Afghanistan,” Hall said. “I’ve been everywhere else, so why not go there?”
Whether they won or lost, the boxers at the Golden Gloves proved their toughness and dedication by simply stepping into the ring. Some fighters learned that boxing might not be in their future, but others like Ellis will stick with it.
“I just like the sport,” he said. And it keeps me from doing other things I don’t need to be doing. It keeps me busy.”
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender.
