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Boxing
making a comeback in the Burgh
By Magoo
As a youngster, my father treated my older brother and, I to a trip
downtown to, what was then called the Civic Arena, for an event known
as the Golden Gloves. On this evening the fight card had over 30 bouts
scheduled. There were fighters from sub novice, novice, and open
divisions.
Recently my brother reminded me that some of
the fights in the crowd were better than the one's in the ring. One
fight (inside the ring) in particular, saw two fellows who, danced, and
moved in and out, with the precision of professionals. Trouble
with these guys was... that, well into the third and final round,
neither fighter had landed a significant punch. It was a beautiful
execution of fancy footwork, but the crowd was far from impressed.
One fan in the crowd of about 10,000 or so, made his assessment known
to the crowd. The year was 1968 and a very popular R & B group at
the time was Sly and the Family of Stone. Anyway, this fan began
singing the words of their current hit Dance to the Music... Dance to the Music... Dance to the Music.... he sang. It
was very appropriate.
My father had boxed while in the service, and was an
accomplished Champion. He, much to my mother's dismay, introduced my
brothers and I to the sport at a young age. In those days in our
neighborhood we were the only guys who had access to a pair of gloves.
In our basement we had a heavy bag, and a speed bag. My older brother
took matters a little further when he fashioned a ring, complete with
ropes and all. It wasn't long before kids in the neighborhood were
coming over on Saturday's to try their hand at the sweet science.
On Friday night, while attending the 2005 Golden Gloves PA State
Finals, held in the Great Hall at Heinz Field, I couldn't help but
think about those days. Heck, an ex grade school, and high school,
classmate of mine was one of the Referees, Al Amelio. Al was a great
Golden Glove State Champion, who before he was in his senior of high
school, had accomplished the feat in the open division.
On last nights card there were 14 scheduled bouts. Every bout was a
good one. The second fight of the night included a pair of Intermediate
Class
fighters at 176 pounds. Both are high school students. Their
inexperience certainly did not show as both were skilled in many areas.
One area they were not particularly adept at was dancing. These were
well trained, courageous, combatants though. The final moments were
much like the entire fight. Both fighters stood toe-to-toe
exchanging bombs much to the delight of the crowd. Rudy DeStafano of
Mon. Vally AC was the winner over Aaron Star of Cimino's.
After the fight I spoke with Rudy's trainer Mark Schrader, who told me
that he had just opened the Mon Valley AC Boxing Club last
December.
" When they raised Rudy's hand at the end of the fight... it made me
smile," Schrader said. " I was so happy. He's basically... He's
my first Champion."
I turned and spoke with the young Champ, who's smile told a story of
euphoria.
" It Felt great!" DeStefano said. "I mean... it felt just like the last
time I won. It felt real good."
This was DeStefano's second fight and he explained that he likes the
sport, and of course the winning. Additionally, DeStefano plays
Football and Baseball. I asked. what got him interested in Boxing?
"Training for Football a couple of year's ago," He told me. "I wanted
(to work on ) foot speed and stuff, So I wanted to try fighting
(again) this year "
I congratulated him on his courage, and the win.
" Yeah!" He said with that beaming smile. "Thank You!"
So it appears that Boxing is making a comeback in Western PA. It may
never return to the days of 10,000 or so fans but last nights card
appeared to be a huge success as there were as many fans standing, as
those who were in their seats. Earlier an employee of Heinz Field told
me that they had to put up more seats to accommodate the crowd.
Ex Pittsburgh Steeler guard Craig Wolfley was one of those who stood
and watched on. He had a look of satisfaction on his face. His Wife
Faith Wolfley is one of the driving forces for Western Pennsylvania's
renewed interest in the sport. She runs the Martial Arts and Sports
Complex in Bridgeville. Last night The Wolf Pack of Pittsburgh featured
what I thought was the best fight on the card.
In the most experienced group, the Open Class Division, Mike Strauss
fought Hanry Lundy out of Anderson Rec of Philadelphia. When the
fight ended. I, like most in the Hall felt that Strauss had got the
most of Lundy. During the bout Lundy was switching back and forth
between lefty and righty, giving Strauss differing looks. Strauss took
advantage when Lundy stood in the lefty stance, and hit Lundy with big
right hands. Lundy would quickly switch back to the traditional stance.
His punches seemed to have more of effect on Lundy.
When the decision was announced Lundy was given the nod, reportedly
because he had a higher punch count. Yet it seemed that even Lundy was
surprised that he won the fight. When he received his winners trophy he
grabbed Strauss' hand and raised it and using his newly won trophy to
point it at Strauss indicating that he was too was a Champion.
Earlier in the evening before the before the open division matches
began, I had the chance to speak with Amelio, who told me." The future
of Armature Boxing in Pennsylvania is very bright. Philadelphia,
it's always been good. But, we're making a comeback over here, and
throughout the western part of the State."
Over the years Philadelphia has traditionally dominated the Golden
Gloves in Pennsylvania. But last year saw western Pa winning 4 of the
nine events. On Friday the western PA team won 3 of the 9 open division
bouts. That may not seem significant but in the recent past winning one
was an accomplishment.
"I don't know if we will ever dominate like Philadelphia because they
are more fight oriented." Amelio said. "It's a bigger town... they have
more professional fighters and more professional gyms."
Then Amelio's words seemed to grow with pride and confidence as he
spoke. "We will give them a run for their money," he said. "Their
fighters will know they have been in a fight!"
His words turned out to be very true.
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