On March 8, the great Chicago Golden Gloves reached its 100th anniversary. The Golden Gloves is a boxing club based on the West Side of Chicago. It has been running in Chicago for, as the title says, over 100 years. What this means is that the Golden Gloves has been a pillar within the west side community for generations. Some of the greatest champions in the world like Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston have competed in the Golden Gloves.
The Historical Precedent
The reason why such prestigious boxers, like Muhammed Ali, have participated in the Golden Gloves is that the Golden Gloves is truly a prestigious boxing event.
Today, the title ‘Chicago Golden Gloves Champion’ remains the most revered and respected title in amateur boxing other than ‘Olympian.’ Whether you won in the 1950’s or after the turn of the millennium, the title continues to bring pride and admiration to those few who’ve earned it. The Golden Gloves means a lot not just to the American Boxing community, but to Chicago as well.
So with all of this in mind, the Golden Gloves hitting the 100-year mark is a momentous occasion worthy of celebration. This is not only boxing history, but it is Chicago history as well. One of Chicago’s great pillars of excellence truly shined bright on March 8. The Golden Gloves boxing club has finally reached 100 years.
The Modern Golden Gloves
Moreover, there is a current tournament being held at the Golden Glove boxing club. As of the writing of this article, only the preliminaries have taken place. The boxers that won in the preliminaries passed on to the quarter-finals which will take place on March 16, 17, and 18. The boxers that pass through the quarter-finals will then box in the semi-finals, which will take place on March 23, March 24, and March 25. Finally, the championships will be held on April 13, 14, and 15.
The Golden Gloves tournament is for amateurs, so that means less than nine bouts. This means that every single boxer in a Golden Gloves ring is just starting out. Starting out as a boxer can be really hard, especially if that boxer hasn’t found their particular style or they haven’t figured out how far they want to go with boxing. Any athlete will tell you that it can be very emotionally difficult to start doing sports at a professional level. One of the reasons why is that the stakes are higher.
The Will to Win
The Golden Gloves Tournament isn’t exactly the world championship, but it is a highly respected amateur tournament. For each and every single one of those boxers in the ring, they are putting their health on the line. They could receive a head injury and become “punch drunk.” Yet, they strive, each and every fighter in Chicago Golden Glove’s boxing history is brave.
It is that same bravery and courage that keeps Golden Glove boxing alive to this very day. The willingness to go the extra mile and test one’s abilities against another’s is what Golden Glove Boxing is all about. It isn’t just the moments in the ring, it is all the moments leading up to the fight.
Boxing isn’t about the one-round knockouts. Boxing is about the will to try. That will try even harder than last time is what brings those boxers off the ground when they get hit hard. The will to try is what propels these fighters into the ring in the first place.
It is that same will that will propel the best fighters to the championship. The boxer that wins this tournament is ultimately the winner in the battle of wills. Those who tire out halfway through, or those who simply don’t have the guts won’t make it to the championship. May the best man win.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources
The Guardian: ‘Boxing is a mess’: the darkness and damage of brain trauma in the ring by Donald McRae
ChicagoGoldenGloves: history
All Images Courtesy of The News School
