The Reason You Should Be A Beltway Boxing Fan!

The Reason You Should Be A Beltway Boxing Fan!

Boxing is one of the hardest sports that one individual can dedicate his or herself to. The physical development that a fighter goes through doesn't happen overnight. It starts when the fighter was a young kid. They were sent to a gym because they were having problems at school or home, and they needed a place to burn off some unused energy. The kid gets inside the gym and starts hitting a heavy bag with their bare fist. A trainer walks up to the kid and says "hey kid what's you name". The trainer tells the kid that they should always wrap their hands to protect them from being injured. The trainer continues to show the kid more techniques and the kid falls in love with the sport. That's one of the ways a relationship starts between boxer and trainer.  That is one of the many types of stories that happen here in the DMV area.

By: Juan Marshall

    Everyone not associated with boxing in this area recognizes Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia as the DMV. The boxing fans recognizes this area not only as the DMV, but also as the Beltway Boxing area. The Beltway Boxing area has a history that your average DMV native doesn't know about. It's a history that nearly every resident in this area should be proud of. This history is the sport of boxing. They already know about the history of the Washington Redskins, Capitals, Nationals, Wizzards, and now the not so old DC United.  The professional teams that are talked about all have players that never lived or visited the DMV area until they were asked to join the teams they play for. The local media has put boxing in the shadows of all these other sports and there isn't a clear cut reason why. Hockey is one of the most brutal sports that they televise the moments when the players fight each other. So why not televise local boxing?

   The DMV as a whole should also know the history of boxing. This area has kids that were born and raised in this area and decided themselves to become boxers. They trained so hard just to have that one moment to shine. From that point on they kept training harder and harder to become some of the best amateurs and professionsls in this country and some became the best boxers in the entire world. This is what we have here in the DMV, but only the average Beltway Boxing fans recognizes this. It's moments like this that should be acknowledged by the entire DMV area.

   The history of this area is very rich when it comes to boxing.  Did you know this area has two people in the International Boxing Hall Of Fame? This is the highest honor any boxer can get, and we have two that received that honor. They are "Sugar" Ray Leonard and Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson. Did you know this area had more boxing world title holders than any other area in the world? Did you know this area has many boxers that won Golden Gloves National Championships? Did you know we have the current WCB Featherweight Champion, who is the best featherweight fighter in the entire world living right here in our area? His name is "Mr." Gary Russell Jr. Did you know that the Russell family won multiple Golden Gloves National championship titles? Did you know this area has eight men and three women fighters currently ranked in the top 15 in the world? They are heavyweight Tony Thompson, light heavyweight Thomas Williams, three middleweights Dominic Wade, Antoine Douglas, and Tony Jeter, welterweight Dusty Hernandez Harrison, Jr. welterweight Lamont Peterson,and of course the WBC champion of the world Gary Russell Jr. On the womens side it's super welterweight Tori Nelson, super featherweight Jennifer Salinas, and flyweight Tyrieshia Douglas , who is the sister of top ranked Antoine Douglas. Did you know that this area has had Olympic Medal winners? Did you know that this area has had many boxers that fought on national television in the past and are still being televised currently? Did you know this area has young kids that have won Junior Olympic titles, and Silver Gloves titles in 2015? Did you know that we have amateur fighters that have a great chance of being part of the 2016 USA Olympic Boxing Team? This is the type of information our local media isn't telling the DMV area about. This is the information only the Beltway Boxing fans know about.

   These professional and amateur boxers put their lives on the line to perform for fans across the country and across the world. It's a shame their own area doesn't know anything about it. Boxing is a local, national, and world wide sport that our local media should cover and let it be known to our own public, and also the to the boxing fans outside of this area. That will be good for the boxers, this area, and the sport of boxing as a whole.

   If it wasn't for local bloggers that covered the local boxing shows in this area boxing would be just like having a night at the movies. In this area we have one of the top if not the top blog sites in the world. Gary "Digital" Williams has been covering local boxing in this area for more than thirty years now. His blog site has been actively going strong since July of 2005. If it wasn't for boxingalongthebeltway.blogspot.com there wouldn't be any news about boxing in the DMV area at all.

   The DMV area is large enough to sale out each and every venue when fight cards are put together. The promoters in the area put together cards based on what they've noticed in the past when it comes down to boxing and that is Beltway Boxing isn't as large as it could be. This is a business and it also is an enjoyable sport to watch. The lack of boxing knowledge comes from the lack of the DMV residents not knowing that boxing exist in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Only our average Beltway Boxing fans know about what's going on. That goes back to lack of local media coverage.

   The Beltway Boxing fans can pack the house at a good local fight card. Every promoter brings their own type of crowd to their shows. That's the best part of coming to live shows. There is one fan that stands out the most. Her name is Cat Taylor! She has been coming to 95% of the cards since 2014. She cheers for the Beltway Boxers when they fight at home and she even travels away to see them fight on the road. She has become the most popular fan in the area, and that gave her the recognition of earning the 2014 Beltway Boxing Fan Of The Year Award. It is the first time that this award has been handed out because until she came along there was never one to give away.

This is "The Reason Why You Should Be A Beltway Boxing Fan"!