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At Louisiana state boxing tournament, displays of mentorship and skill [1]
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Date: 2024-12-16
Young boxers and their families were treated to displays of discipline and skill at the Louisiana State Silver Gloves boxing tournament at the Milne Recreation Center last Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 14 and 15).
The two-day tournament, hosted by Spartan Boxing Club and Upper Cutz Boxing Gym and Barbershop, featured boxers aged eight to 17 competing in the afternoon with adult bouts afterward in the evening.
A DJ played music before the fights began, as vendors sold boxing apparel and concessions to friends and families who came in support. Some coaches drilled their students on combinations and practiced with batons, while others wrapped their students’ hands before fights. Some fighters were nervous, others confident, but all were focused on the opportunity ahead of them.
Silver Gloves tournaments are hosted throughout the country and give young fighters the chance to gain notoriety as they progress through their careers. It is the youth version of the more well-known Golden Gloves championships.
“This is a very important event,” said Isaac Knapper, a coach at Spartan Boxing Club. “Once you win the Silver Gloves, they put that Silver Gloves title in front of your name.”
PHOTOS: Sights from the Louisiana Silver Gloves boxing tournament
The Silver Gloves tournament brought fighters from across the state to compete in New Orleans. Winners of this tournament are given the title of “Silver Glove”, a nationally recognized mark of rank. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Khristian Taylor (left) fights Silas Houston at the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Khristian Taylor records his son’s fight at the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
“We’re their brothers, we’re their uncles, we mentor them too,” said Valrice Cooper, shown above during the Silver Gloves State Boxing Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 in New Orleans, of the young men he trains at Upper Cutz Boxing Gym and Barbershop. “We love them like they’re our own flesh and blood.” Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Silas Houston (left) declared winner in his match against Khristian Taylor at the Silver Gloves State Tournament in New Orleans on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Judge Simone Levine officiated the fight.
Roland Reyes sells boxing merchandise before fights begin at the Silver Gloves tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Lavondra Green prepares food at the concession stand for fighters and tournament attendees during the Silver Gloves State Boxing Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Green’s son trains at Spartan Boxing Club at the Milne Recreation Center. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
JT Macon (left) prepares Titan Kennedy-Mason for his fight at the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Alfredo Zabala (left) and his mother, Eugenia Bargas, hold a flag representing Ecuador and the United States. Zabala’s son fought in the tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Christopher Hernandez (left) drills combinations with his coach, Axel Murillo at the Silver Gloves boxing tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Zailen Frank (left) and Jaxon Semien compete in the second match of the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.
Joseph Carroll instructs Khyre Moore in between rounds of his fight at the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Isaac Knapper (left) and Valrice Cooper co-sponsored the Silver Gloves State Tournament in Gentilly on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. Knapper was a Louisiana Golden Glove champion and Cooper is a boxing coach who has trained Roy Jones Jr. Credit: John Gray / Verite News
Valrice “Whop” Cooper, a coach at Upper Cutz, sees the competition as a way to “influence and change youngster behavior” and impact the trajectory of their lives through boxing.
Cooper and Knapper mentor young men and boys at their respective gyms. Both men have spent time in prison and share insight they learned from the mistakes they’ve made to help the boxers they work with make different life choices.
“We’re trying to … save as many kids as we possibly can, because we’re losing so many of them,” Knapper said. “If we can pull them off the streets and get them into this here, they become a family. We don’t just teach boxing. We teach discipline.”
Both Knapper and Cooper say their lived experiences allow them to connect with their students on a deeper level.
“We’ve been through the same things,” Knapper said. “That’s why we can communicate better. We can relate to each other, because we feel each other’s struggles and pains.”
Roshonda Green, whose son trains under Knapper, served food at the concession stand during the tournament. She says her son has become more patient with life problems as a result of the training.
“There’s nothing else really for the kids in New Orleans to do,” Green said. “I think this is something good to keep the kids busy.”
Razzi White, a 17-year-old who trains at Spartan Boxing Club with Knapper, competed in his first amateur fight on Saturday. He says the environment at Spartan is tight-knit and that the coaches there want to see the youngsters succeed.
“They’re just positive male figures in your life if you don’t have one,” White said of the trainers. “It’s a pretty positive place here. You feel like family, the coaches and teammates.”
Silas Houston, who trains under Cooper at Upper Cutz, wants to compete professionally as an opportunity to provide for his family. The 17-year-old has high aspirations when it comes to boxing and describes Cooper as a legend.
“Training with Coach Whop is a hell of an experience,” said Houston after winning his fight Saturday. “He’s like a father figure to me, a mentor. Somebody who could tell me right from wrong, coming up as a young man.” Houston, who won the Silver Gloves title on Sunday, will now move on to the Region 6 championship, where he’ll fight boxers from Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
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