Ready for the ring

Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament, Sat., March 19, 7 p.m., Odyssey Fitness (401 Coal St., Wilkes-Barre). Tickets: $20 GA, $30 preferred, $40 VIP, $45 ringside. Info: 570.829.2661 odysseyfitnesscenter.com

The first bell rings, and the punches fly. Muhammad Ali’s famous quote, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” perfectly describes the glove-covered fists swinging with intense grace and power as they try to break through the defenses of their opponent. Feet move in perfect step, a calculated dance of evasion and attack. And when the final bell rings, and the punches cease, only one hand raises high — only one is triumphant.

On Saturday, March 19, Odyssey Fitness will host the Golden Gloves district championship boxing tournament at 7 pm. at its facility in Wilkes-Barre. The event will include 20 matches with not only local fighters, but fighters from all over the Northeastern section of Pennsylvania.

Larry Angeles, Odyssey’s boxing pro and coordinator of the event, said that it’s not easy for fighters to make it into the district championship.

“Competition is tough,” he said. “You might have to fight five, six, seven times. But sometimes you might only have to fight one or two times, depending on who’s in your weight class.”

These weight classes, which range from as little as 106 pounds to more than 200 pounds, are also broken down by age as well, with fighters under the age of 18 falling into the cadet level and those over 18 falling into the novice level.

But Angeles said it’s hard to keep a lot of kids into the sport, as it requires a lot of sacrifices. Fighters must work through a very intense program which requires not only running, but a lot of time in the gym working with punching bags, jumping rope and sparring against others who are training. Along with the physical preparation, fighters must also be mentally prepared.

“You have to get a comfort zone where you’re mentally confident of winning, where you’re not struggling, where you’re the top dog,” Angeles said. “If you don’t have that, it usually adds a lot of stress on you.”

To some, like 24-year-old Juan Hererra, the sacrifices and training are worth it.

“You gotta take a lot of your own time,” he said. “Run, can’t do this, can’t do that. It gets to be a hassle after a while, but if you want to win, that’s what you have to do.”

For Hererra, who said he grew up in New York and always had problems on the streets with other kids, boxing became an outlet. And for the past five to six years, he said he has been doing this on and off, working around his life as a member of the National Guard.

Ten years the junior of Hererra, 14-year-old Zach Venesky also works his boxing schedule in around his life as a student and football player. Even though he has to spar with adults, due to having a hard time finding others in his age and weight class, that does not deter Venesky from continuing to fight.

“I’ve always been interested in it,” he said. “And once I started doing it, I just couldn’t stop.”

Angeles commented that Venesky has heart and shows the dedication needed to go far with the sport.

Although both Hererra and Venesky are fighting for spots in the March 19 tournament, Angeles commented that generally fighters do not know very far in advance who makes it into the next round of competition. Those who do fight in the district championship have a chance to move on to the regional championship. From there, Angeles said fighters go on to the state then national championship, and winners from there often try out for the Olympic team. He said that in the past Odyssey Fitness has had a few fighters, both men and women, win the state championship.

For fighters who are hopeful of winning, like Hererra, it is a true test of the hard work they have put in with their training.

“Raising your hand when you win a fight,” he said, “At that moment it’s all worth it.”