by Joan Pringle
The Fidalgo Boxing Club headed by coaches Leonard Johnson, left, and Fred Norg had its competition equipment stolen while at the Tacoma Junior Golden Gloves earlier this month. The team is now seeking donations to be able to fight another day. Below: Antonel Cruz, left, Sean Maher, Doc Baron, Mike McCurdy and Martin Bernal, in front, all Fidalgo Boxing Club members, competed at the 31st annual Tacoma Junior Golden Gloves at the Al Davies Boys & Girls Club in Tacoma on Feb. 7 and 8.
Boxing club fighting to replace stolen equipment
Thieves stole the Fidalgo Boxing Club’s equipment at a recent meet in Tacoma, but they didn’t take away the team’s resolve.
Using borrowed gloves and headgear in the finals, three fighters won titles at the 31st annual Tacoma Junior Golden Gloves. And now the coaches and boxers are fighting to raise the $1,500 needed to replace what was stolen — and allow the team to compete in the future.
Five of the approximately 30 club members, who range in age from grade school to their 20s and who practice regularly in the basement gym of City Hall, qualified to fight in bouts in Tacoma on Saturday, Feb. 7. Antonel Cruz, Doc Baron and Martin Bernal did so well they were scheduled for championship fights on Sunday. So Saturday night, they and the other two members, Sean Maher and Mike McCurdy, locked up their equipment in a car after they were assured by hotel security that it would be safe.
But when they got up Sunday, they discovered the car had been broken into and the $1,500 worth of equipment was gone.
The members initially thought the only choice they had was to forfeit and start heading home. But then coaches Leonard Johnson and Fred Norg decided to take a shot and ask the other teams if they could borrow what they needed. In reality, they didn’t expect the competition to help them out.
But they did. Members of the Al Davies Boys and Girls Club hosting the event loaned them everything they needed.
“Then our guys won,” Johnson said.
Cruz, Baron and Bernal walked away with championship trophies and will advance to the Pacific Northwest Regional competition in Spokane in May. If they do well there, they’ll go on to the U.S. National Championships in Denver, Colo., in June.
But right now, they have no equipment to compete.
The club is nonprofit and depends on the $2.50 drop-in fee to keep itself going. Johnson, Norg and the club’s members are trying to raise the extra money they need to replace three pairs of competition gloves, headgear, cup protectors and focus mitts the coaches wear to warm up the boxers. Also stolen were the oversized gym bag the club uses to hold the gear, medical supplies, water bottles and buckets.
The club had to bypass a tournament in Seattle last weekend, but hopes it won’t have miss a March 7 competition in Lynden.
To help the club with monetary donations, contact Johnson at (360) 391-3013 or .
