Greatest Amateur Coach & Gym

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 05 Sep 2006, 12:39

Galena Park Boxing Academy, Galena Park, TX. Trainer: Kenny Weldon More national amateur champs than anyone else over the past 25 years

Not to "dis" Kenny, but in the 19 years I've been involved in amateur boxing he has never had a national champion.

And Juan McPherson has NEVER lived and boxed out of Texas. He's been a member of the Kronk team since he was a kid.

Deftone · Post by **Deftone** » 14 Sep 2006, 03:40

Tim Hartmeyer of P.A.L. Zanesville Ohio is very good at what he does. He has been in the game for 9 years now. He has his Level 4 coaching Lic..Plus he is a really good person to talk to.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 14 Sep 2006, 12:10

Robert Luna from Commerce, California. Has the Molina twins (excellent JOs), plus females Liz Quevado and Tish Manual. Rodrigo Mosquera has JO Victor Pasillas and Open Division Sean Estrada (depending on which Sean shows up in the ring).

I think Brother Naziim Richardson has done well with his sons: Tiger and Rock Allen and Bear Richardson, not to mention Karl "Dynamite" Dargan.

ARamos3 · Post by **ARamos3** » 23 Oct 2006, 12:29

Depends on what you call a "great coach". A coach who can produce 5 national champions but they all end up in prison before the age of 25. Or someone who can produce 5 state champions and all end up graduating form college with degrees.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 23 Oct 2006, 22:09

Excellent response, Art.

And so very true. However. a coach can't always guarantee that his boxers will stay out of trouble no matter how hard he or she tries.

ARamos3 · Post by **ARamos3** » 24 Oct 2006, 15:47

boxmel wrote:Excellent response, Art. And so very true. However. a coach can't always guarantee that his boxers will stay out of trouble no matter how hard he or she tries.

You're right, just like everything else in life..... no guarantees.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 24 Oct 2006, 16:15

Yep. I know I've seen more pluses than minuses in the 19+ years I've been involved - even if the athletes never reached the national level. As long as the boxers become successful adults, we've done our job.

Unit · Post by **Unit** » 11 Dec 2006, 14:12

Brian Clark Ring One Boxing In New HAven

The Kid · Post by **The Kid** » 12 Dec 2006, 00:06

I am not sure on the spelling but there was a coach out of Tacoma, Washington in the 70's who started out with some young JO's named
Johnny "Bump City" Bumphus, Leo "The Lion" Randolph, Davey Armstrong, Ricky "Rocky" Lockridge, and of course there was Sugar
Ray Seals who won the goal medal in 72.
These are the well known boxers that he had, but I can tell that all his
guys were good and they had that reputation. Kinda like Kronk boxer have today.
I believe this coach went overseas and became a coach over there. Thiland sounds like the place. Anyone out there recall this guy?

chance · Post by **chance** » 26 Oct 2007, 02:30

boxmel wrote:
Galena Park Boxing Academy, Galena Park, TX. Trainer: Kenny Weldon More national amateur champs than anyone else over the past 25 years
Not to "dis" Kenny, but in the 19 years I've been involved in amateur boxing he has never had a national champion.

Alfredo Torres comes to mind most recently...I think back in 2000 he won the national golden gloves. Eric Griffin was an Olympian in 1992 and a Nat. GG champ. Todd Foster was an Olympian in 1988. I think Raul Marquez won some form of national title and was also an Olympian.Then you have to go back a while unless you want to count Nat. Silver Gloves and J.O.'s I think Termite Watkins won the Nat G.G. so did Wilford Scypion
The list of National J.O. champs is pretty long.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 26 Oct 2007, 09:26

Alfredo Torres comes to mind most recently...I think back in 2000 he won the national golden gloves.

Not in 1999, 2000 or 2001. Do you know what weight?

Eric Griffin was an Olympian in 1992

Eric trained at Galena Park but Bob Jordan was his coach.

Todd Foster was an Olympian in 1988.

Todd lived and trained in Great Falls, Montana. He coach was Emmett Murphy.

I think Raul Marquez won some form of national title and was also an Olympian.

Raul was coached by his father Arturo.

Then you have to go back a while unless you want to count Nat. Silver Gloves and J.O.'s

I went to the JOs pretty consistently for about ten years (1988 to 1998) and the boxers Kenny brought during those years did not win.

I think Termite Watkins won the Nat G.G. so did Wilford Scypion. The list of National J.O. champs is pretty long.

Hmmm - never heard of them. Do you know what years? It's very possible that the majority, if not all, of his boxers won national championships prior to 1988.

chance · Post by **chance** » 26 Oct 2007, 12:25

boxmel wrote:
Alfredo Torres comes to mind most recently...I think back in 2000 he won the national golden gloves.
Not in 1999, 2000 or 2001. Do you know what weight?

Eric Griffin was an Olympian in 1992
Eric trained at Galena Park but Bob Jordan was his coach.

Todd Foster was an Olympian in 1988.
Todd lived and trained in Great Falls, Montana. He coach was Emmett Murphy.

I think Raul Marquez won some form of national title and was also an Olympian.
Raul was coached by his father Arturo.

Then you have to go back a while unless you want to count Nat. Silver Gloves and J.O.'s
I went to the JOs pretty consistently for about ten years (1988 to 1998) and the boxers Kenny brought during those years did not win.

I think Termite Watkins won the Nat G.G. so did Wilford Scypion. The list of National J.O. champs is pretty long.
Hmmm - never heard of them. Do you know what years? It's very possible that the majority, if not all, of his boxers won national championships prior to 1988.

Well, my knowledge is limited because I was born in 82. However, I do know that if you ask eric griffen who trained him and taught him the most about boxing he would say kenny weldon. Raul Marquez always said his dad trained him but He learned his fundamentals and footwork from Kenny, and he told me that himself. Todd was from Great Falls, but he was down in Houston more than a year before the olympics and his style transformed quite a bit, but you're right the credit should go to the guy that brought him up. I think you have a good point about the J.O. champions coming before 88. Maurice "termite" Watkins and Wilford Scypion did win Nat G.G. but it was long before I was around, they both went on to have good pro careers and Termite is a respected coach now. He coached the Iraq boxing team in the olympics..his book talks about learning From Kenny. Of course their amateur carreers were long before my time. As for Alfredo he fought between 119 and 126 I'm not sure what he was fighting at at the time.

chance · Post by **chance** » 26 Oct 2007, 12:32

correction Alfredo was at 119 and it was in 1998.

the_boxer · Post by **the_boxer** » 26 Oct 2007, 14:25

well i know kronk here in detroit is a real good gym and have and had real good fighters all the time

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » 26 Oct 2007, 17:13

Charles M Mooney; Charles Mooney Academy of Boxing in Laurel, MD. Not only is he there; but Coach Rock (Marvin Simms) has influenced just about every fighter of note to come out of the DC area in a while. Coach Mooney is of course a 1976 Olympic Silver Medalist; the least experienced member of the team at the time and the only to not turn professional.

Also, Mel; while Todd is from Great Falls, grew up there and lived there and still does; he did I think go to Texas after he won the National Golden Gloves and Kenny Weldon was his trainer for sometime, from what I remember. He actually started boxing out in Hardin when he was like 9 I think; back when there was a lot more boxing in Montana than there is now. But from what I remember hearing; he was invited to Texas by Kenny Weldon after he took out one of Kenny's fighters at the Golden Gloves; which Todd ended up winning; I assume in 86 or 87.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 26 Oct 2007, 17:19

Kolya, Kenny Weldon is like a lot of other coaches - he gets boxers after they have already been developed. I don't give him credit for Foster, Marquez or Eric Griffin. He was not their original coach from the very beginning. That was my only point. :)

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » 26 Oct 2007, 17:54

Ah, I see. I think Murphy had him in his buzzsaw mold (that's kind of a Montana trademark...well, used to be at least, Caferro and Swan don't fight like that); but I remember Todd saying he gave a lot of credit to Kenny for refining him. Amy's mom works at the court; when Todd comes in to pay some sort of fine (I think he owes back fines on traffic charges), she's going to see if she can't get his autograph in the Montana Quarterly issue that featured him. Really good article. Apparently he's a very nice guy.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 26 Oct 2007, 17:58

Todd was always one of the boxers that the coaches wanted to take on trips. Nice, polite and helpful. I'll never forget the time in the '88 Olympics when he had to box twice in one day. Speaking of breaking rules.......

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » 26 Oct 2007, 18:12

Yeah, the Koreans did a nice job screwing Americans in Seoul. That was such a crock of crap. He could have probably won Gold if that hadn't happened.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 26 Oct 2007, 19:02

You can thank Korea for the much-aligned and much-disliked computer scoring system.

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » 26 Oct 2007, 19:16

boxmel wrote:You can thank Korea for the much-aligned and much-disliked computer scoring system.

So I've been told. Thank you, Republic of Korea! Thank you, Park Si Hun!

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 26 Oct 2007, 19:31

Nah - it was actually the Hungarian judge that did the bad deed. Don't blame the poor boxer.

squarering · Post by **squarering** » 27 Oct 2007, 13:05

I Don't know how you determine the best gym.I know I am very proud of what our gym has done. 1 world Jr Olympic Champion, 1 USA National Champion. and 4 other boxer making it to either the USA Nationals or the National GG and all of them starting from scratch. Many other gyms have produced more but. all of our coaching was all volunteer and not a full time job. Every kid in the program must maintain passing grades or they are required to enter our all volunteer tutoring program and no member has ever been left out or did not travel if they did not have money. Today, Saturday, 15 of them will meet with their coach and a couple advanced boxers to learn the art of rolling a bowling ball straight. compliments of the gym. It will be a course in how to have fun and still conduct yourself properly. How does it relate to boxing, it creates loyalty and unity. Like I said, I know other programs have had more success in the ring, look at a program like Headbangers in D. C. with Barry Hunter 2002 amateur coach of the year and this years WBO coach of the year, working with the Pederson Brothers, Ty Barnett. Tony Thompson, Mark Davis and still keeping his amateur Jr.program producing champions , But Barry's kids wouldn't dare meet us on the bowling lanes.

boxmel · Post by **boxmel** » 27 Oct 2007, 14:30

Great analogy, Hal.

But you can tell Barry I think he's chicken!!!!

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » 27 Oct 2007, 16:00

squarering wrote:I Don't know how you determine the best gym.I know I am very proud of what our gym has done. 1 world Jr Olympic Champion, 1 USA National Champion. and 4 other boxer making it to either the USA Nationals or the National GG and all of them starting from scratch. Many other gyms have produced more but. all of our coaching was all volunteer and not a full time job. Every kid in the program must maintain passing grades or they are required to enter our all volunteer tutoring program and no member has ever been left out or did not travel if they did not have money. Today, Saturday, 15 of them will meet with their coach and a couple advanced boxers to learn the art of rolling a bowling ball straight. compliments of the gym. It will be a course in how to have fun and still conduct yourself properly. How does it relate to boxing, it creates loyalty and unity. Like I said, I know other programs have had more success in the ring, look at a program like Headbangers in D. C. with Barry Hunter 2002 amateur coach of the year and this years WBO coach of the year, working with the Pederson Brothers, Ty Barnett. Tony Thompson, Mark Davis and still keeping his amateur Jr.program producing champions , But Barry's kids wouldn't dare meet us on the bowling lanes.

I'm guessing you're from MD too; which gym are you from?

Greatest Amateur Coach & Gym

Joe Couch