The Columbus Police Athletic League (PAL) boxing gym and its competitors awaited anxiously for the next opportunity of competing in the Indiana Golden Gloves after it was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wait will have to be longer.
It came as a big surprise to everyone involved in the Indiana Golden Gloves tournament that the Marion County Health Department shut down the reminder of the tournament last month due to safety protocols involving COVID-19.
When it was announced earlier in the year that the Indiana Golden Gloves would return, Columbus PAL coach Seth Caffee described it like Christmas Eve with the presents around the tree waiting to be opened. Now, he says it’s like the Grinch came by to steal the presents away.
Caffee said he received the bad news from Indiana Golden Gloves Tournament Director Vickie Elder right as soon as he got back from a tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi, where some of his fighters competed.
“I got a little frustrated because two weeks later, they had the Indianapolis 500. It doesn’t make sense to me. You’ve got guys who trained hard for months for that tournament,” Caffee said. “I know Indiana Golden Gloves is frustrated by it because there’s a lot of confusion about what is determined safe and what is not determined safe.”
As frustrating as it was for Caffee, it was extremely disappointing for the PAL boxers scheduled to fight in the Indiana Golden Gloves, Chauntavious Davis and Juan “Johnny” Martinez.
“When I heard about it, I was disappointed because this was taken away,” Martinez said. “I put all my effort into this, but it is what it is, and it’s disappointing.”
Davis got to compete in one match of the Indiana Golden Gloves before it got shut down. He won his match 2-1 to advance, but now he won’t see how the rest of his tournament would have played out.
Davis said he enjoyed the experience of competing in the Indiana Golden Gloves. Although it was just one match, it was a memory that would last a long time for him.
“It’s definitely an experience I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life. When I first walked into the ring (before the fight), there was nobody there. I was like, ‘This won’t be too bad’. Once we started and saw all those people, a lot showed up,” Davis said. “I’m a positive person, so I got a ‘W’ out of it. We didn’t get a chance to go all the way and win the thing, but I got a victory, and hopefully more for different tournaments. Hopefully, we can keep making stuff happen and keep having fun with this.”
Caffee said the Indiana Golden Gloves is going to do a private tournament for the Open Division. The third fighter that was scheduled to compete in the tournament, and in the Open Division, was Tristen Grant Jr..
With the Indiana Golden Gloves not the same, and the fact that Grant was presented with a job offer he couldn’t turn down, Caffee decided to pull him out of the tournament.
“With (Grant) being an adult now and trying to get his own place, we decided it was probably the best adult decision right now,” Caffee said. “The Gloves weren’t being normal, so we decided to go ahead for his safety purposes to go ahead and pull him out because we didn’t want him getting hurt. He was only going to train once a week, if that, because of his new job. It’s about protecting the fighter, too.”
Caffee turned this step back into a positive for his kids at PAL. He hopes to get his kids as many opportunities as possible to spar with other local gyms and participating in tournaments around the country.
Last month, Caffee, along with three PAL boxers, participated in a tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi. Boxers from states as far as Maine, Hawaii and even Puerto Rico fought in the tournament. It was a national tournament that had three different rings, three different bells and three different timers with about 150 total bouts being fought for the day, with some boxers being at the venue for more than 12 hours.
Joel Soler came out with a championship in his division and will be competing in the next tournament that will happen in November.
Caffee said Martinez and Davis will still be active in the gym and will participate in tournaments that become available to them, whether it’s in Indiana or out of state.
“Our spirits are still high. We’re still working hard and just looking forward to the next show,” Caffee said. “We’ve got some invites, and now, we’re trying to figure out financially if it’s possible, and I think it is. We just need to get the support.”
Along with helping and teaching the kids about life skills, Caffee’s goal in the near future is to possibly host a show.
“We’d love to host a show here in Columbus next summer,” Caffee said. “Our goal for next year, not only to continue to produce and teach life skills, but we want to host a home show. I think that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
