COMMUNITY: Golden Gloves offer many benefits

Editor's note: Megan Lehman is a student at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City who will transfer to the University of Iowa in the fall to study communications and journalism.

By Megan Lehman, community contributor

DES MOINES - The Iowa Golden Gloves boxing tournament, which took place last month at the Forte Events Center, is more than a path to the national championships.

For some, boxing is all they have.

“We're saving lives here,” said Don Avant, Iowa Golden Gloves director and a former national champion. “A lot of these kids are at risk of going down the wrong path.”

Boxing, he said, gives them the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of people like Muhammad Ali and Joe Lewis, two hugely successful professional boxers who started as Golden Glove amateurs.

The athletes who train for the Golden Gloves tournaments can find themselves as leaders and role models in the community, Avant said.

“They learn their hard work and commitment from their training,” he said.

An amateur boxing organization with state, regional and national competition, Golden Gloves is open to all non-professional competitors, ages 16 and up. The Silver Gloves, another branch of the organization, is for non-professional competitors ages 10 to 15.

April's tournament was the 75th Golden Gloves state tournament in Des Moines and Iowa has had its share of national champions - Henry Ulrich in 1942, Melvin Barber in 1948, Lamont Lovelady in 1972, Steve Eden in 1980 and Jeremy Williams in 1990. The latest winner was De 'Rae Crane in 2004.

This year's National Golden Gloves competition runs May 13-18 in Salt Lake City. More than 300 of the country's best amateur boxers will compete to be 2013 Golden Gloves champions.

Several local boxers won state titles last month, including Martin Schuh, a 21-year-old University of Iowa student who boxes for ICOR Boxing Club.

Schuh will compete in the national tournament.