Steve Golden a well known boxing coach and trainer wants to see two of his recent discoveries have the opportunity to go as far as they wish in the oldest sport know to man.
Golden says he needs resources that will give Michael Baugh and Gus Bell the chance to grow in the boxing world and compete in the Wisconsin Golden Gloves Tournament.
Already Baugh is showing great promise after resuming his boxing career that he started at the age of 15. “I was not ready then,” he said. But last summer following a chance encounter with Two Jabs trainer Golden, Baugh has won four straight bouts.
The latest came recently at Memorial Hall during the Wisconsin Golden Gloves Tournament. The 6-foot-6 Baugh out-pointed previously unbeaten Steven Enrique of the Medina Boxing Club to win the 178-pound novice division championship.
He said, "Life's been good since I went back to boxing," said Baugh, who kept his equipment bag by his bed at night during his six-year absence from the ring. "It's been a blessing, honestly."
Gus Bell, 21, record stands at 2-1 for the gymnast turned boxer. His first win came after he stopped a more experienced fighter whose record was 15-3. Bell said that he was the best on the gymnast team, but a hidden desire to be a boxer finally took center stage.
For Baugh, who attended Park High School before enrolling at Gateway Technical College, this could be just the beginning.
"I think the two have a great future if they just stay on the right track and do the right things," said Golden, who himself is a three-time Golden Gloves champion from 1981-83. "If they keep hanging with me and Andre Thomas (the other trainer at Two Jabs), we'll show them the right way."
They see themselves as role models, and both have recruited other individuals to the sport.
Golden and Andra Augestine, who also help train the pair says that their challenge is to provide the two and other new comers a facility where they can properly work-out. “At this time we are working out of the basement and have a dire need of a facility that has a ring, and other work-out equipment,” said Augestine.
Golden says boxing is a way of focusing negative energy that some young people have into something positive. “Throughout modern day history, boxing has served as a way of getting young people off the street, into the gym and away from gangs,” he explained.
