PRIZE FIGHT HEAD BRIAN YOUNG IS GIVING BACK
“ I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon” - - Brian Young
By Brad Cooney
How many professional boxing promoters can you think of, would rent an RV, load it up with young amateurs fighters, and drive it three hours south to an amateur boxing show in Pearl, Mississippi? On Saturday, June 23rd the city of Pearl, Mississippi had their annual Pearl Day festivities. Each year Richard Archer, and Stan Nichols (Pearl Boxing Club) sets up the boxing ring, and boxing teams from four states, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana show up for a day of fights.
Usually each year the same clubs show up, and the same people (for the most part) gather, and shake hands, and the usual little circles get going with someone in the middle talking
old school boxing, or current boxing evens. The kids are usually the same boxers, just a little older, and a little bit taller. It's an annual boxing event, and it's usually the same old song and dance, so when I saw an RV pull into the parking lot that I didn't recognize, it got my attention.
The doors opened up, and it seemed like the stream of kids wearing white Prize Fight Boxing Team shirts would never end, as each kid one by one exited the RV. The driver looked familiar to me, the bald head, sunglasses, and the ball cap on his head wasn't enough to fool me, it was Prize Fight Promoters Head, Brian Young. I thought to myself, 'how many professional boxing promoters would take their Saturday, and do this?' I tried to picture Bob Arum doing it, and that didn't work. I tried to picture Lou Di Bella doing it, and that didn't work either.
Once the kids got registered, I figured at that point Brian would hand off the coaching reigns to someone else, well I was wrong again. Each time it was a Prize Fight kids turn to fight, Brian worked his corner, spit bucket, spray bottle, water bottle and all. This to me is what it's all about. It was a breath of fresh air to see a professional boxing promoter, a guy that promoted the likes of Mike Tyson vs Lennox Lewis, Jermain Taylor vs Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver vs Roy Jones Jr, show up at an amateur boxing show, and give back like that. There was one thing that Brian told me that day that stuck in my mind the most, “ I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.”
Maybe if more people would remember where it all starts, and give back the way Brian Young is doing, boxing in America will improve to where it once was. I am not saying that it will fix everything, but it sure as Hell can't hurt.
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