Bobby Rooney past away this week and in his honor we would like to rerun an article about him .

Bobby Rooney has been in charge of the Bayonne Police Athletic League’s Boxing Club for almost a decade. Prior to taking over the Bayonne PAL program from his father, professional boxer Bob Rooney, Sr., who ran it for more than 30 years, Bobby Rooney was a professional fighter. He went pro in 2003, winning the WBF Continental Light Heavyweight Title in 2009, and finishing with a win-loss record of 12-3; 7 of his 12 victories were knock-outs, 4 of the victories against previously-undefeated boxers.

Rooney’s work with the Bayonne PAL often has him rubbing elbows with top talent, and not been by coincidence. His father was a sparring partner with Chuck Wepner – the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky – who often offers assistance to the Bayonne PAL. Robert Terry is a recent success story of the program, competing at the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Salt Lake City last  month.

Tyrell Wright, currently with a professional record of 8-0, is another multiple Golden Glove title winner with ties to the Bayonne PAL.

 RVO: How did you get involved with the Bayonne Police Athletic League?

BR: I started boxing at the Bayonne PAL when I was 10 years-old under the guidance of my father, Bob Rooney Sr., who ran the boxing program for 30+ years before he retired. I took over in 2008. In 1987 I won the State Junior Olympic title at 118 lbs…I finished with an amateur record of 21-5.

RVO: What do you enjoy most about working the Bayonne PAL?

BR: Some of these kids come into the gym very shy and quiet. Watching them build confidence is rewarding to me on a personal level. Other kids get involved because they’ve been getting into fights in the street and a parent brings them in to give them something to keep them busy. Watching a kid that may have been described a troublemaker or wise-ass become more behaved and a gentleman gives me pride.

I’d lie if I said winning isn’t a huge part of it.  Taking a kid from a shy or troubled 12-year old and making him a Golden Glove champ within a few years is what it’s all about. Myself and my partner John “Broz” Snyder take a lot of pride in knowing that these kids have a place to be where they’re safe and can feel part of something. There’s no cursing, no pants-sagging and no being disrespectful to others at any time in our gym.

I can remember when my father trained us in the 1980’s, walking down the street seeing two kids fist-fighting in the street. My father would grab both kids, bring them right to the gym, throw gloves on them and put them in the ring. “Let’s see who the real tough guy is,” he’d say. Believe it or not, some of those kids stuck around and became champions. My father definitely left big shoes to fill for me as a coach.

RVO: How long have you been residing in Bayonne?

BR: I was born in Bayonne and moved to Holmdel in 1999. I work in Toms River until 5 pm every day and then drive to Bayonne where we begin training at 6:30 pm, Monday through Friday. I do this as a volunteer. I pay for all the equipment, membership fees and team travel out of my pocket.

RVO: How did you first encounter Robert Terry?

BR: Robert Terry is the classic case of a â€œshy kid turned success story”. His mother brought him to me, to keep him off the streets back in 2008, when he was 14 years old. He was the quietest kid in the gym by far. Only spoke when spoken to, and usually one-word answers. In 2009 he had his first fight, a first round knockout. Soon thereafter his second fight, another first round knockout. Since then he’s won 3 Golden Glove titles and 2 Diamond Glove titles. In 2010 John and I took Robert along with other top fighters from New Jersey to compete in Northern Ireland.

BR: But more important than the success inside the ring is what he’s become outside. He is now a confident 22-year old gentleman. Robert comes from a rough neighborhood in Jersey City where it’s very easy to find trouble if it doesn’t find you first. Robert’s mother Samara and I speak often about his progress and she is his rock. Samara and Robert’s stepfather Kevin do a great job keeping him focused on work and his life outside boxing, and I feel like I’ve always had their support.

RVO: To become a great boxer, what do you think are the most important traits in a person?

BR: The obvious ingredients to (being) a good boxer would be agility, speed, power, conditioning and the ability to take a punch, but mental traits are important. Desire, mental toughness, and fortitude are just as important. Can you fight through pain? Can you get up when you’re down? Combat sports demand more from an athlete than any other sport. Other sports can be demanding as well, but try playing football, basketball or hockey when you’re exhausted and someone is punching you in your stomach or your face. It’s a different kind of toughness.

For more information on Bobby Rooney and Bayonne PAL Boxing,

call 732-616-9162 or visit the club on Facebook.

The post LORD OF THE RING-Bayonne native Bobby Rooney reflects on 30+Years in Boxing   first appeared on River View Observer.

(Next tournament: March 15th 7:30 PMHudson Catholic High School 790 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City

)Middletown, NJ (March 7, 2013) – More than 350 boxers will compete throughout the state in the 2013 New Jersey Golden Gloves (NJGG) Amateur Boxing Championship. A tournament schedule includes nine preliminary bouts with ages ranging from 8 to 34 in their respective age divisions. This marks the first year to include the Junior Golden Gloves division into the tournament so that the younger athletes have the opportunity to compete on a much larger scale.  Last year, approximately 200 boxers competed in the age range of 17 to 34 years old, which proves that the popularity of boxing continues to grow. The open class boxers and selected up-and-comers from the other three divisions will advance to the state finals on Saturday, April 20th at the Prudential Center’s AmeriHealth Pavilion in Newark.

Visit www.njgoldengloves.com for ticket information. Tickets for each event range from
$15 to $35 for general admission seats.
Dan Doyle, president of New Jersey Golden Gloves, said that 2013 marks the second year that the finals are being held at the Prudential Center in Newark. “We are very excited to be holding our Tournament of Champions at the Prudential Center, giving our amateur boxers a chance to box in a large arena much like the pros,” Doyle said. “These young athletes have dedicated at least the better part of a year to training for this prestigious tournament.”

New Jersey Golden Gloves is a nonprofit organization that promotes amateur boxing, runs local tournaments and sends the state’s best boxers to the Golden Gloves of America’s national tournament each year. Doyle said many of the boxers are young men from areas around the state that have been hardest hit by cuts to community programs and the economic downturn. The clubs they join provide these young men and women with a low-cost training program that keeps them focused on a positive goal while offering a safe environment.

“If it weren’t for these gyms and the volunteer coaches, I would hate to think of what the alternatives would be for many of our athletes,” Doyle said. “Through boxing, their frustration and aggression has a constructive outlet.”

Local businesses, boxing enthusiasts, friends and family members support these athletes by attending the tournaments leading to the finals. Become a tournament sponsor by making a tax-deductible donation to the New Jersey Golden Gloves Scholarship Fund.

The tournament schedule (locations, dates and times are subject to change. Visit www.njgoldengloves.com
for updates): March 15th 7:30 PM
Hudson Catholic High School 790
Bergen Avenue, Jersey City

March 16th 7:00 PM
Brunswick Boxing and Fitness Club
121 Jersey Avenue, New Brunswick

March 23rd 7:00 PM
Christian Brothers Academy
850 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft

March 30th 7:00 PM
Middletown P.A.L.
70 Murphy Road, Middletown
 
April 6th 3:00 PM
P.A.C.B.O. Boxing Club
JFK Rec Center, W. Kinney Avenue,Newark

April 12th 7:30 PM
I.B.E.W. 164
205 Robin Road, Paramus

April 13th 2 PM
Global Boxing Gym
5711 Tonnelle Avenue, N. Bergen
 
April 19th 7:30 PM
I.C.A.T. Boxing
1304 Brielle Ave, Ocean Twp

** FINALS **
APRIL 20TH 7:00 PM
Prudential Center AmeriHealth Pavilion
25 Lafayette Ave, Newark

The post New Jersey Golden Gloves Announces Tournament Schedule for the 2013 Amateur Boxing Championship first appeared on River View Observer.

How many people can say Frank Sinatraâ€s mother brought them into the world? Born in Hoboken under the watchful eye of midwife Dolly Sinatra (she was a neighbor), Al Certo was raised in Hoboken where he dreamed of being a dancer but, instead, built two careers as a professional boxer and menâ€s tailor, Certo weaved back and forth between those two worlds until he eventually hung up his gloves and threw himself into herringbones and tweeds.

 Certoâ€s Custom Tailors has thrived in Secaucus for more than 50 years. Back in the day Certoâ€s shop was two floors with eight tailors handling the orders; today, the top floor is now a pizzeria and Harsh Khindri who has been with Certo for 15 years handles most of the work.

 “Heâ€s one of the greatest tailors I ever met,” Certo says. “He has gold in his hands.”

Certoâ€s tailor shop is filled with sewing machines and along several walls are rows of hangers with yards of fabrics like cashmere, wools and cottons. Above the hangers is a line-up of photographs mostly of famous boxers who Certo knew from his years in the ring. Sometimes they came to Certoâ€s shop to talk boxing and sometimes they picked out a suit. Thatâ€s what boxing legend Muhammad Ali did. 

“I got to be very close to Ali,” Certo says. “He came walking in; I got all the pictures of the fighters on the wall and he says, ‘whereâ€s all the black fighters?†We hit it off good. Ali had a 34 waist and a chest like, I would say 50-52.”

Back in the day, Certo built a good reputation as a boxer, won the Golden Gloves in 1953 and turned pro in â€56.  He owned a gym on Washington Street in Hoboken during those years, too, but there came a time when Certo had to flip a coin and make a career-decision.

 “What do I do, let this thing go and devote full time to the boxing? “ Certo says, describing how he chose tailoring over boxing. Pointing to the 8 x 10 framed photographs that line the top edge of the walls, he says: “Thereâ€s a billion dollars-worth of talent on that wall.”

 Heâ€s right. Black and white photos of the biggest legends in the boxing world like Ali, Joe Louis, Jake LaMotta, Jack Dempsey, Chuck Wepner, Jersey Joe Wolcott and Rocky Graziano are hung next to superstars like a young Frank Sinatra, who Certo dressed in his custom-made suits. Sinatra had a 29-inch waist at the time, Certo says. Thereâ€s also a picture of Martin Scorcese, Joe Pesche, Ray Liotta and Rober DeNiro who visited Al while filming “Goodfellas”.

 “DeNiro was doing research on his role as Jake LaMotta in ‘Raging Bull†and he knew I was a fighter and fight promoter and wanted to ask me questions,” Certo says.

 Certo is featured in several books including a popular new release “The Boss Always Sits in the Back” by Jon Dâ€Amore who is a former Secaucus resident now residing in Hollywood. Friends since the 1980s, whenever Dâ€Amore comes to the area for book signings, he hooks up with Certo.

 “Since back in the late 1970s when I was 14 years old I’ve credited Al Certo with being one of the people responsible for my successful career as a musician that lasted until I retired from it in 1985,” Dâ€Amore says. “He booked my first group, The Mixed Expressions, made up of 6 high school teens from Secaucus and Weehawken, for our very first paying job at The Plaza Arena. Al and I have stayed friends ever since and it’s been an honor to know him. Even now that I live in Hollywood, whenever I come back to New Jersey or New York City I always make it a point to stop by Al’s shop and have a cup of coffee.”

 Although he built his custom-tailoring business in Secaucus, Certoâ€s a Hoboken guy who remembers “when rents were $5 or $6 a month”. He grew up on Monroe Street a block from the Sinatra family and it was Sinatraâ€s mother Dolly who supplemented her income as a midwife and brought Certo into the world. His father, Al, a trombone player and mother Nettie raised 12 kids – Certo was a middle-child — and when Certo was big enough, he worked as a shoeshine boy near the Hoboken docks that lined the Hudson. In his early 20s, he married Lee Bernacci; they are together 64 years.   

“I never wanted to be a fighter. I wanted to be a dancer,” Certo says. “I was a good dancer with my sister Joanne. Once, we were at a dance in Hoboken and the whole dance floor got off and watched us dance. We were great.”

 Dreams of dancing like his idols Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire are now stored away along with memories of his days as a pro boxer, Light on his feet and in good shape, Certo looks like he still could wow ‘em on the dance floor – an observation that he brushes away like a puff of lint on a lightweight wool.

 “Iâ€m 85,” he says. “I got two left feet now.”

                                                                                                                                                                           

Certoâ€s Custom Tailors

1259 Paterson Plank Road

Secaucus

(201) 867-4934

 

The post Tweed Suits and Golden Gloves-Former Boxing Champ Al Certo on Choosing the Right Weave first appeared on River View Observer.

By Sally Deering 

Photos by Sally Deering and Joe Botti

“They used Golden Gloves as a jumpstart to professional careers,” Botti says.

Herkin DeLaRosa, 20, of Union City, has 26 fights under his belt and sees a Golden Gloves title as his opportunity to go pro.

“Everybody wants to be a Golden Gloves champion,” DeLaRosa says. “It means a lot of hard work. Itâ€s like a goal to me. I get to compete in the Nationals.”

DeLaRosa is one of ten boxers at the Union City Gym who will be competing in the 2012 New Jersey Golden Gloves amateur boxing championshipâ€s preliminaries for a shot at the nationals.

The team also includes Felix Tejada, Jose Aviles and Johnny Hernandez of Union City; William Arevalo, Anthony Valentini, Jarrett Blair and Gino Montero of Jersey City; Carlos Lopez of North Bergen; and Hector Melendez of Hoboken.

Melendez, 17, has won 20 fights and two Diamond Glove championships. He also takes AP classes at Hoboken High School and plans to major in economics in college.

“I want 70 amateur fights before I go pro,” Melendez says. “I want to travel, spar in different places. Iâ€m trying to get experience. I only lost one fight. I think boxing will open doors for me.”

Melendez also has high praises for his trainer.

“Joe Botti, heâ€s great,” Melendez says. “Itâ€s not about money; he does this for free. He cares about his fighters. He does a lot for us and we do for him. I fight hard in the ring. Itâ€s my way of paying him back. Itâ€s not always about boxing. Itâ€s about family. Heâ€s like a dad.”

Going for the Gold

New Jersey Golden Gloves is a non-profit organization that promotes amateur boxing, runs local tournaments and sends a team of the stateâ€s best boxers to the Golden Gloves of Americaâ€s national tournament each year. This year, more than 200 young boxers are competing in the New Jersey Golden Gloves which features nine preliminary bouts throughout the Garden State including the bout on Sat, Mar. 24 at the Washington School in Union City. Members of the Union City Boxing Clubâ€s team will be competing along with young boxers from other local gyms including the Bayonne PAL and the Ringside Boxing Club of Jersey City.  Preliminary winners will advance to the state finals held at the Prudential Center in Newark on April 7th.

Boxing Coach and head trainer of the Middletown PAL Dan Doyle of Long Branch is President of the New Jersey Golden Gloves. When he took on the state leadership in June, Doyle recruited a new board of directors which initiated a scholarship program for the stateâ€s most promising athletes.

“We are so excited to be holding our 2012 Tournament of Champions in the Prudential Center, giving our amateur boxers a chance to box in a large arena much like the pros,” Doyle says.  “We hope the public will come out and support these athletes. They have dedicated at least the better part of a year to training for this prestigious tournament.”

Many of the competing boxers are young people from areas around the state that have been hardest hit by cuts to community programs, Doyle says. Boxing clubs like the Bayonne PAL, Ringside Boxing Club of Jersey City and the Union City Boxing Club all provide a training program that keeps young men and women, boys and girls focused on a positive goal while offering a safe environment.

Jose Aviles, 22, is a 2010 Golden Gloves winner in the Novice Division and he will again be competing in the 2012 Golden Gloves preliminaries. In training, he runs 10 laps around the park – any park – and goes to the gym every day from 5 p.m.-to-8:30 p.m. where he shadow boxes, jumps rope, spars in the ring, does three rounds with the heavy bag and three rounds with the speed bag He does sit ups, push-ups and even yoga for stretching.  Winning the Golden Gloves in 2010 was a big surprise. He says: “I never won anything in my life. I got a trophy, a Golden Gloves chain and the option of being a boxer. Iâ€m ready now to go pro.”

And taking some punches is all part of the sport, Aviles says.
“You donâ€t mind taking a punch,” Aviles says. “You gotta take one, to give one. That is the love of the sport.”

The Union City Boxing Club is all volunteer-run; Botti volunteers his time and so do the other trainers. Mayor Brian Stack of Union City donates the space and Union City and the Union City Boxing Club are co-sponsoring the Golden Gloves preliminary event on Mar. 24th at the Washington School and footing the bill for the boxers†uniforms, equipment, and other bout expenses.

The Hudson and Bergen County Electricianâ€s Union, Local 154 will be sponsoring the March 30^th Golden Gloves preliminary bout in Paramus. Proceeds from the ticket sales will go to breast cancer research says Paul Dunleavy of Jersey City, a former boxer who has volunteered his time raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation and is now lending a hand to bring awareness to the breast cancer.

“I fought in the Golden Gloves three times in New Jersey,” Dunleavy says. “I canâ€t fight any more so I help out. This year, Iâ€m singing the National Anthem. ”

Hudson Boxers, Hope and Pride

The Union City Boxing Club is filled to capacity now, young boxers sparring in the ring, hitting heavy bags and speed bags, jumping rope, doing sit ups. Botti says that in the summer, 40-60 boxers-in-training come each day. And there is no age limit; theyâ€re as old as 42 and as young as 8.

At 11, Deandre “Dynamite D” Guzman is a four-time New Jersey State Champion and veteran of 36 fights. Deandre has traveled to Las Vegas, Ohio and Upstate New York to compete and the sixth grader says he likes being in the ring.

“I want to be an Olympian,” Deandre says.

Botti was about Deandreâ€s age when he first discovered a passion for boxing. Growing up in Union City, he founded a boxing group when he was young and, he says, it helped him get through tough times. And now, heâ€s paying it forward.

“It keeps the kids off the streets,” Botti says. “A lot of the kids who trained here are now teachers, police officers, firefighters. A lot of kids turned their lives around. They say boxing is one of the best deterrents to gang activity. These kids fight so hard for these trophies. Theyâ€re fighting for pride and the Golden Gloves title. That will be with them the rest of their lives.”

New Jersey Golden Gloves Tournament Schedule

(General admission tickets: $15 to $35)

Fri, Mar. 16, 7 pm

Luis Munos Marin Middle School, 663 Broad St, Newark

Tickets: Aspira Boxing Club, the event host, at 973-484-7554 or Jose Rosario at 201-679-0485

Sat, Mar. 24, 7 p.m.

Washington School, 3901 New York Ave., Union City

Tickets at the door

Fri, Mar. 30, 7 p.m.

IBEW Local 164, 65 W. Century Road, Paramus

Contact: Cassie Wordelman at 201-265-7273, ext. 213, or Theresa Rolaf at 201-265-1700, ext. 4246 or visit www.ibew164.org for more information.

Fri, April 6, 7 p.m.

ICAT Academy of Boxing, Fitness & Martial Arts, 1304 Brielle Ave., Ocean Township.

Call 732-531-1422 for more info

Sat, April 7, 7 p.m.

Prudential Centerâ€s AmeriHealth Pavilion, 165 Mulberry St., Newark

Ticket info: www.njgoldengloves.com or www.prucenter.com, or call Jose Rosario of the Aspira Boxing Club at 973-484-7554, Dan Doyle of the Middletown PAL at 732-957-9494, Stephanie Lashley of ICAT Boxing at 732-531-1422; or New Jersey Golden Gloves at 732-318-7131

The post Golden Gloves on the Jersey Waterfront Local Boxers Train Hard to be Contenders first appeared on River View Observer.