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Golden Gloves on the Jersey Waterfront Local Boxers Train Hard to be Contenders

  Bouts on March 24th , March 30 and April 7th

By Sally Deering 

Photos by Sally Deering and Joe Botti

Union City Boxing TeamInside an old municipal building and up a steep flight of wooden stairs is a world of sweat and hope, a cavernous space filled young men and women who bring their dreams of championship titles and Olympic gold medals into the four-sided ring of the Union City Boxing Club. Joe Botti, a Union City Police Lieutenant and former amateur boxer has been running the Union City Boxing Club for 23 years and on a recent March evening, the gym is filled to capacity as Botti and his team of volunteer trainers help young boxers train for the 2012 New Jersey Golden Gloves. “We’ve had 29 Golden Gloves Champs,” Botti says, lacing up a young hopeful’s shiny red gloves, “and hopefully this year we’ll have our 30th. We have five team trophies.” Two boxers who train there are Juan Rodriguez, who won the Golden Gloves in 2009 in the Open Class and Jason Escalera, who won Open Class in 2008; now they’re both professionals. A young fighter being coached by 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. It’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 championship’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. I’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, he’s great,” Melendez says. “It’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. It’s my way of paying him back. It’s not always about boxing. It’s about family. He’s like a dad.”

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