First Posted: 2/18/2015
Jahosh Allen pulled down his National Championship belt off the wooden shelf which overlooked the gym.
Once the Lima South Side boxer let a few people inspect the belt, he stood on a chair and returned to is place on the shelf.
Even though Allen won his huge white belt by winning the National Silver Gloves boxing tournament, he’s not taking his belt home any time soon.
“I’m going to leave it here a while,” Allen said.
Added Lima South Side boxing trainer Lonnie Rettig, “I think that says a lot about him that’s he going to leave his belt here at the gym and not take it home.”
Allen, a 14-year-old, eighth-grader at West Junior High, won the 139-pound intermediate division of the National Silver Gloves recently by defeating Andrew Garcia (LosAngeles) in a unanimous decision in the finals at Independence, Mo.
It marked Allen’s third trip to the National Silver Gloves and the first National Champion for the South Side boxing gym, which was established in 2008. Last year he lost in the national championship match.
“It feels real good,” Allen said.
Allen first got into boxing when his mother dropped him off at Rettig’s front door when he was eight.
Allen liked the idea at first, but soon had second thoughts when he first jumped into the ring.
“I used to cry when I first started, but it’s way different now,” Allen said.
Rettig said, “When he started, he would stumble over his own feet and didn’t like getting hit.”
Over the years, Allen developed a counter-punching, defensive style. It was effective to a degree, as he’s won close to 45 out of his 60 fights.
But for the National Silver Gloves Championship tournament, Allen and Rettig put together a game plan to fight full-throttle for every second of the three one-minute rounds.
“He fought these fights a lot different than he fought any other fights,” Rettig said. “He was really aggressive from the get-go. He went right to work. He wasn’t going to let anyone steal this moment from him. He knew he was making history.
“But that’s not how he fights. Throughout the state of the Ohio, he’s known as a counter-puncher and a runner.”
So before the nationals, Rettig and assistant South Side coach Matt Vogt, who also made the trip to nationals, sat down with Allen.
“I said, ‘Here’s what you’ve been doing, but it’s not been very successful,” Rettig said. “You’ve been winning a few matches, but you’re not getting over the hump. You’re going to have to play aggressive. And that’s what he did. He picked up his speed almost double and went out there just dominated. I can’t believe he dominated like he did. It was amazing.”
In the national semifinals, Allen won a 2-1 split decision over John Medina (Houston).
“It could have gone either way, but I was landing more clean shots,” Allen said.
Then, the following afternoon in the finals, he came out smoking. His opponent, Garcia, was given two standing-eight counts in the opening round.
“I just ran out after him,” Allen said. “I knew I had to show the judges so I went out and threw a lot punches. … He never hit me.”
Allen ended up with a 3-0 unanimous decision for the National Championship.
“When it was over, I thought, ‘I’m a National Champion,’ ” Allen said.
Allen said his favorite part of boxing is going to tournaments.
“I like going on trips and getting away,” he said.
Allen also runs track and wrestles at West, but with his success in boxing, he’s thinking of giving up wrestling.
Rettig said he thinks Allen has a different, more confident walk these days.
“I noticed he doesn’t get pushed around in the gym anymore,” Rettig said. “He’s become his own voice here. This gives him a voice because no one can ever take a National Championship away. Never.”
