READY TO FIGHT: Booyah Boxing fighters reflect on upcoming event in St. Louis
Apr. 6—For the past 12 weeks, five boxers at Booyah Boxing have been getting ready for Devon Alexander's Amateur Boxing Invitational Classic in St. Louis.
Boxing coach Melissa Drywater is sending DeVaughn Jones, Jaylem Newcomb, Michael Drywater, Caleb Scraper and Victor Duran are all set for the Saturday, April 6 event.
Drywater and her boxers were personally invited by Alexander.
"For us to be personally invited by Alexander, it is huge in itself," Drywater said. "To get the support and recognition from the community, I was blown away. I have some pretty high expectations for my guys; they have been really consistent, and they have been training for 12 weeks. They have put in the work and improved. We had so much support from the community."
The 12 weeks of training is twice as long as the normal six weeks boxers get between fights, according to Drywater. Over that period, the fighters have focused on building strength and stamina, and have worked on individual form tweaks.
"A lot of mental training and a lot of physical work," Jones said. "We just run constantly, there are some days we just run, run, run. We train on power, speed and lasting throughout the fight. A lot of people go into a fight and they go with a lot of power, and they get gassed out."
Alexander invited Booyah after seeing Jones' debut fight in late 2023. Though it was his first fight, Jones was awarded "fight of the night" for his efforts.
Since that happened, Jones has been looking to continue the strong start to his career.
"I think about that every day now. What if they saw the fight of the night? They probably think I am going to bring extra and I am. I have big shoes to fill," Jones said."The last time I fought, the guy and I had a good hard fight. I got invited out there; I think he's looking at my tapes. I am expecting competition."
Newcomb is another boxer who is competing in St. Louis. He has a couple of fights under his belt, but Newcomb hasn't had a match in over a year.
His fight in St. Louis looked like it was going to be in jeopardy after his opponent hurt his hand. After a last-minute check, the opponent was cleared, and the match is back on.
Newcomb has had a fight canceled before and is glad he doesn't have to go through that again.
"I was excited. I know that in my last fight, my guy backed out. I didn't know how it was going to work," Newcomb said. "It's a bummer when you see everyone else get their adrenaline and you worked for nothing. It was a good experience hearing that my opponent was back in it."
The other three boxers are making their debut in St. Louis. Even though Drywater is just 15, he has been around boxing events for some time. Drywater is usually the glove runner and helper for judges during events. After the last fight, Alexander invited him to make his debut in St. Louis.
"It feels pretty good to be a part of it. I usually run the gloves. I see them fight and it inspired me to start fighting," Drywater said.
Throughout the training, Melissa Drywater noted the community support has been great. Members of the community, local boxing gyms and even Tulsa Boxing legend Allen Green have stopped by in the lead-up to this event.
The support hasn't just been in spirit, either. Booyah Boxing recently announced it earned its first sponsors, including Buffalo Wild Wings, Dream Catcher Sports and more.
"It feels really good [to get local support]. At first, it was just us supporting us," Jones said. "When it got this big, it was time to start stepping up and move on to bigger and better things. Booyah Boxing is coming up in Tahlequah and companies are starting to recognize it."
Boxing kicks off at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 6 at the Emerson Gym in St. Louis.
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