Lincoln fighter hopes
gym helps urban youth
By Eric Rineer
Staff writer
As Mike Tyson chewed on
Evander Holyfield’s ears during their
heavyweight title fight two years ago,
a local Lincoln boxer realized his
beloved sport was in dire trouble.
If the Tyson incident was not
enough to dampen the image of the
sport, another match, two weeks after
Tyson and Holyfield, certainly was.
The match featured Heavyweight
Champion Lennox Lewis of Britain
and heavyweight contender Henry
Akinwande of Nigeria.
Akinwande repeatedly held onto
Lewis during their fight in fear of
waking up flat on his back, via a Lewis
uppercut.
Akinwande was disqualified for
his hugging tactics, which was anoth
er major blow to boxing. ^
As Tyson now sits inside a
Maryland jail cell, serving a
one-year sentence for assault
ing two motorists, Lincoln
prizefighter Tony Menefee is
doing his part to clean up the
image that both Tyson and
Akinwande have helped leave
behind.
Menefee, who boxes at the
Royal Grove Nite Club and
Guitars and Cadillacs, is now
doing his part to clean up the
sport’s image.
Boxing has developed this brutal
instinct lately because of boxers like
Mike Tyson,” said Menefee, who
recently opened a gym downtown
with an urban-renewal-type mentality
in mind.
Menefee’s Boxing Club, at 1120 P
Street, is located inside what used to
be the Nebraska Spirit Store.
The middleweight boxer, who has
fought former champions Roberto
Duran and Hector “Macho” Camacho
during his brief but action-packed
career, said the goal of his gym was to
take young people off street corners
and give them something positive to
do.
Menefee said he and his staff take
pride in teaching youngsters die disci
pline, hard work and valuable relation
ships that come with the sport.
Menefee’s Boxing Club begins
shaping children into boxers as early
as 8 years old. The gym includes 6,000
square feet of space for Menefee and
his staff to work with their fighters.
Menefee, who co-owns the gym
with his father, Ray, said another goal
of his was to preach to fighters some
values and morals necessary for living
a healthy and spiritual lifestyle.
“I want to give the kids a sense of
direction,” said Menefee, who boasts a
professional record of 63 wins versus
just five defeats.
“I want them to have a sense of
respect for the sport so they don’t have
to fight on the streets.”
Street fights, Menefee said, run in
vicious circles.
“It never ends,” he said. “I don’t
want to get stuck or shot in a street
fight.”
Menefee said boxing is positive
for youth because of the rules it instills
in fighters.
Amateur boxers, for example,
fight just three two-minute rounds.
Amateur rules also require fighters to
wear protective headgear.
Besides the precautions that ama
teur organizations take to protect then
fighters, professionals are also trained
to protect themselves at all times,
Menefee said.
“The trick is not to get hit,” he
said. “You hit the other opponent and
don’t let him hit you.”
Acquiring skills like this, Menefee
said, takes hard work and, most of all,
dedication - things the Menefee gym
preaches to its boxers.
“We discipline their lives around
working out and doing something
good for their body,” he said.
“We want to teach people this is a
sport - not a gladiator sport. There’s
two men involved and there’s rules.”
Many people not familiar with
boxing often stereotype the brutality
of the sport, Menefee said.
It’s more important, he said, for
people to understand there’s so much
more to boxers than just fighting.
“It’s always our goal to become
(the fighters’) friend first,” Menefee
said.
“It’s more than just working with
fighters from a coaching standpoint. If
they feel they have problems, they
know they can come talk to us.”
Menefee said he was all too famil
iar with the problems many youth face
before stepping into a gym and tap
ping away at a speed bag for the first
time. ^
“I, myself, had problems growing
up,” he said. “I hung around a lot of
people that partied and skipped class
es. I didn’t do as well (in school) as I
could have, if I wouldn’t have hung
out with that crowd.”
Just as boxing has helped Menefee
turn his life around, the local favorite
wants to help other young fighters do
the same.
That can only be done, he
said, if his fighters come to
the gym with their heads on
straight.
“We won’t let people in
who are involved in drugs or
who want to use these skills
on the street,” he said.
Building relationships,
Menefee said, was one of the
most positive aspects about
participating in the sport
“Typically speaking,
most fighters are the nicest
people you meet,” he said. “A
few are egotistical maniacs, but most
are really friendly.”
The-friendships that come along
with the sport are often overlooked by
those who are skeptical about boxing,
he said.
Mike Wiggins, a boxing trainer at
the Kronk gym in Detroit, agreed with
Menefee’s assessment.
Often, Wiggins said, it’s common
to see his boxers giving each other
advice after they are done sparring
against each other in the ring.
“These guys come in every day
and fight like mad in the ring,”
Wiggins said. “As soon as the fight is
over, they can sit on the side and tell
each other about their mistakes.”
Wiggins described a typical post
fight conversation between two boxers
after their sparring match.
‘“Hey man, I kept hitting you with
that left hand because you kept miss
ing with that right when you came at
me inside.’
“They give each other pointers,”
Wiggins said. “Now, if you’re fighting
on the street, you know that’s not
going to happen.”
Wiggins’ gym, like Menefee’s,
tt
We discipline their
lives around working out
and doing something good
for their body.”
Tony Menefee
Lincoln prizefighter
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ABOVE: A LONE SPEED BAG graces Menefee’s gym as a boxer jumps rope.
Menefee, who recently opened his gym at 1120 P St., plans to hold chil
dren’s and women’s boxing classes along with the rest of the lessons he
teaches.
TOP: JEREMY FERGUSON, a senior in Delta Tan Delta Fraternity, practices
his punches Thursday night in Menefee’s gym. Ferguson is getting ready for
Sigma Chi’s Fight Night at the end of April.
starts training children at the age of 8.
The Kronk gym has trained a num
ber of famous professional fighters,
who all came from poverty-stricken
areas or neighborhoods in Detroit
Michael Moorer, for example,
who is a member of the Kronk gym,
was a two-time heavyweight champi
on.
Thomas Hearns, who won six dif
ferent titles in six different weight
classes, is another prime example of a
fighter who started out in the streets,
Wiggins said.
“Tommy (Hearns) grew up on the
East side (of Detroit). We got him into
the gym. After that it’s history.”
Every kid who enters the ring has
the chance of making a dream come
true, Wiggins said.
“If you can last long enough in the
gym and stay and be hungry enough,
you can make it.”
And the Kronk gym makes sure of
that.
Not only does it teach youngsters
the dangers of running around with
street gangs, the trainers also make
sure their fighters perform to their
highest abilities in the classroom,
Wiggins said.
None of the youth who fight in the
Kronk gym, he said, are able to slip by
without showing their trainers their
report cards.
“We don’t want just fighters,”
Wiggins said. “We want'to help teach
them discipline, and we want to be
involved with the kids.
“It’s not about boxing,” he said.
“They want to be a part of something.
“They’re all like one big, happy
family here. Everybody here wants to
be a champion. Everybody here
respects each other.”
Wiggins said respect was also a
big part of training fighters and gave
an example of how he goes about dis
ciplining his young fighters.
“You might talk to your parents
like that, but you won’t talk to us like
that,” Wiggins said he will tell kids
who come off the streets with the
wrong attitude.
“You got to make them respect
you,” he said. “And you got to respect
them, too.”
Menefee agreed, saying showing
respect toward kids was vital for shap
ing them into well-rounded people
and fighters.
His fighters will be taught to
uphold the values regularly practiced
by a majority of citizens who reside in
Lincoln, he said.
Menefee said his gym will eventu
ally include a set of bleachers for any
one to come and observe what he
teaches to his young fighters.
This way, he said, parents can be
sure of what exactly goes on when
their kids walk through his doors.
Though he mainly trains profes
sional fighters at his gym, Menefee
said, he looks to bring amateur boxing
back to Lincoln as well.
But for now, he said, he will con
tinue winning, and continue his efforts
in urban renewal.
“There’s always a problem with
kids getting involved in gangs and
thieving and vandalism,” he said.
“With the gym, we can take those
kids off the street and give diem some
thing to do, and teach them a sense of
respect for people.”
