"I had to stand my ground to make the fighters respect me.". Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. This is a place for friendly and civil debate about the greatest sport on earth. When I went to Vegas to start training they cancelled my bout because of it. He came up in the original KRONK Gym as part of the original ESCOT (Emanuel Steward Champions of Tomorrow) in the early 1980's. It was winter time and there was nothing else to do so me and my brother Stevie decided to go check them out and see if they were lying. Between his epic battles with Ken Shamrock and Chuck Liddell, Ortiz was almost always in the spotlight throughout his MMA career. [6], The new facility opened on Memorial Day weekend in 2015 at 9520 Mettetal St.[7], On August 20, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions on sports events, the gym hosted its first ever professional boxing event, a long-time dream held by Steward. Click here to see the full KRONK x ROOTS collab. The 36-year-old compiled a 10-7 record in the UFC while earning Fight of the Night honors once and Knockout of the Night twice. I guess I would like to maybe get back into boxing. That is what boxing needs more of fresh faces and new stars so as fans we should root for guys like Alvarez, Ward, Rios and young Brit Amir Khan, who is a star in England but still a question mark with a questionable chin but a fighters heart here in the U.S. Those guys and others not yet as well known are the future of boxing, a sport that for too long has been recycling the likes of Mosley (as it will again in May for one last beating against Pacquiao in a fight that's a joke), Bernard Hopkins (who can still fight although it is unclear why he bothers or where its all headed), Roy Jones and, sadly, even 48-year-old Evander Holyfield, who continues to delude himself but not many other people into believing he will soon unify the heavyweight title again.If fighters like Ward, Alvarez, Rios, Khan, WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto and middleweight king Sergio Martinez continue their rise they could be the antidote for the art of the retread that Arum and Golden Boy have been forcing fans to buy the past few years at the expense of what boxing needs most fresh faces. Duane Thomas, another Kronk fighter, beat John Mugabi for the WBC light middleweight title in 1986. The heavyweight division, which many believe determines the relevancy of boxing to the larger world, remains a vast desert of disinterest here in the US. Clay Guida (27-8) versus Takanori Gomi (32-6) in a lightweight bout. He came to Kronk to train in 2009 and got what he expected, a collective examination from experienced fighters who wanted to see if he belonged. The campaign would ultimately work toward building a new Kronk. You know I won an amateur world championship, a professional world championship and I had reached all my goals. GSP currently lives in Montreal and continues to train and assist at Tristar gym. Kronk opened a second gym in Tucson, Arizona during the 1990s. The principles and disciplines he learned from Emanuel Steward are carried on through his own youth program, modeled after the one he grew up in at KRONK. Everything back then was Sugar Ray this and Sugar Ray that. Three times promoter Bob Arum took the sport into massive stadium venues just like the good (very) old days and each time boxing drew a far larger crowd than its many critics expected. He later appeared as the In 1983, Kronk fighter Milton McCrory won the WBC welterweight title vacated by Sugar Ray Leonard; Jimmy Paul beat Harry Arroyo for the International Boxing Fe The sounds below were of struggle. Former KRONK champion and Emanuel Steward protege returns home to make the, Johnathon Banks training multi-time world champion, Cecilia Braekhus, Johnathon signing his Champions Picture on KRONK's WALL OF CHAMPIONS, Get the official KRONK gear, like this custom-made gym bag. But after he died in 2012, the biggest void possible staredat the remaining crew. The gym and recreation center was officially closed by the Recreation Department on November 28, 2006 due to the prohibitive cost of repairs to the plumbing and building infrastructure.[5]. Trusted, up-to-date local Detroit and Michigan breaking news. By then I had like five first round knockouts and from then on the name just stuck. Fikes was a fantastic fighter and now trainer of his own. Hominicks last fight was in late 2012, and since then, he has been hard at work to become an entrepreneurial success. SM: When did your troubles with your right hand start? Timur Kerefov (8-0, 4 KOs), another Kronk fighter from Russia, will face Calvin Metcalf (10-4-1, 3 KOs) of Kansas City in an eight-round co-main event. But Kronk supporter John Carey said itll be hard to forget the legacy of Kronk Gym. You know, mentally, you know, physically I, you know, possess differently skills, increased you know, I think I boxed and got better, my Jiu-Jitsu got better and, you know, just have much more experience now, Edgar says. Welcome to r/boxing, the official home of pro boxing on Reddit! Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Today its really different. Privacy Policy. MM: Not really. Twenty five knockouts. He had more experience than me. SM: What was your feeling on the draw in the first fight? By the end he had been made to look old and futile, a faded athlete whod had his chance and was unable to do anything with it. February 2, 2022 / 4:10 PM Under the guidance of his father, Fikes's boxing journey would have a door opened to him that many in the Detroit area would only dream of. Since his retirement, Couture has begun to dabble in acting and has starred in the Expendables series, as well as appearing on Dancing with the Stars. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. I went from like 172 to 147 for the fight. After being named Kronk Recreation Center's head boxing coach, Emanuel's team would go on to produce 41 World Champion fighters throughout his career. In 1980, Kenty became Kronk's first world champion, Hearns following him months after. They end up unconscious. MM: I was about twelve years old. In general, Hispanics fighters continued to dominate much of the sports front pages with Juan Manuel Marquezs two victories in lightweight title fights leading that storyline. No one has an easy time with the long-haired fighter. They were giving me 1.5 million for it but it never materialized. There are some big names with ties to Kronk Gym. 2. 2023 The Detroit News, a Digital First Media Newspaper. Duane Thomas said the same thing. What would the NFL be without the Super Bowl? On October 7, 2017, the original Kronk Gym went up in flames in a suspicious fire. Royce Gracie was a skinny, young man in a Gi at UFC 1 who no one thought had a chance. (Saturday Update: the fight is March 5th, in NJ at the Pru Center. "All the guys wanted to test me out," he said. He used simple grit and toughness to win fights and that resonated with the fans. Pacquiao alone put boxing (or at least one boxer) on the cover of TIME and into the pages of such varied publications as Esquire, GQ, The Wall Street Journal, the American Airlines in-flight magazine and even Atlantic Monthly. Now Festival. They tricked us and told us that if we came down to the gym we had to bring shorts and shoes and we would have to box too. It was really my kids. Fedor retired in 2012, but still remains the head of the Russian MMA union. Copyright 2023 ClickOnDetroit.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. "These are all very skilled fighters," he said. I just think I grew as a fighter. The history, legacy, and former boxers are definitely part of Kronk Gym, but Rhonda Mitchell said the future of the gym is even better. Copyright 2020 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. : Hardcore Holly WWE Shows Latest Results Raw results, Feb. 13, 2023: Belair denies Bayley and Lynch the Elimination Chamber in chaotic Triple Threat Match Full Results WWE NXT results for Feb. 14, 2023: Roxanne Perez & Meiko Satomura defeat Chance & Carter, agree to future NXT Women's Title Match Full Results Anyone watching TUF remembers Maynard tapping out from a Diaz guillotine choke. Every time you see a Kronk fighter, you can expect to see something special. He has matinee idol looks, a big enough punch to put Paul Williams to sleep with one shot and a work ethic second to none. SHOWTIME did all it could to further the future of the sport, offering up a continuation of its interminably long but still bold Super Six super middleweight tournament as well as the launching of a short form bantamweight tournament which already gave fans to two stirring and surprising finishes with Joseph Agbeko decisioning Jhonny Perez and Abner Mares upsetting Victor Darchinyan in a battle of contusions. The bout will be part of a PPV card. He is regarded as a fantastic coach, so we wouldnt be surprised to see him hang up the gloves for good and continue to coach the next generation of fighters. But no pro card had ever been hosted at a Kronk gym. The one night he appeared in a boxing ring, he set the years pay-per-view standard against Shane Mosley while also leaving a first hint of dark mystery when he was staggered by two stinging right hands in the second round. Why was he so difficult? It is still a relatively new sport, but has caught on like wild fire within the past couple of years. "I work with (Kronk trainer and Emanuel's nephew) Sugar Hill (Steward) and we're talking about: 'That's what we want to bring back:quality, high-level fights.' It may not prove to be much of a fight but at least it will give us something to talk about for a few months. Archived post. Kronk began to earn fame during the late 1970s, when prospects like Hilmer Kenty, Thomas Hearns and Mickey Goodwin trained there. Matt Serra wentdown in the MMA history books as the man who pulled off one of the greatest upsets in the sport of MMA when he defeated Georges St-Pierre to win the Welterweight world title. SM: What about boxing, have you been involved in anyway over the years? Jimmy Paul got me started in it. The bid was for the right to hold the IBF's junior welterweight title fight between Zab Judah of Brooklyn, NY and Las Vegas, and South Africa's Kaizer Mabuza. He hit me with two left hooks and I went down. He never hurt me in the first fight but he did in the second, about the seventh round. This guy couldnt punch and I went down. Theres so much history here, that you just dont want to see this thing forgotten," Wayne mayor John Rhaesa said. I got up, came back and won the fight. Who can blame them considering all the nonsense a fighter has to go through to just make a living these days? The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. I fought Lupe Aquino after that and got dropped a couple times and lost a split decision. If somehow it gives us Mayweather-Pacquiao, the emergence of Alvarez and Rios, the ascension of Martinez and Haye vs. the best available Klitschko in addition to the kind of solid performances that always come along, it could be a year to remember. Starving to make welterweight was real stupid. Produced by VFU, Virtual Fights Unlimited. Most felt he would eventually win it but Edgar not only took the title, he beat one of the best mixed martial artists in history to do it. Paul at The Kronk with Thomas Hearns and Emanuel Steward. GSP is one of the leading advocates of a sport clean from PEDs and is thought to have been a major catalyst ofthe recent crackdown on PEDs in the UFC. Taurrek Fikes, Boxing Coach at Dungeon Boxing, joins Jackie Paige on Community Connect to talk about his days training at KRONK Gym under Emanuel Steward and the kind of impact Steward had on his life. We stand united. MM: Most of my early fights were knockouts. When/where: Seven fights, starting at 7 p.m.; Kronk Gym, Detroit. More than any other former star from the fabled, 80-champion Kronk gym, Mays represents the tragic waste of lives and talent that have dogged many Kronk fighters. "If those walls would talk ," he said. The facility has boxing rings, heavy bags, speed bags and all the trappings of a typical boxing gym. Among the many world champions who trained at Kronk at least once during their careers are Michael Moorer, Wilfred Bentez (in the Tucson gym), Hctor Camacho, Julio Csar Chvez, Naseem Hamed, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Jermain Taylor and Tyson Fury. 7 in the world and among Kronk's top contenders. The card was headlined by Kronk fighter Vladimir Shishkin who defeated Oscar Riojas via ninth-round technical knockout.[8]. Cookie Notice Specifically, those guns were four Colt Mk 12 20mm cannons, backed up by four AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking SM: After the McCallum fight you fought only six times in the next four years. Gordeau hasnt participated in an MMA fight since 1995 and he now lives in the Netherlands, where he operates his own gym with his brothers called Dojo Kamakura. He has had some world famous guests at his gym, including the man who defeated him at UFC 1, Royce Gracie. Boxers relocated to a Dearborn Gold's Gym. After a few minutes he told me Man you have really been icing those guys lately. As history has proven time and again, that is what happens when boxing has a compelling personality to sell it and Pacquiao is that. He also holds the record for the most consecutive submission victories in the UFC with 11. The one and only! By the time Ebersole joined the UFC, he was already a veteran of more than 60 pro MMA fights. Thats why it was difficult for me against Jones. Those kinds of victories, coupled with his Oscar De La Hoya-like looks, are the type of things that if HBO or SHOWTIME would get behind him could allow Martinez to capture the attention of both fight fans and more casual ones. The Kronk Gym is an internationally, world famous gym, said CEO of Kronk Gym, Sylvia Steward-Williams. UFC 125 will be televised on pay-per-view. MM: Duran and Pipino Cuevas turned me down. SM: You had two tough fights with Colin Jones. I was way ahead of my time. He shot something in my hand and it worked. David "Tank" Abbott was an early icon in the sport of MMA and was also one of the first to wear the traditional MMA gloves that all fighters are required to wear now. I sparred with guys at Kronk like Hearns, Hilmer Kenty and Caveman Lee. Its a perfect time. Were not going anywhere, were here to stay, Mitchell said. Emanuel told Leonard later that he knew Milton would have beat him. I won the fight but I cracked some bones in my right hand. That history has been littered with numerous superstars, prominent figures, fan favorites and villains in various promotions around the world, from different countries all over the world. March 26, 2022 at the Inkster Recreational Complex, First published on February 2, 2022 / 4:10 PM. It is still a relatively new sport, but has caught on like wild fire within the past couple of years. 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