Kareem Gittens is a late bloomer when it comes to the sport of boxing. Always a fan, he did not take it up until four years ago. He was successful - never had he been knocked down.
That changed in his first match in the Daily News Golden Gloves last Wednesday at Club Amazura in Jamaica. Not only did he hit the canvas once, but it happened twice, in each of the first two rounds of his 178-pound novice bout against Philip Hannah of the Bronx.
“I was shocked,” he said. “I was more mad than anything else after that.”
It showed. Gittens, a 30-year-old sanitation worker from Laurelton, went on the attack. He came back at Hannah with a fury, landing enough shots to earn the unanimous decision.
Because of the knockdowns, he was unsure about the result. Therefore, when his name was called, Gittens punched the air in exultation and raised both firsts to the sky. His comeback raised his confidence even more, Gittens said.
“My expectations are pretty high,” he said. “I hope to win the Gloves. I am going to train much harder for my next fight. I wasn’t expecting to go down.”
By the time DeVaun Lee stepped through the ropes, he was ready for his first amateur fight. The adrenaline of his first Golden Gloves bout was enough to get his blood pumping. So was having the backing of almost the entire crowd. Lee, after all, lives just down the block from Club Amazura.
He did not let his friends and family down, taking apart Stephen Kirnon in their 178-pound novice bout in a dominant three-round decision.
“I feel like this is my home,” he said after the victory. “I love this sport. It is like a chess game. I was confident because of all my hard work. I’m PDR - I got pride, determination and resilience.”
“I love the attention,” he added. “I feel like everybody is watching me. I’m doing it for them, not just me.”
An avid fan of the sweet science, Lee is a Floyd Mayweather backer. He started training one year ago for the Gloves, and the 20-year-old security guard at John F. Kennedy Airport thinks he can take it all the way.
“I want to go to the Garden,” the Martin Van Buren graduate said of the tournament’s finals. “I want the gold chain and the little gloves.”
To get there, Lee said, he would have to improve. He was comfortable in the ring and landed several solid right hands. But he stood toe to toe with Kirnon too often instead of boxing, working his jab and landing behind it.
“I didn’t want him to touch me at all,” he said.
The last time Tyrell Webb stepped through the ropes the year was 2000 and he was merely a junior. He left New York City for Philadelphia, to improve his grades and live with his grandparents. Now back, he reinvested himself into boxing. It was a wise decision. Webb won an easy decision from Willie Wilson, advancing in his first Golden Gloves.
“I wanted to make a statement,” the 19-year-old LaGuardia Community College psychology student said. “I was nervous, but I had a lot of support behind me. I needed to win; put on a show to let the boxing world know that Tyrell Webb was back.”
“I showed that I didn’t lose anything, that I’m a good fighter,” the Astoria native continued. “But I have a lot more fighting to do, a lot more training to do.”
As a junior, Webb was an accomplished fighter, winning all 15 of his bouts, he said. When he starting hitting the heavy bag again and jumping rope, Webb said, he learned how much he missed it. He plans to fight into the spring.
“I will be in the Garden this year,” he promised. “I know what I can do. I feel I cannot be stopped. So far my record is still clean.”
