Sports

DOLLARWAY SENIOR CHOOSES BOXING OVER TRADITIONAL SPORTS

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:05 AM CDT

Most teenage athletes in Pine Bluff focus on sports like football, basketball, baseball or track and field. But not Donald Griffin. The 16-year-old, high school senior from Dollarway is a boxer. Griffin has trained at the Pine Bluff Boxing Club for three years and spent this summer traveling throughout the region to further his training.

Donald Griffin works the speed bag at the Pine Bluff boxing club in preparation for an upcoming fight. The senior at Dollarway High School won his weight division in the Texas Games at San Antonion July 25-26. Ralph Fitzgerald / Pine Bluff Commercial

“I love boxing,” Griffin said. “It’s like my favorite thing to do outside of school.”

Griffin is one of several members of the club to own a state title, winning his in the 154-pound weight class this year. Then he went on to take fourth in his weight class at the national tournament in February at Marquette, Mich.

Then Griffin decided to spend the summer away from town. Griffin picked the Joe Garza Boxing Club in Corpus Christi, Texas, to train for a series of fights in the Lone Star State.

“It was pretty cool,” said Kyle Barber, Griffin’s Pine Bluff coach. “I like the fact that he was able to go and get outside experience. I do whatever I can to help him, but I’m not going to discourage him from doing something that will make him better.”

After training for nearly a month, Griffin spent July fighting nearly every single week. He won a match in Beeville, Texas, on July 12 before winning a match in Aransas Pass, Texas, on July 19.

“When I went to Texas, I saw a whole different type of fighting,” Griffin said. “It was a completely different type of fighting than anything I’ve seen in Arkansas.”

Then Griffin had his crowning achievement of the summer. The junior fighter won a pair of matches on July 25-26 to win his weight division in the Texas Games at San Antonio.

“It was good,” Griffin said. “I felt like all my work and what I’ve been training for paid off.”

Griffin’s journey did not end in Texas. After winning the title, Griffin was one of the 1,488 boxers who competed in the Ringside World Championships, held Aug. 5-9 in Kansas City, Mo.

In three years Griffin has become the star student of the Pine Bluff Boxing Club located in an annex of the Merrill Building. But he has some competition within the school in the form of his 11-year-old brother Trey, who already has a state title in the 95-pound weight class.

Donald Griffin shouldn’t have too many qualms with his brother stealing some of the spotlight as he plans to persue his boxing career after high school. But regardless of boxing success, he is adament about going to college.

Donald Griffin will continue to box even while finishing high school. He travels to Oxnard, Calif., next month to compete in the Police Activities League Boxing Championships. Past winners of the event competed in this year’s Olympic Trials.

Donald Griffin’s short-term goal is to make the 2012 Olympic team. If he doesn’t make that, he says that he is in talks with Top Rank Boxing, a boxing promotions company based in Las Vegas, if he doesn’t make it to the next Games.

Donald Griffin says he thanks all the people that worked with him in Texas to get better. Those include Jerry Belmontes, his sparring partner, along with coaches Sal Belmontes, Jay Longoria, Jeremy Longoria and Garza, all of Corpus Christi.

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