By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

Four times a week, members of the All-American Boxing Club meet at their facility on West A Street in Burns to continue training for their next bout.

“Right now we’ve got four kids, ranging in age from 10 to 18, working out,” coach Ervin Peck said. Club members include Joseph Lafferty, James White, Isaiah Smartt and Cain McGee. Lloyd Louie assists Peck in training the kids.

Peck said the club will be going to Twin Falls, Idaho, for their next fights on June 27, and they hope to have an outdoor boxing show in Burns sometime this summer.

The start

The All-American Boxing Club began to get organized in 1999, and was finally completed in 2000. “I worked with the tribe for a number of years, and we were looking for activities that would give the youths something to do,” Peck said.

According to Peck, several community members were instrumental in the formation of the club, including Larry Richards, Herbert Hawley, Dave Dickenson, Avel Diaz, Don Heinz and Clifford Sam, among others.

Peck said the aim of the club is to instill self-discipline through boxing. “Just like any sport, it requires exercise and road work,” Peck said. “The kids get here, get their hands taped and get to working on the bags. You have to be motivated to do it.”

Louie added that Burns has a history of boxing clubs. He had boxed in his younger days, as had many others, and the club had some very successful fighters. “Boxing kind of put Burns on the map,” Louie said. He figured it was in the mid-1950s that the club kind of died out until being revived several decades later.

The club

The club is a member of the USA Amateur Boxing, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a member of the Snake River Boxing Association in Idaho.

Peck said they were originally part of the Oregon Boxing Association, but many of the clubs didn’t want to make the trip to Burns in the winter, so they made the switch to the Idaho group.

The club is open to men and women, ages 8 to 35. All members and coaches are insured through USA Boxing for every practice and bout from the time they leave their home until they return.

Peck said the club also has a scholarship program for those wanting to continue their education after high school. “To qualify, all they have to do is to have fought just once,” Peck said.

They are a non-profit organization, and they hold several fund raisers  to help meet expenses, such as travel and equipment. Peck said the Harney County Court has also donated $750 a year for several years, and that is appreciated.

Peck added that the building used by the club was donated by Gary Romine and Leslie Sundet of Prineville.

Along with giving youth another activity to enjoy and learn from, the club also finds ways to give back. Peck said after 9/11, they staged a “Boxing for America” show with 50 percent of the proceeds going to the Red Cross. They also put on an exhibition to benefit Dornbecher’s Children’s Hospital.

The bouts

While making plans for a show, the coaches submit a list of available boxers, who are then matched up by age, weight and experience. “The number of fights is probably the most important factor when you’re matching up fighters,” Peck said. “If one boxer has only four fights, we’re not going to put him in the ring with one that has, say 15.”

The most experienced member of the All-American club is Lafferty. He started with the club when he was 14, and has continued for four years. “He had his first bout when he was 15,” Peck said. “He played other sports off and on in high school, but always came back to boxing.”

Lafferty was in the main event in a recent show in Emmett, Idaho, and with the win raised his record to 4-0.

Smartt, 11, is 1-0 on the year and White, 10, is 2-2. (No record on McGee was available.)

Peck said that at a recent event at the Old Camp Casino in Burns, White’s scheduled opponent was a no-show, so he ended up in the ring against a more experienced fighter. “We talked to him, his mom, the other coach, and they all said OK,” Peck said. “James went toe-to-toe with the other kid, but lost on points. I told him, ‘You know how to fight, now we’re going to teach you how to box,’ ” Peck said.