Posts tagged Headbangers
David Grayton & Greg Newby Stay Undefeated In D.C.
David Grayton photo by Anna John for StiffJab.com
by Gautham Nagesh
Finding work is never easy when you’re a young boxer, but staying busy is crucial. So you take the fights whenever you can get them.
D.C. prospects David “Day Day” Grayton and Greg Newby both scored first-round knockouts Saturday night at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Washington on a card promoted by Babie Girl Productions. The excellent Gary “Digital” Williams was in attendance as per usual and has more over at Boxing Along The Beltway. Newby took two minutes and two seconds to stop Ivan Burke at light heavyweight, while Grayton needed just 1:04 to dispatch Tyrone Braswell at junior middleweight.
Greg Newby photo by Gautham Nagesh for StiffJab.com
Live from D.C. Armory - Danny Kelly vs Schyuler Marshall
Photo by Anna John for StiffJab.com
by Trey Pollard
2:11 into his third professional fight, Headbangers heavyweight prospect and DC’s own Danny Kelly (right) wrapped it up against super-sized Schuyler Marshall with a body-head combination. Marshall brought 309 pounds and a game attitude up from South Carolina, but Kelly wasn’t too troubled.
After a few defiant punches from Marshall, Kelly hyped up the Armory crowd by finding ample room to work on Marshall’s ample frame. It was a KO set-up by consistent jabs and body work, finished with a clean right to the head that left Marshall reeling. Powerful, quick, and fit, Kelly is another DC prospect to watch out for.
The House That Barry Hunter Built: New Headbangers Boxing Gym Opens In Ward 8
by Gautham Nagesh
WASHINGTON, D.C.—It started almost 20 years ago in a storage room at Lincoln Multicultural Middle School in Northwest Washington. A friend told Barry Hunter the school had set aside a small space for boxing. Hunter, a carpenter by trade, agreed to pitch in, dug out his old equipment, and headed over to share his lifelong passion: the Sweet Science.
“I didn’t go to stay, I went to help a little bit.” said an emotional Hunter on Thursday at Bald Eagle Recreation Center in Ward 8. But once he met the kids and saw their need, he couldn’t walk away.
“The ride I got on, I couldn’t get off.”
So Hunter stayed to teach the kids boxing, and more than anything, to show them that someone cared. There have been plenty of ups and downs since, from training world champions and amateur stars, to skipping a national tournament and using the funds raised to pay for a kid’s funeral.
But few days could be better than today, when the District of Columbia finally repaid Barry Hunter by opening the new Dr. Arnold McKnight Boxing Annex. The magnificent 6,600-sq. ft. facility is attached to the Bald Eagle Rec Center, one of the original homes of Hunter’s acclaimed Headbangers Boxing Program, which has produced 100 national amateur championships, two professional world titlists, and saved countless young men and women from the wrong path.
Fresh Meat: David “Day Day” Grayton
Photo by Anna John
by Gautham Nagesh
Name: David Grayton IV
Age: 23
Division: Welterweight
Trainer: Barry Hunter
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
If you read this blog, then you know we’re about as high on David “Day Day” Grayton as you can be on any boxer that hasn’t fought professionally yet. That changes tomorrow (Saturday) night at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, where Day Day will make his pro debut on a card promoted by Babie Gurl Promotions. We stopped by Headbangers Gym this week to speak to Grayton before his big day.
“I feel great, I just can’t wait to get it over with. I’m real excited,” Grayton told Stiff Jab.
Tony Thompson Ready For Rematch With Wladimir Klitschko
by Gautham Nagesh
WASHINGTON,D.C.—It will be different this time.
That was the prevailing message from local heavyweight contender Tony “The Tiger” Thompson during Monday’s media workout at Headbangers Gym in Southeast D.C. Thompson did his best to convince a small contingent of local fight writers that he has a shot to upset Wladimir Klitschko and win the heavyweight championship on July 7 in Berne, Switzerland.
Thompson has been here before; the fight comes almost four years to the day after he lost his previous shot against Klitschko by getting caught with a straight right in the 11th round. The stoppage has served as a reminder of just how potent the Ukrainian champ’s right hand can be. Thompson insists the punch is his primary concern going into the rematch.
2010 National Golden Gloves champ David “Day Day” Grayton of Headbangers Gym sports a Stiff Jab T-shirt while warming up before the 2012 Washington Regional Golden Gloves Finals on Friday night. Grayton won the 152-lb championship for the third straight year; full report coming soon.
