Semi-Finals Results

Jamal competed last night against a young boxer from Florida. Jamal was caught with a couple of good shots in the first round but nothing to throw him. In the second, third and fourth round Jamal was looking great. He was sharp throwing his jab consistently along with nice sharp combinations. His opponent was a south-paw, so Jamal kept moving to the left, which was throwing his opponent off. Jamal used his speed to slip most of the punches from his opponent.

As an Official Jamal won that bout with no doubt in my mind. Unfortunately, the officials for his bout were not experienced enough in judging a awarded the bout to Florida. Jamal will bringing home the Bronze medal. Jamal was upset, along with his coaches. Many Officials who were not working that bout were shocked of the outcome and also thought Jamal had won the bout.

Jamal and Javontae will be returning to Minneapolis on Sunday. They both will be taking some time off. Their next tournament will be the PAL tournament in October. Javontae may compete in international competition this month or June but he is going to see how he feels once he gets home.

Congratulations to both of them. They trained hard for this tournament and did the best they could.

Semi-Finals of the Golden Gloves

Jamal competed in the quarter-finals yesterday against a boxer from Cleveland, OH. Jamal looked much sharper and more relaxed. He was sitting down and popping his long strong jab all three rounds. He also utilized that right hand very effectively throwing an overhand right in the third round.

He won the bout on points and advances to the semi-finals of the tournament. He will be competing this evening against a boxer from Florida. The boxer is about the same height as Jamal and is a south-paw. From what I hear Jamal’s opponent is a strong counter puncher, however after speaking to his coach, Sankara Frazier, his opponent is much slower than Jamal and shouldn’t have any problems.

Stay posted for the outcome this evening.

2008 National Golden Gloves Preliminaries

Hey Everyone,

Jamal, Javontae and their coaches, Sankara and Adonis Frazier arrived in Grand Rapids, MI on Sunday for the 2008 National Golden Gloves tournament. For those of you who do not know, Grand Rapids, MI is home to “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr. I am not sure if he will be at the tournament.

Anyway, the tournament began on Monday and to our luck Jamal had a bye on Monday and Javontae’s weight class didn’t start competing until Tuesday. Javontae is competing at 152 lbs and Jamal is competing at 141 lbs. Javontae had a little issue of losing some weight when he arrived in Grand Rapids, so of course the coaches were a little worried but the morning of weigh-ins (Tuesday) but Javontae made weight with no problems.

Javontae competed against a young boxer from Philly. The first round he came out throwing hard combinations giving his opponent an 8-count in the first round, however his opponent was able to gain control and finish the round. Unfortunately, Javontae gave all he had in the first round. In the second round he began getting tired and sluggish. His opponent caught him with a good punch that put Javontae on the canvas and gave him an 8-count. Javontae got up and was able to finish all three rounds. He lost the bout on points. He won the second round but lost the first and third round of the bout.

I spoke with Javontae today and asked him what happened, “I got tired. My entire body felt completely exhausted. Having to lose 5 lbs in two days along with all of the training and competing that I’ve been doing in Colorado Springs and Philadelphia finally took a toll on me.” Javontae was disappointed but decided that he was going to take it easy for awhile and rest. When he returns to Minnesota he may train and represent the USA in a competition against the Dominican Republic the end of May.

Jamal competed tonight against a young boxer from Chicago. He dominated all three rounds however in the second round Jamal was caught with a good left hook from his opponent that kind of threw him, but he quickly snapped back and continued to maintain control of all three rounds. He was throwing strong jabs and right hands and would occasionally throw in a good combination that included body shots.

Jamal will be competing Thursday in the Quarterfinals. I will be heading to Grand Rapids, MI Thursday morning so I can make it in time to watch him compete. I will be sure to give everyone an update after the bout tomorrow night.

Javontae is Victorious over Puerto Rico

The following is from the USA Boxing website:

2008 National Champion Javontae Starks (Minneapolis, Minn.) claimed his first major international win in his welterweight contest with Ricardo Reyes of Puerto Rico. The bout was close through the first round with Starks holding a slim 8-5 advantage following two minutes of boxing. He continued to dictate the action in the second, pushing his lead to a 17-7 at the midway point. The trend continued in the third with Starks once again adding nine points to his total, and he enjoyed a 26-10 edge as the final round began. He held on through the final two minutes to win a 32-14 final decision.

Congratulations Javontae

Javontae Starks 1st International Competition

Hey Circle Fans,

Just wanted to let you know that Javontae Starks will be competing tonight in Philly against Puerto Rico in the 152 lbs weight division. He has been at the Olympic Training Camp for almost a month training with the US Olympic Amateur Boxing team, preparing for this tournament. You can watch the duel on channel CNA, if you have it in your area. Be sure to stay posted to find out the outcome of his bout.

Hello world!

Hey Everyone,

Circle of Discipline now has a blog that will be utilized to keep everyone posted on our PAL Amateur Boxing program as well as our Youth Accepting Challenge and Peer Leadership Training programs. Please feel free to visit our website at www.circleofdiscipline.org, where you can find information about the Circle of Discipline, our programs, the staff and Board of Directors. Be sure to stay tuned to our blog to get updates