Butler Cubs boxing gym reopening Monday
Count boxing among the sports reopening in Butler County.
The Butler Cubs boxing gym — closed since March 14 — will reopen its doors Monday.
“It's been a long time,” Cubs boxing manager Don Spinetti said. “I'm not sure if everybody will be coming back, but we'll be there.”
The Cubs boxing program has four fighters — Marli Knox, Sam Whelan, Hayden Gregg and Brian Mowry — who were training for the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves competition at the time of the gym's shutdown.
Their Golden Gloves bouts were scheduled for the following weekend in mid-March, but were postponed.
“USA Boxing was hoping to reschedule the Golden Gloves for August, but I haven't heard anything,” Spinetti said.
Mowry reached the national tournament last year, losing in the first round there. He plans to turn pro after this year's Golden Gloves competition, should it take place.
Spinetti said USA Boxing — which sanctions the Golden Gloves as well as other amateur boxing cards — planned to reopen for business June 30.
The annual Butler Cubs Amateur Boxing Show was scheduled for May 16. It, of course, never took place.
“It's a fund-raiser for us every year,” Spinetti said of the show. “I got the sanctioning for it back in February, so we're good to go that way.
“I'd like to still put the show on, maybe late this summer or in the fall. A lot of fighters are involved in baseball and with that restarting, there could be conflicts. There's football in the fall, but we would hold the show on a Saturday night, certainly not on a Friday.”
There will be no sparring sessions in the Cubs gym until USA Boxing allows it. No more than 25 people are allowed in the gym at one time.
“We never have that many in there at one time anyway,” Spinetti said. “And our (boxing) bags are far enough apart that social distancing won't be a problem.”
Spinetti, 89, has been a trainer/manager at the Cubs boxing gym for 45 years. The Butler Cubs boxing program has existed for more than 60 years.
