When Enterprise-Journal subscribers last read about McComb’s ABC Boxing Club, Ja’Terrious Wilson was standing on plywood held up by paint cans so he’d be tall enough for the speed bag in trainer Andre Rials’ garage.
Rials, who ran a gym out of his home in the Algiers community, had spent nearly four years using his passion for boxing to encourage kids like Wilson, 9 years old at the time, to learn responsibility and discipline through their study of the sweet science.
“Once a kid knows that you believe in them, you’re behind them and you’ve got confidence in them, they’ll perform,” Rials said at the time. “Anything is possible if they want it. … I have a passion for boxing and for these kids. I feel if I can get the kids involved in something positive for themselves, then it’s worth it. … I’m doing this to make sure they understand how far they can go.”
The club was bare minimum at best: A metal frame holding a speed bag also had hooks on the back to hold a punching bag. And free weights next to a bike doubled as sandbags to hold the frame in place.
Yet Rials had dozens of visitors over that time period, and a few regulars who kept coming back.
Nine months, 11 victories in the ring, a birthday and a Silver Gloves tournament victory later, Ja’Terrious is one of them. Now 10 years old, the aspiring champion is still punching, a veteran of 15 amateur fights with the swagger to tell you he won them all.
“I’m the best,” he says with a smile after a question on who is ABC’s best boxerbrought the response “Andre” from everyone else.
But things are looking up for ABC, too. The club has found a new home in local mixed martial arts outfit Outlaw Fight Team.
Outlaw, led by fighter Wally Jones, who owns a gym located under the Ice House nightclub downtown, and fighters Giovanni Greco and Jason Gaskin, who help with training, offered ABC the use of their facilities in August.
And with additional space to train and additional watchful eyes for instruction, both groups have found nowhere to go but forward.
For Outlaw, Rials is an additional resource. He can spot holes in the boxing technique of Outlaw fighters prone to overlook “standup work.” MMA fighters train for a sport that also incorporates takedowns, wrestling and kickboxing strategy.
It’s help that has been welcome as Jones and fighters Bubba Malbrough and Michael Hill trained for a Dec. 20 fight in Vicksburg. The very advice that Rials’ can provide is important support in and of itself.
“The hardest part about fighting is your mental game,” Greco explained, saying that perceived weaknesses magnify when a fighter is consciously compensating. “You’ve got to be mentally strong and in good cardiovascular shape. … If you know you’re cardio’s not good, it kind of messes with your mental game.”
And Greco takes something from watching Rials’ coach, too, since he’s tried to play that role for other fighters in the gym as well.
“My goal is to do this as a career one day and do something with it,” Greco explained. “And you know you’re getting better whenever you’re able to do things you weren’t able to do before.”
For ABC, on the other hand, the partnership means a better environment to work in and a chance to hone skills by practicing against opponents whose instincts lead to a fighting style that would be considered unorthodox in an old-fashioned boxing ring.
The hidden gym under the Ice House is a well-lit home away from home that includes a sparring cage, a floor mat, several types of bags and weights, and even an oversized tire with a sledgehammer for trainees looking to build stamina in a creative way.
“We have a ring, we have space and we have more punching bags,” Ja’Terrious says of the difference since ABC moved in with Outlaw. “It was amazing (the first time I walked in).”
There’s no question that bodes well for Rials’ goals. He has more ability to prepare his kids for fights, which the group still travels to by packing into his van and hitting the road.
And put simply, it’s just more fun for his fighters to have a place like the Outlaw gym: there’s even a boombox that croons Eminem and Lil’ Wayne and a buzzer that flashes green and red lights on five-minute intervals to simulate rounds of an MMA fight and guide training time.
“It helps because in this place we’ve got more room to move and do different stuff,” said Joshua Ashley, a McComb high school student under Rials’ instruction. “I like training. … It doesn’t really bother me. I just like the hard work.”
Dwight Lee, 11, has worked on anticipating and throwing punches from different angles, cracking a smaller punching bag designed to bobble back and forth and mimic the pitch and roll of a fighter bobbing and weaving in the ring.
“I just asked my Dad one day … and he told me about this man in McComb that does boxing,” Dwight said of his desire to put in the work. “I saw how Muhammad Ali boxed, and that’s how I want to box.”
Dwight said remembering to move while concentrating on an opponent’s movements has been the toughest thing to learn. “You get used to sitting in one spot,” he said.
Ja’Terrious, meanwhile, is focused on improving his left hook. “I have a better right hand,” he said. “But I’m working on throwing it in the ring.”
Rials’, watching it all unfold, is simply grateful.
“I really appreciate Wally and his staff for letting me train here to help out them and ABC Boxing Club,” he said. “The doors are open for all comers to get the work in and hopefully one day they can be a champ.”
He says the gym makes a world of difference.
“It’s legitimacy,” he said. “When kids come in and see this hookup, see the equipment, see the ring … they appreciate what they see.”
It makes sense. Every time they walk in, they see an ally in Andre.
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For more information on ABC Boxing, call 341-3052. For information on Mississippi MMA promotions, visit psychoutmma.com.
