Macon Teenager to Compete in International Boxing Tournament in Russia

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Macon boxer is heading to Russia next month for an international competition.

17-year-old Maliek Montgomery qualified for the tournament after winning the Junior Olympic National Championship in his weight class in June.

In this week’s Sports Spotlight, 41NBC’s Tucker Sargent paid a visit to where Montgomery, and his two brothers, Michael and Mikhail, train five nights a week.

83-year-old Bishop Frank Ray started up the Middle Georgia Amateur Boxing Club in downtown Macon to give kids an opportunity to do something productive with their time.

“When you’re angry, and you’re here fighting those bags and punching those bags, out of all that anger you’ve got on your mind, or how your heart feels, and just that person that you want to just beat to a pulp, just get on that bag and just beat it until you get tired,” says Bishop Ray.

Brothers Maliek, Michael and Mikhail Montgomery have been a part of Bishop Ray’s club since it started.

“I can’t see myself doing anything other than boxing,” says Maliek.  “I mean, it’s just everything about it: the training, the competition, the tournaments.  I mean, it’s all there.”

Maliek is heading to Russia next month to compete in an international tournament after winning the Junior Olympic National Championship earlier this year.  His brothers say a lot of the credit for his success, and theirs, belongs to Bishop Ray.

“He’ll teach you a lot of discipline and disciplinary activities down here,” says 15-year-old Mikhail.  “He teaches you that life is more than like, just selling drugs on the street (and) doing illegal things like that.”

“He shows that (more than) anything, he keeps us stuck on prayer,” says 18-year-old Michael.  “If you don’t have prayer, you don’t have nothing.”

If might get a little rough sometimes, but Bishop Ray says boxing is one of the least dangerous sports out there.

“And these kids love it,” says Bishop Ray.  “Because everybody wants to be a champion.”

Maliek will go to Puerto Rico on November 6th with his father, who puts the brothers through a strict training regiment every day.  He’ll train in Puerto Rico for two weeks before leaving for Russia to compete for the USA.