Middle Georgia Boxer Back Home From Runner-Up Finish at National Tournament
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Five days a week, you can find 17-year-old Maliek Montgomery at the Middle Georgia Amateur Boxing Club in downtown Macon.
Maliek and his two brothers train there under their father, Michael.
Last month, Michael took his three sons and other boxers from around the state to a regional competition in Knoxville, Tennessee. “Team Georgia” dominated; all nine members advanced to the Golden Gloves National Tournament in Salt Lake City.
“It was electrifying,” says Maliek. “I mean, we were ready to bang it out.”
The team brought home three medals in all, and Maliek boxed his way into the final round, even though he’d injured both his arms earlier in the tournament.
“It was a muscle that was tightened and messing with me on my left arm, and then on my back arm it was just hurting–it was swollen,” he says.
Using life lessons learned through his training, Maliek fought through the pain.
“I went hard (in the) first round,” he says. “I felt like I pulled it out the first round, and then towards the beginning of the second round, my injuries started catching up to me and I started fatiguing. In the last round, I was just basically moving around and jabbing. I thought I did enough to pull it out, but I didn’t.”
Despite a runner-up finish in Utah, Maliek still has his eyes set on competing in the 2016 Olympics. His mom, Teresa Montgomery, is behind him 100%.
“He’s decided,” says Teresa. “He’s determined that’s what he’s going to do, so now it’s full speed ahead.”
Right now, Maliek is training for the Ringside World Tournament in Independence, Missouri.
That’s coming up at the end of July, but if you want to catch him and some of those other middle Georgia boxers in action before they leave the state again, there will be a tournament in Macon on July 6.
It will start at 2 p.m. at the Middle Georgia Amateur Boxing Club. Bishop Frank Ray, owner and operator of the club, says tickets to that event will be sold at the door only and will cost $10. The club is right behind Terminal Station in downtown Macon.
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