Brown had the right attitude to win in boxing tournament

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

One custom that amateur boxers are familiar with is that they seldom know their opponents until they’re matched up at a competition.

After 14 bouts, Tallahassee welterweight boxers Kelvin Brown knows that the unexpected is to be expected. That got him into a frame of mind going into the Sugar Bert national championship last month in Punta Gorda.

“I really don’t think about it,” said Brown about not knowing any of his opponents. “I really don’t care.

“The only thing I thought about was winning.”

During the weekend tournament held at  the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center, Brown’s attitude paid off. He scored three victories, one each day. That improved his record to 12-2.

And, he’s getting more positive reaction when he talks about being a boxer.

“Not too many people believed in me, but I just kept going,” said Brown,  the oldest of nine children. “People started believing in me about two weeks ago when I won this national (title).”

Brown was the only boxer who represented Shinehead Boxing club, which is based in Quincy.

Admittedly, his trainer Shinny Burns was concerned about how Brown would handle the competition. But he noticed the boxer’s mannerism as he approached each fight.

It seemed like an ordinary day in the gym, Burns said.

“He has a different attitude,” Burns said. “He’s got the attitude that it takes to keep pushing forward. If he stays with it he is going to be a world champion one day.”

That wasn’t the path that Brown figured the day he walked into the gym in 2019, though. He simply wanted to learn boxing techniques. 

Then, a few weeks later he and Burns had a conversation about entering competitions.

Burns recalled telling Brown he was “special.”

“I realized that there was something different about him,” Burns said. “I told him ‘you could be undefeated as an amateur. You can go a long way if you follow the rules of this game.’ ”

Not long after the talk, Brown had his first bout. He kept improving and had worked his way to the open class. In his only fight at home last summer, he scored a decision victory over Brian Peterson in the Victory is my Destiny one-day competition.

Work obligation as a customer service rep for Apple will keep Brown out of this year’s event put on by the Lincoln Neighborhood Center boxing club. However, two of his teammates will compete in the event at John Paul II gymnasium, beginning at 3 p.m.

Brown will continue his rigorous workout of six to eight miles of morning running and nighttime workouts in the gym in anticipation of his next bout. He plans to remain an amateur boxer until at least next summer. The next Olympics in two years is too far away for the 24-year-old.

Getting a No. 1 ranking at the amateur level and turning pro are his priorities for the next year.

“I want to accomplish much more,” he said. “Much bigger things.”