By Michael Malaszczyk
Editor’s note: Part one in a two-part series.
Since 2011, three boxing world champions have come from Long Island, and that’s not a coincidence.
Those champions are Joe Smith Jr., a light heavyweight from Mastic Beach, Chris Algieri, a welterweight from Patchogue, and Jamel Herring, a lightweight from Rockville Centre.
It’s a statistic that seems small, even to an average boxing fan, who may say that areas such as Philadelphia, Mexico, Eastern Europe and more have more champions throughout history to talk about.
But within the context of a sport with thousands of competitors worldwide, 17 weight classes and only four world championships per division, three champions in 13 years stands out.
Local Boxing Since 2011
Long Island has no shortage of sports. Citi Field, home of the Major League Baseball team New York Mets, is in Queens, which is politically part of New York City, but geographically on Long Island. The National Hockey League’s New York Islanders play at UBS Arena in Elmont, and before that, played at Nassau Coliseum and were one of the greatest dynasties in hockey, winning an unprecedented four consecutive Stanley Cup trophies. The public schools are home to varsity football, lacrosse, baseball and more. There are several colleges on Long Island, all of which have athletic programs.
But boxing was missing from all of this. There were small boxing events here and there, but most boxing in the New York Metropolitan Area took place at Madison Square Garden – at least until Joe DeGuardia, 61, president of the White Plains-based Star Boxing Inc., which was founded in 1992, saw an opportunity when Algieri signed with the company.
“Around 2011, we signed Chris Algieri, and we were looking for a spot to showcase Chris and build him,” DeGuardia said. “We ended up coming across the Paramount. It was in Huntington, not far from where he lived. So they were pretty new over there. And we decided to give it a shot. Long Island turned out to be great place to do business. It’s got a good self-contained fan base and audience, and quite a few good gyms.”
DeGuardia was no stranger to Long Island fighters. A former amateur fighter and lifelong fan, DeGuardia remembers Gerry Cooney, of Huntington, a heavyweight who ended the career of the great Ken Norton and challenged Larry Holmes for the heavyweight championship in 1982. He also remembers Buddy McGirt, of Brentwood, a welterweight who fought in the 1990s and was Long Island’s first world champion and Jake “The Snake” Rodriguez, who was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Long Island and fought out of Central Islip, and was Long Island’s second world champion.
“It’s always had boxing history, but it wasn’t cultivated,” DeGuardia said. “So that’s what we aim to do.”
The series that DeGuardia started at the Paramount is known as Rockin’ Fights, and there have been 47 of those cards since 2011. Smith Jr. and Algieri both were able to get started on them.
A Secret Hotspot for the Sport?
This cultivation of the sport was a long time coming, according to a respected long-timer on the local scene.
“Because we’re not New York City, we’ve never gotten enough credit,” said Joe Higgins, 63, a Freeport native who founded the Freeport Police Activity League Boxing Gym in 1993. “Long Island’s got some really good boxing gyms out there. You got Heavy Hitters [in Ronkonkoma], you got Westbury [Boxing Club], you know what I mean? They’re all active, and they always have boxers in the finals in these Golden Gloves. It’s a testimony to our coaching and dedication.”
The Freeport PAL Gym primarily trains amateur boxers, a necessary step in giving them the fundamentals needed to go pro. From there, they can opt to fight under a company like Star Boxing.
Higgins, who was born in Brooklyn before moving to Freeport in his youth, echoes a sentiment Long Islanders not even tied to boxing may agree with, adding that “Long Island has always been treated as the stepchild to New York City.”
“I don’t wanna diss my New York City friends,” Higgins said. “I love them all. But the fact of the matter is, we get treated a little bit differently from New York City.”
How different is that? Ask Alex Vargas, a Bellport native who trains under the tutelage of his father, Mike Vargas, at the aforementioned Heavy Hitters Boxing and MMA in Ronkonkoma.
“Politically, they’re stronger in the city,” Vargas said. “They have the bigger sponsorships, the bigger backings and things like that so they get their names put out there more than than most Long Island guys. When you fight in New York, you know, they’re very strict with who they get you. You’re not gonna just get some random guy off the street and go 20-0 with 20 knockouts; you’re gonna get matched tough if you’re not the home fighter.”
The home field advantage provided by DeGuardia, and matchups that aim to bolster Long Island boxers, allows the fighters to get experience fighting in front of a large crowd before going on a national — or global — stage.
“Long Island-style”
But Long Island fighters are no pushovers, multiple sources say.
While other places with a boxing heritage are known a particular style in the ring – the “Philly shell,” or “Mexican style,” may ring a bell with boxing enthusiasts — Long Island fighters are known for their toughness.
“I don’t know if I could tell you it is a specific style, but I can say it is a specific toughness,” Higgins said.
Higgins’s fighters agree.
“If you hear the commentators for a Rockin’ Fights card, if you hear them talk, anytime they fight somebody from Freeport, they know we’re gonna be very, very well conditioned, we’re not gonna get tired, and we’re very tough,” said Pedrilian Collado, a 21-year-old amateur boxer from Freeport.
