At first glance, boxing seems like a sport of violence and vigor. But Rick Welliver, owner of Spokane Boxing Gym LLC, says it’s boxing that gives kids and young adults a family and an outlet.
A red, white and blue boxing ring replaced picnic tables at Brick West on Saturday afternoon for a boxing event . Welliver’s been putting on events like these for more than 15 years, setting up boxing rings for amateur boxers across the Northwest. This is the fifth annual event he’s put on at Brick West.
“A lot of these kids are low-income kids. … They don’t have enough money to travel on, so we donate the gym to them to have a place to go,” Welliver said. “Boxing is a special sort of magic. It gives strength to the weak, confidence to the shy. It makes a kid feel like they can do anything in the world.”
The Spokane Boxing Gym is where Welliver typically is, coaching kids and young adults, and teaching them the ropes of boxing – like 22-year-old Patrick Blea, who fought in the sixth round of matches Saturday afternoon.
Blea has been coming to Welliver’s boxing gym for four years. He comes to the gym most days from Post Falls, where he lives with his fiancee, Sabrina, and his 3-year-old daughter, who often watches him practice.
Becoming a dad at a young age made him want to box even more, Blea said.
“She made me want to strive and want to do the things I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “It’s important to have events like this because it’s something we all could do together.”
Welliver lets Blea bring his daughter to the gym occasionally, too.
At the boxing gym, everyone is family, Blea said. And that is Welliver’s intention. By putting on events like this in Spokane, he hopes to give kids and young adults the opportunity to get involved in boxing and raise money to continue providing those opportunities for locals.
Teams traveled from Canada, Oregon, Idaho and Montana for the Saturday boxing event . Tickets were $10 each, and all of funds go back into the LLC Welliver runs.
Welliver fought on ESPN and Fox before turning to coaching. He grew to love coaching because he saw himself in the kids that walked into his gym.
“I can read a kid the minute they walk into a room. The kind of trauma they’ve gone through,” Welliver said. “I know what it’s like to not have dinner, not have new clothes for the school year. This is a place to feel included.”
“As a kid, boxing was all I had,” Welliver said. “Boxing is a rare sport that not only builds character but also reveals it. As a kid I just needed something to occupy my time. I didn’t have much coming from a broken home.”
Boxing attracts a lot of kids who come from low-income families who can’t afford many sports because of the expense , Welliver said.
“Our town wants to talk about how it helps out youth sports. They built the Podium; they built that arena over there, the outdoor arena. How many low-income kids have access to the Podium? How many low-income kids have access to that?” Welliver said, pointing toward the Podium downtown. “This is a sport that any kid can do with the help of a community.”