Photo courtesy Rick Welliver
Brick West is hosting Spokane Boxing’s summer bouts for the fourth year.
Unlike typical summer days at Brick West Brewing Co., its patio laden with tables full of cheery guests raising pints among friends and loved ones, one special day each season the brewery swaps out some of its outdoor seating for a boxing ring.
In collaboration with Spokane Boxing, the brewery is again hosting the Brick West Boxing event, featuring amateur fighters from around the Pacific Northwest. The fourth annual competition on Saturday, Sept. 6, features 50 boxers ranging from 8 to 40 years old and hailing from British Columbia, Idaho and elsewhere across the region.
Brick West on downtown Spokane’s West End is known for its large, open patio and lawn space, which hosts a multitude of events from spring to fall. Even before the brewery opened in January 2020, Spokane Boxing owner Rick Welliver already had the idea of eventually using the space to host a boxing event.
“Most boxing cards are kind of sterile,” Welliver says, also mentioning informal matches called smokers that are often held inside old gymnasiums. “They might have maybe 100 people,” he continues. “But the events that I’ve been putting on for years at Brick West, in Wallace, Idaho, at the Spokane Polo Club, on top of Silver Mountain — and some of the stuff that I’m gonna do in the future — are spectacles. These kids want to come back to them, people remember them.”
One standout local boxer who trains at Welliver’s gym and is competing at this year’s event is Jameson Healy. The 14-year-old lightweight has had one bout in the last year, and Welliver says Healy stands out because he’s mentally tough.
Brick West’s marketing director, Bill Powers, says the boxing match is a lively community bonding experience, drawing up to 400 people throughout the day.
“It’s actually a really inspiring vibe that you see when you come down there, to see all these people coming together,” he says.
Besides building community and raising money for Spokane Boxing, which seeks to empower people through the sport, the bouts at Brick West also help inspire confidence in young fighters.
“Boxing is a sport that, sort of, inherently gravitates to people that are on the bottom side of advantage, and this is a chance to level the playing field and to put a youth in a position to feel special,” Welliver says.
Throughout his 31 years coaching and mentoring young boxers, he’s seen over and over again the power that boxing has to transform young people’s lives. In a society where people can often feel excluded, Welliver says boxing can make people feel part of something bigger.
Welliver has been coaching boxing since 1994 and founded Spokane Boxing in 2002. For most of his life, Welliver has either competed (his first bout was at age 9) or trained others in the sport. A former professional boxer and a passionate advocate for the sport, Welliver is an iconic figure in the local boxing community. Based downtown just a few blocks from Brick West, at 115 S. Jefferson St., Spokane Boxing offers lessons, coaching and conditioning. The gym serves as a space both for those who box simply to stay fit and those who want to become competitive boxers.
“I’ve said this before and it is true, and it’s very important: Athletics builds character,” Welliver says. “Boxing is a rare sport that not only builds character, it reveals it, and so when you realize you can do this and you can succeed in this sport, you can do anything in the world.”
To ensure athletes from all socio-economic backgrounds can travel to compete in the annual event, Welliver has even funded motel rooms for participants. Proceeds from event tickets — priced at $10 to make them accessible to a wider audience — help fund Spokane Boxing’s efforts to continue empowering people through boxing by offering financial assistance to young boxers who may not be able to afford coaching.
“Boxing is really a special kind of magic for a lot of kids,” Welliver says. “It gives strength to the weak, confidence to the shy, and makes a kid feel he can be or do anything in the world.” ♦
Brick West Boxing • Sat, Sept. 6, from 2-8 pm • $10 • Brick West Plaza • 1318 W. First Ave. • brickwestbrewingco.com • 509-279-2982