Jeff Gilbert

Gilbert is the sports editor for The Roanoke Times

Recent columns

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Boxing is fighting to make a comeback in this country, but a big-money fight like the one this past Saturday between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya creates only short-lived excitement.

Boxing will experience a renaissance if it happens at small gyms in big cities and small towns. Mayweather and De La Hoya won't send many teenagers flocking to gyms. Most of them couldn't afford the price it cost to watch the fight on pay-per-view.

If boxing is to be rebuilt, it will be done across the country by people like manager/promoter Rick Hawkins and trainer James Cabbler. They have been a part of the Roanoke boxing scene -- a sparse one in the past 10 years -- for most of their lives and have partnered in the running of Champ's Gym in Northwest Roanoke.

If their dreams come close to reality, boxing has a chance to grow in Roanoke.

Hawkins, who was trained by Cabbler as an amateur in the late '70s, says boxing has seen a growth spurt in recent months from Roanoke to Baltimore.

"We've never seen anything like this," Hawkins said.

The sights are different at Champ's Gym, too. Hawkins said six months ago he had six or eight boxers in training. Now the gym has 25, and the small building on 17th Street between Orange and Melrose avenues can barely hold them.

Every gym needs a signature fighter, and Charles "Murdock" Norwood might become the one signing autographs out of Champ's.

In his pro debut, Norwood knocked out George Rivera of Charlottesville in the second round of a light middleweight fight on Feb. 17 at the SportsPlex in Winchester.

Norwood's second fight is Friday night at Heinz Field's Great Hall in Pittsburgh against middleweight "The Magic" Juan McPherson of Cleveland. You may not have heard of McPherson, but he's a young boxer who is expected to become well known.

McPherson, 22, won an under-19 world title in 2002 and was a silver medalist at the Pan Am Games a year later. Famed trainer Emmanuel Stewart called McPherson "America's best amateur boxer" in 2005 according to more than one press release and Web site. He is 4-0 as a pro.

Google Charles Norwood and you get nothing. Google Juan McPherson and you get plenty of hits.

"This guy he's fighting is a bad man," Hawkins said. "But we've got a bad man. If I didn't think we could win, I wouldn't take the fight.

"What we're doing right now is putting him in position to go to the top."

Friday night's card features two boxers who have made it to the top. In the main event, IBA world super featherweight champion Monty Meza-Clay takes on former world champion Carlos Contreras.

The top is a long climb and a lot of fights away for Norwood and McPherson. Norwood is ranked No. 380 in the world out of 983 boxers as a light middleweight; McPherson is No. 204 out of 914 in the middleweight division.

A victory Friday night will surely act as a catapult to Norwood's career. He is unknown and already 29, but that doesn't concern him.

"I feel like I'm a young 29," Norwood said.

"I haven't been abused like most guys are who started when they were 12 or younger than that. So I'm fresh. I'm ready to go."

Norwood hung around gyms and boxed some in Washington, but it wasn't until he came to Roanoke that he began to train seriously.

He's been in Roanoke for five years, and has spent the last two with Hawkins and Cabbler getting ready for Friday night.

"He's got a great punch, but he's a technician, too," Hawkins said.

"He takes his time, and that's a professional thing. And when he throws that shot, the shot's hard."

Norwood's ability to throw the hard punch makes him a good fit for Champ's Gym. He says he likes the old-school approach of Cabbler, who teaches him to go for the knockout instead of lots of rounds. The style of "pretty much look pretty and win on points" doesn't interest Norwood.

Norwood caught Rivera by surprise in February when he boxed left-handed. The two had sparred before when Norwood was boxing as a right-hander. But before the fight, Norwood asked Cabbler if he could teach him to fight southpaw.

Cabbler chuckles as he tells the story of what Rivera said when he came to after Norwood knocked him out in Winchester.

"He hit him so hard with that left cross that after the fight when they revived him the doctor said, 'What day is it? What's the date?' He didn't get it right. Then he said, 'What year?' He said, '1943.' Then he said, 'Where you fightin' at?' He said, 'Norfolk, Virginia.' ... That's how hard that punch was."

Hawkins said McPherson's managers took the fight "reluctantly" because "they heard Norwood could punch."

That punch, should Norwood land enough against McPherson, is something that could increase the momentum at Champ's Gym. Norwood, though, isn't thinking about the role he might be playing in Roanoke's boxing future.

He says that would distract him, but future boxing cards in Roanoke with lots of fans is something he would love to see.

A pro sporting event in Roanoke would be a welcome sight.