Star City Boxing held a weekend event aimed at knocking out gun violence.
Alex Betances, president of the Reading gym, said boxers from Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania came out for Saturday’s event, which he said was a great success.
Several hundred people showed up to support the boxing club, he said.
Saturday’s event was designed to help bring awareness to the gun violence problem in Reading and look for ways to fight it.
One of those ways is boxing, Betances said.
“A lot of our kids lost friends to gun violence,” he said. “They all walk through the doors with all types of things to work out.”
Saturday’s match was dedicated to Jareil Sudler, 19, of Reading, who was shot dead in the 300 block of Washington Street on Nov. 2, 2020.
Sudler would work out at Star City Boxing, Betances said.
“He was very dear to us and with us at the beginning,” Betances said. “I would constantly see him walking the streets. He wasn’t a bad kid, just a quiet kid and probably hanging around the wrong kids.”
The event was held at the Olivet Boys and Girls Club PAL and featured 17 fights, including a special bout between Reading High School boys basketball coach Rick Perez and Reading Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Justin Edling.
“That was beautiful,” Betances said. “That was a great thing. Here you have two respected men in our community fighting for the program, basically.”
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment