St. Cloud Boxing Club Turning Out National Champions

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A boxing club on the east side of St. Cloud has quietly and consistently turned out national champions.

The Golden Gloves Boxing Club has been at its current location on Wilson Avenue for about 13 years, but the organization has been in town for 27 years.

Club President Cindy Schumacher says they have about 100 members right now ranging from eight to 75 years old. Most are boys in their teens, but they are open to girls too with 10 female boxers right now.

Golden Gloves Boxing is getting ready to host the annual State Tournament on December 16th at the St. Cloud Armory.

The state tournament is for 8-year-olds to 16-year-olds, so it's a junior tournament.  If they win here at the state tournament in St. Cloud, they advance to the regional silver tournament which are the champions from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The regional tournament will be in Hinckley with the winners advancing to the national tournament in Independence, Missouri.

Current Golden Gloves Boxing Club member 10-year-old Jonas Ruis is a three-time defending National Junior Olympic Champion.

Schumacher says the St. Cloud club just made a national list of the biggest clubs in the country.

USA Boxing just put out a list of the registered clubs with the most members and we were number twenty-three.  There are thousands and thousands of clubs, there are 47 registered boxing clubs just in Minnesota.

The amateur boxing club is open to all ages. Schumacher says it is free to join for anyone up to 21 years old. They fund those students through meat raffles and charitable gambling. Anyone 21 and older has a fee of $20 a month.

They have one bronze-level coach and two silver-level coaches.

One professional boxer, Joe James, also utilizes the facility to practice.

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The tournament on December 16th is open to the public, tickets are $10 each and can be bought at the door.

Doors will open at noon and boxing will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, and doors at  11:00 a.m. on Sunday with a noon start time.

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