Amateur boxer, Xavier Ward, prepares for bouts at the East Texas Golden Gloves in Longview, TX. The event, which gives fighters the opportunity to advance to state, kicks off on Thursday, February 1, 2018. (Jessica T. Payne/Tyler Paper)

A small white sign with blue lettering is all that rests in a barred window of a shopping center near downtown Tyler. 

“Joey’s Gym Inc. Boys and Girls Boxing Club,” it reads.

The little boxing gym sits on the end of a small strip center, quiet and easily passed by while the gym is exploding with heart inside.

Four amateur fighters have trained for hours inside preparing for the 78th annual Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament. The tournament, which started Thursday and continues through Saturday, will include boxers from 8 to 34 years old. 

Sanctioned by the Southwestern Association of USA Boxing, the event is a first step for these East Texas fighters who want to put their name on the map. If they win in their weight class at the tournament they will advance to state competition in Fort Worth.

If they win at state, they will advance to nationals in Nebraska, with the road ending with the opportunity to fight for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team.

One thing the four of these boxers have in common is the love for fighting while growing up. As children, they found themselves getting into trouble on the streets and in school. But when they found the boxing gym, everything changed.

Jamarcus “Pigg” Warren, 22, began boxing after his friend invited him. Warren had been getting caught up in the wrong things and made the decision to get involved. He later moved to Joey’s.

A 2013 graduate of John Tyler High School, Warren is 3-0 in his amateur career. As a newcomer last year, he won the Golden Gloves tournament, and this year he will fight in the 178-pound weight class.

“At first it was something I really liked to do,” Warren said. “Boxing taught me to fight through adversity. Everybody right here is hungry; we push each other in here. Down here we started from the bottom and I want to be a part of it.”

Xavier “X” Ward, also 22, began boxing after his mom pushed him to get involved in a sport because he was getting in trouble at school for being a class clown and fighting with other students. But Ward struggled to find a sport until he found a boxing gym at the age of 14.

“I walked in there and I never walked out,” Ward said. “I love the individuality of it. I love having to work hard to meet your goals. It just really clicked with me. What boxing means to me is life, and life is hard. You always have to pay something to get something out of it. The same goes with boxing; if you want to be the best, you have to put in the work.”

Last year, Ward broke his neck in an accident, and he didn’t know if he would ever step back in the ring again. But when his coach from Joey’s, Al McCoy, came to visit him in the hospital he found the strength to push forward in his boxing career.

“I didn’t think I was going to get through that,” Ward said. “I was in the hospital contemplating things and … (McCoy) came to visit me. I took my lumps and came back in here working hard and … (McCoy) had my back the entire way. Win or lose come this tournament, I’m just happy I got the chance to meet nice people, fight and this man still had my back.”

Ward also will fight in the 178-pound weight class at Golden Gloves.

Kenyottah “Too Saucy” Henderson found his way to boxing at 17 as a getaway from fighting on the streets and ended up falling in love with the sport.

Now, as a 21-year-old, he said boxing makes him feel alive.

Henderson will fight up at weight class in the Golden Gloves tournament; he weighed in at 201 pounds.

“It’s hard,” Henderson said. “I moved up a weight class than what I usually fight in so I’ve been working hard to try to have the same outcome. When I come in here to train, spar and step into the ring to fight I say to myself ‘die first, then quit.’ I keep pushing myself.”

Although fighting up, Henderson is confident in his skills.

“All I have to say about the tournament is I don’t know who is going to win but I am not going to lose,” he said.

For Daniel Vergara, the desire to box began as a child. However, he didn’t start his journey in the ring until he graduated from Robert E. Lee High School.

Vergara said working and training for the tournament was exhausting, but he pushed through.

“I come here and I get in the zone,” Vergara said. “It is so peaceful here. In the gym it’s easy for me, but in the world it’s hard. This is my future.”

Vergara will fight up in the 152-pound weight class.

“Those are bigger guys, but they don’t scare me,” he said. “I like working hard.”

All four fighters speak highly of McCoy, who has taught boxers around the world, including five world champions from Denmark.

“This man took me under his wing,” Ward said of McCoy. “He didn’t sugarcoat things. He told me straight up what it was and I thank him for that. He is like a father figure to me. I really respect that, but most of all he gets you to work.”

McCoy knows what it takes because he was a boxer himself. He began fighting in 1957 and in 1983 became a trainer.

“You don’t make no money,” McCoy said of coaching. “But I get the enjoyment that I can pass something that God gave me back to them and I can see a lot of that coming out of them and keep them off the streets. If I didn’t do it what I know would go to waste.”

What: East Texas Golden Gloves Tournament

When: 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3 

Cost: General Admission, $10 tickets at door

Where: Longview Exhibit Center, 1123 Jaycee Drive, Longview.

Info: All proceeds from this East Texas Golden Glove Tournament event go directly to expenses for the winning competitors attending the State Golden Gloves Finals.