16-year-old national boxing champion Hadi Al Mashhadi is looking to capture his 11th national title at the 2025 National Silver Gloves tournament this month.
The tournament will be held in Independence, MO from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1.
Taylor native Hadi fights in the 176-pound division and is trained by his father, Hamed Al Mashhadi along with Mohamed Hamood, who is head trainer at Hype Athletics in Dearborn Heights.
Hadi is ranked number one in the junior division across the country and secured his spot on Team USA in 2023.
“He showed that he can learn, he listens and I always say this again and again but the sky is the limit for him because he has improved,” said Hamed “He’s improved so much more over the years and I think his resume shows that a lot.”
“He taught me a lot, it wasn’t really all about just boxing,” said Hadi. “He taught me a lot of life lessons that come with boxing.”
Hadi has dedicated his life to the sport in pursuit of his dream of becoming a world champion and being an inspiration to others.
“My end-goal is to just take care of my family,” said Hadi.
“I want to inspire others too. I want them to feel like they can do anything. It doesn’t have to be just boxing it can be anything else.”
Hadi is committed to the level of dedication it takes to be the best, which requires many hours in the gym and discipline in diet and lifestyle.
“We train almost every single day,” said Hamed. “This is his life. This is his life other than school and his family. He trains sometimes twice a day. I’m highly impressed with his development over the years.”
“Hadi’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen,” said Strength and Conditioning Coach Hassan. “I’ve been around this sport for quite a while and we train a lot of kids, a lot of pros, amateurs, those kind of guys. Hadi from day one, whatever I told him to do, if I told him to go run like 10 miles he’ll do it no question, no hesitation, no complaining.”
Hadi is a national champion boxer but also a student in school. Boxing is a sport that requires full dedication to improve but Hadi and Hamed have found ways to balance school and training.
“Nationals go a week at a time so you know he’s going to be missing work at school but we always go back and makeup work,” said Hamed. “He gets help from the school, he has tutoring, he has life coaches. We have a couple life coaches for Hadi just to keep him in good spirits and good positive energy overall.”
Hadi’s family, friends and trainers help support him throughout his boxing journey. His uncle, Husam Al Mashhadi is a 22-year-old professional boxer who is signed to Salita Promotions. Husam trains alongside Hadi at Hype Athletics under Coach Mohamed Hamood.
Husam is older, taller and longer than Hadi but they actually have similar fighting styles as both like to ‘hit and not get hit.’
“It depends on the opponent but I feel like my type of style is ‘hit and not get hit’ type of style,” said Hadi.
I went to the Hype Athletics Gym in Dearborn Heights to see the 10-time national champ work in-person. Hadi displayed smooth footwork while shadowboxing, slick head movement on the double-end bag, punishing power on the heavy bag and lightning-quick hand speed during mitt work with his father.
10x national champion 16-year-old Hadi Al Mashhadi looks ready to capture his 11th national title at the National Silver Gloves on Jan.29🥊 pic.twitter.com/ixnhXQvcbh
— Isaiah 🏁 (@Isaiah_Hall16) January 3, 2025
Hadi is well on his way to achieving his dreams in the ring. He has talent but also a strong support-system around him that helps him stay on the right path.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and watching the kids in the gym we get 30, 40 in here at a time and you can pick the ones that are going to be special, said Hamood. ”His dad has been doing a a great job with him.”
“I’m highly blessed to have a son like him,” said Hamed.