WESTLAND, Mich. – Fighting out of Kronk Boxing Gym, Jirair Thompson won the 2024 National Golden Gloves in Detroit.
The six-day national tournament, which features over 300 of the best amateur boxers from around the nation, was hosted by The Metro Detroit Golden Gloves and Downtown Boxing Gym from May 13 to 18 at Huntington Place.
Representing Team Metro Detroit, Thompson had a dominant run through the 156lbs division of the tournament, showing a well-rounded skill set and exciting performances.
In the final round of the tournament, Thompson soundly outboxed Seth Duran of the Mid-South franchise.
In the first round, Thompson’s superior hand and foot speed showed as he landed sharp punches as he moved around the ring. Duran marched forward, firing combinations but missed a lot of punches due to Thompson’s solid defense.
In round two, Thompson utilized movement around the ring to find a home for his jab. His offense gained momentum as he landed punishing combinations to the head and body. Duran fired back punches of his own but again Thompson made him miss and made him pay throughout the round.
At the end of the second round, Thompson never took a seat in his corner as he sensed the impending victory.
In the final round, Thompson kept the momentum from the previous rounds landing counters as Duran came forward with punches. Thompson’s hand speed, movement and ring IQ made it difficult for Duran to find a rhythm. Thompson ended the round landing hard combinations to the body.
“Let’s go Detroit!” chants rang out from the crowd as the judges read the scorecards. Thompson was announced the winner by split-decision.
Thompson leaped in the air and landed a backflip in celebration. He says that he planned to do it if he won the championship.
“Yeah, it was really planned because a lot of times they told me not to do the backflip,” said Thompson. “So, I was like, ‘alright I’ll wait until the championship day after I won, my hand raised, and I can go ahead and do a backflip.’”
At only 19 years old, Thompson won the prestigious amateur championship in his own hometown.
Thompson says that due to his age, he adopted a boxing style that would work for him against older, stronger opponents.
“As soon as I turned 18, I started fighting people that were older than me,” said Thompson. “So, I knew that my speed and my stamina had to be a factor because I couldn’t match the strength with those adults so I had to adapt a real speedy style that they couldn’t catch me.”
Winning the National Golden Gloves is an accomplishment that took vast amounts of hard work and perseverance to achieve. Boxers fight day-by-day in a nearly weeklong tournament against the best competition. Thompson says he endured many bumps and bruises on his path to the championship.
“I had to fight five times straight,” said Thompson. “In the second fight I hurt my wrist and I still had to go win that tournament. I had lumps in my arms, shoulders were hurting but you know you got to push through cause pressure makes diamonds and I’m coming for the gold.”
Kronk Boxing Gym powers the Emanuel Steward Champions of Tomorrow (ESCOT) Youth Development, which is located in Westland, MI. Thompson plans to follow in the footsteps of previous Kronk boxing legends with the goal of being a future world champion.
“The ESCOT program really just helped me stay on task because I had a goal and they really helped me keep on going,” said Thompson. “I’ve been doing this for six years and I’m never going to stop.”
ESCOT executive director Brett Heflin says Thompson (‘Jay-Boo’) embodies the teachings of ESCOT and has a prominent level of heart that makes him stand out.
“Knowing him as a person is to know somebody is special,” said Heflin. “Jay-Boo is fantastic. We teach a lot of things here. We focus on athletics, academics, community and leadership and he exemplifies all those things.
“When Jay-Boo goes into something he embodies another one of our mottos which is, ‘failure is not an option,’” said Heflin. “It’s okay to not win but to quit is to fail and there’s no quit in Jay-Boo.”
ESCOT has a rich boxing history as the program was originally Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward’s way of empowering youth in Detroit through boxing. Heflin says the program aims to continue Steward’s vision of supporting the youth.
“To have the history that Emanuel brings and the Kronk name that we embody on our amateur team speaks volumes just carrying that name,” said Heflin. “Kronk is legendary and we want to continue that legacy forward by creating well-rounded people that can carry and rock that moniker.”
“We are creating the Kronk boxers that are 2.0,” said Heflin. “What that means is their character is as strong as their punch.”