Boxing coach up for another round

You have to hand it to Albert Brewer. He knows how to take a punch.

Brewer is the organizer and coach of the local Gloves Not Guns youth boxing club. We imagine a fair amount of his coaching time is training youngsters on how to slip a punch, but sometimes — well, it’s boxing, so one occasionally catches a shot on the chin, as Brewer himself seems to do at times.

He was not on the radar to a great degree when he and his youngsters were using the old, ratty community center. But when the new Pine Bluff Community Center opened its doors, suddenly Brewer’s group got some scrutiny about how he was going to use the space and, more precisely, what he was going to pay for it. In short, he was not given the credit and respect that many thought he deserved for being the driving force behind an outfit that gets youngsters interested in bettering themselves.

Then this past summer, the Arkansas Local Boxing Commission of USA Boxing placed the Region 6 Silver Gloves tournament in Pine Bluff. Brewer was over the moon about the attention, but try as he would, he couldn’t round up enough funding, and the tournament went to Searcy.

At this point, picture Brewer getting up off the canvas, putting up his dukes and getting back to doing whatever he can to better his program and the young people he mentors.

To assist his cause, the Advertising and Promotion Commission recently gave his organization $44,500 to help him bring in boxers and parents and fans. That’s what the A&P does, promote tourism, and it believes that Brewer is onto something in putting Pine Bluff on the boxing tournament map.

As Brewer put it: “It’s not no secret that we want to make Pine Bluff the boxing capital of Arkansas.”

No, no secret at all, and he seems to be well on his way.

In the same breath, he says Pine Bluff will get another shot at the Silver Gloves competition and that he can’t count on that $44,500 to make the tournament happen. The reason is the A&P money is for next year.

For some reason, we think that Brewer will raise the necessary funds this year to make the competition happen. But if he doesn’t, we don’t expect him or anyone in his corner to throw in a towel. That is just not his way.