Ex-no. 1 Pruitt reaches Golden Gloves Nationals
Arkansas native Misty Pruitt, 18, stepped into the ring Saturday night at the Mid-south Golden Gloves Regional Tournament, taking her place in the blue corner of the box.
Pruitt looked at home in the ring, with her stars-and-stripes-themed shorts complimenting the red, white and blue ropes.
Pruitt won that bout on the final night of the two-day amateur tournament to become the female champion in the 152pound weight class to advance to the national event next month.
Her gold-medal victory at the 2020 Junior Olympics meant that Pruitt was ranked No. 1 in the nation at 145. She was also ranked second in the nation at 152 following the 2020 Junior Olympics.
The Golden Gloves regional tournament was hosted by the Memphis Office of Youth Services at the Hickory Hill Community Center and featured boxers from Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana. Pruitt and her opponent, Nashville-based Christine Forkins, were the only female fighters.
Earlier in the night, Pruitt donned a matching patriotic robe, the hood pulled up and covering her face as Imagine Dragons and Machine Gun Kelly (her goto artists for pre-fight music) played through her headphones. The only things visible were two long blonde braids, which she would later tuck away under her headgear.
Pruitt was inspired to adopt the stars and stripes uniform after watching the Rocky films. She wants to mirror the level of boxing success shown in the films and win a world championship. Though boxing isn't always fun, Pruitt says, she works hard to win and provide that same inspiration for others, especially with how male-dominated boxing is.
"Just winning, you know. Not a lot of girls do boxing, so whenever you box and they see you, it kind of draws girls into it, like 'Oh, she's a girl and she knocked out someone,' you know," Pruitt said.
From the start of her career eight years ago, Pruitt has been able to do just that — knock people out. In her first fight, Pruitt went up against a girl who had much more boxing experience than her (10 fights, she said). Nonetheless, Pruitt knocked down her opponent three times in the bout.
Claire Kuwana is a sports reporting intern at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Contact her at claire.kuwana@commercialappeal.com or follow her on Twitter @clairekuwana.