BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - He was born just 10 years ago, but Rocky Seibel insists he’s spent every second since wanting to be a boxer.
Then again, with a name like Rocky, it might have been preordained.
The Swansea fifth grader is, indeed, named after the fictional Philadelphia fighter portrayed in film by Sylvester Stallone. And - wouldn’t you know it - Seibel is a southpaw, too.
“It’s crazy how it works out like that. I’m a big boxing fan, but it really seems like it was meant to be for him,” Jason Seibel said of the third of his four children. “His name fits.”
Rocky met his destiny with his first sanctioned fight at the Belleville-Swansea Moose Lodge 1221 on a recent Saturday night. The 10-fight card - dubbed “The Showdown at the Moose” - was organized by Ken Reilly through his Belleville Boxing Club.
With half the sold-out house chanting his name, it was clear the shifty young boxer had made himself an instant crowd favorite.
“If you ask me, Rocky was the fighter of the night,” Reilly said.
The blond-haired, 60-pound student of High Mount School arrived ringside on the shoulders of his corner man, Ernie Kitterman, the former middleweight boxing champion and pro kickboxer from Belleville.
Wearing the colors of the Belleville Boxing Club - green trunks with yellow trim and tank top - Rocky bowed to the judge stationed at each side of the ring.
“I wanted to make sure they knew who I was,” he said.
Rocky Seibel, 10, arrives at the ring on the shoulders of Ernie Kitterman, a former professional boxer and kickboxer during the
He then proceeded to dominate his bout, ducking almost as many punches as he landed. From a neutral corner, he pumped his arms through a pair of standing eight-counts before eventually winning on a third-round technical knockout.
That’s not as brutal as it sounds, by the way - at 60 pounds, a TKO may be awarded at the first sign of tears from the opponent.
“I had two spars and I won both of them. The kid I fought, that’s who I sparred first. So I won both of my spars, but this was my first fight,” Rocky said following his victory. “It felt really good.”
Though he’s named after a movie character, there’s nothing fictional about his natural skill. Rocky started taking lessons from Reilly just two months, but has come a long way in a short time.
Reilly said he teaches his boxers to duck and move by poking at them with a soft playground ball mounted to the end of a stick. The technique worked well with Rocky who, in his first match, bobbed and weaved around 16 missed punches in the second round alone.
“I try to teach the kids to keep their head moving and to move it with their knees,” Reilly said. “I have to show Rocky these kinds of things once and he does it. When I’m not coaching him one on one, he’s watching as I work with the bigger guys. I’ve never had a kid who’s picked this up so fast.”
Rocky plays football and wrestles, both for the Belleville Little Devils. In February, he wrestled at a higher age level and ended up placing eighth at the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation State Meet. He’s sticking out another season of Khoury League Baseball this summer, mostly because his dad won’t let him go back on his commitment to a team he had already signed up to join.
Jason Seibel says he has no reservations at all about his 10-year-old son taking up boxing, too, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics urges its member physicians to oppose youth boxing because of the risks of head injuries.
Seibel and Reilly counter those view points as others involved in the sport do, citing not just the discipline and fitness benefits he believes the sport imparts, but the added precautions that are taken with amateur fighters.
Rocky Seibel, a 10-year-old fifth grader at High Mount School in Swasea, listens to the referee’s rules before his first sanctioned boxing match during the
“My kids get hurt more often running around the house than they do playing any sport,” said Jason Seibel.
Only fighters sanctioned through USA Boxing are allowed to step into a ring. Membership mandates regular physicals and includes supplemental health insurance. Amateur fighters also wear headgear and use gel-cushioned gloves that land with all the impact “of a Nerf ball,” Reilly said.
“The same risks exist in boxing as in any other sport,” he said. “But in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had a kid seriously injured in a boxing ring. For concussions and the joint issues, football is much worse.”
In the meantime, Rocky continues to work out two or three times a week at the boxing club, working cardio circuits, hitting the bags and doing some light weightlifting.
He says he’s learned a little about boxing by watching video of his favorite boxers, Floyd Mayweather and, of course, Rocky Marciano.
“My dad taught me a little bit, but when I got (to Belleville Boxing Club) I just picked it up really quickly because I’ve wanted to do it my whole life and I’ve been watching boxing,” he said.
Reilly is looking to arrange more fights through USA Boxing with eye to the Junior Olympics and Silver Gloves.
“Rocky has been bugging me about trying for years and I just pushed him off because he can’t fight until you’re 10-years-old anyway,” said Jason Seibel, who named another son after the former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson. “He’s really passionate about the boxing, so I’m happy to get him into as many events or fights as they can come up with.”
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Source: Belleville News-Democrat, https://bit.ly/2s4KQxG
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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com
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