Mentor Boxers Prepare For Golden Gloves

One year ago, neither Brandon Shinhearl nor Ryan Wiegand were boxers.

Wiegand went to a couple of classes when he was nine or 10 years old but not since, and Shinhearl just thought boxing was two guys punching each other.

But Wiegand was looking for a challenge and Shinhearl was looking for a way to stay in shape and off the bottle, so friends suggested they visit the Against the Ropes Boxing Club in Painesville.

Now it's a way of life for them, they said.

Shinhearl and Wiegand, who both live in Mentor, will have their first amatuer matches ever at the upcoming Golden Gloves tournament this month.

"I was looking for a challenge," Wiegand said, "and I found one."

Brandon Shinhearl

"Boxing has helped me look within myself and showed me I can accomplish anything," Shinhearl said as he sat on a bench at the edge of the gym.

"It makes me calmer," he said. "It helps me focus."

Even though Shinhearl is wide-shouldered and muscular, he doesn't intimidate. He is polite and smiles easily.

Shinhearl struggled with alcohol addiction and he said the discipline of boxing has helped him stay sober.

Now he talks about the "natural high" of training and competing.

"There's really no better feeling," he said.

When asked what about boxing appealed to him, he replied, "It's such an individual sport. Everything's based on how hard you work, how hard you train, how much you believe.

"You find out real quick if you have heart and no fear," he said.

Shinhearl, 30, is fighting in the 201- weight class in the subnovice division this Saturday. (Subnovices are those with three or fewer amateur fights.) If he wins, he'll have a second bout for the division the week afterward.

Shinhearl said the fight dominates his thoughts.

"I feel very confident but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous," he said.

Shinhearl, like most of the people who train at Against the Ropes, doesn't intend to be a professional boxer. He's studying international relations with a focus on Middle Eastern culture at Cleveland State University. He wants to learn Arabic and maybe work in international business.

But that doesn't mean he's not committed to the sport.

"I think I started boxing a little too late to go professional but I'll go as far as the sport takes me," he said.

Ryan Wiegand

"It looked like it was going to be easier than it was," Wiegand said of his first impression of boxing. "But I learned. I got humbled in the first class."

Wiegand said he quickly learned that boxing, competitive as it is, is not about what the next person can do.

"You don't have to be the best at your first class," he said. "You work hard and do you best. That's all it is -- all you can do."

Wiegand, 25, has a 4-year-old son and works full time as a butcher at . Even with those responsibilities, he still makes time to train between eight and 10 hours a week.

"He's here all the time training," his coach, Ken Curtis Jr., said of Wiegand. "He gives other guys inspiration.

He will box in the 178-pound weight class, subnovice division on April 21. He's confident, not cocky, going into his first fight.

"I'm confident that I've trained enough to give anyone a fight," he said.

Wiegand initially got into boxing for the fitness but said the sport gave him discipline and focus, as well. He said that boxing can help anyone who's willing to put in the time and effort.

He noted that the oldest person at Against the Ropes is 60 and the youngest is nine.

But then, he added, "It isn't for everybody. Not everyone wants to work that hard."

Ken Curtis Jr.

Curtis has coached both Shinhearl and Wiegand for the last several months.

He opened Against the Ropes in Painesville two years ago but has coached out of other gyms since 1997.

Curtis said he opened the gym so he could keep people off the streets by getting them in the ring.

"I want to help people," he said. "I've been against the ropes in my life too, so that's what I named the club."

He believes that both of his guys can and will win in the Golden Gloves -- not necessarily because they're the biggest or fastest, but because they work hard.

"They're going to do very well. It's just keeping the guys focused," he said. "To train a fighter, you've got to break them down. You've got to make them do the same thing over and over until it's instinct. If you're lazy when you train, you're going to lose."

He added that both Shinhearl and Wiegand have something intrinsic, something necessary to be a good boxer -- heart.

"You can train anyone to be a fighter but not everyone has the heart," he said.