It was the motto painted on the walls of the Augusta Boxing Club that caught Gloria Walker’s attention.
“It’s better to sweat in the gym than bleed in the streets” has been the phrase associated with the club since its founding, and she wanted that for her son, Deondre Walker.
“Boxing teaches you discipline. When you fall, you get back up. You keep pushing,” said Deondre Walker, a super lightweight professional boxer, who is currently undefeated with eight career wins — seven of those were knockouts. His next fight is Aug. 13 in Columbia.
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Walker was 7 when he first walked into the Walton Way gym and met Tom Moraetes, the gym’s founder. Moraetes told Walker he could be the next Vernon Forrest, the Augusta Boxing Club great who would go on to become a world championship boxer.
So, Walker started training, and training hard.
Over the years, the Laney High School graduate competed in numerous amateur tournaments winning at the state and regional Golden Gloves tournaments and fighting at the national level in 2019 before deciding to turn pro.
“The national tournament was a big one. It was on TV,” he said.
Growing up at the boxing club gave Walker a group of tight-knit friends. They would cheer each other on toward victory.
Sometimes, they were matched up against each other, and they were fierce competitors in the ring, but when the fight was over, the animosity ended.
And he said he’s grateful to have had the chance to be part of the club.
“I don’t know where I’d be without the boxing club,” he said.
Not that he was a bad kid, but boxing gave him the discipline and direction he needed for his life, he explained.
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Although he lives in South Carolina now, Walker likes to visit the gym and encourage the younger boxers.
“I feel they look up to me,” he said.
Walker has had his share of boxers he’s looked up to — Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather and Gervonta Davis. And he’s hoping to follow in their footsteps.
“I’ve got tunnel vision,” he said. “I just was to be the best — the best version of who I am.”
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
