Photo By Spc. Bowden Drake-Deese | Staff Sgt. Broderick Spear of 1-82 Field Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, goes on the offensive against Pfc. Myron Harris of 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, in the first round of the middleweight title fight Dec. 12 during the Fort Hood Fight Night Championship inside Abrams Physical Fitness Center, Fort Hood. The Fort Hood Fight Night series has brought in Soldiers from across the installation to compete against each other in hand-to-hand combat. The event provided fun, food, drink and was broadcast live across the Central Texas region.
(U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Bowden Drake-Deese, III Armored Corps Public Affairs) see less
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Fort Hood Fight Night: Winners advance to summer corps-wide fight
FORT HOOD, Texas — Soldiers took the fight to the ring Friday at Abrams Physical Fitness Center during Fort Hood Fight Night: Championship to determine who will represent the installation this summer against boxers from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Bliss, Texas.
The championship event, which had Abrams at near-capacity, was streamed on the Fort Hood Facebook page as well as broadcast live on the local CW channel, courtesy of KWTX.
This event was the culmination of the first two Fight Night events, pitting previous winners and some newcomers, against each other for championship titles.
Fourteen fighters, including Golden Glove champions, a junior Olympian, college and state-level boxing champs, a mixed martial arts fighter and a black belt in Taekwondo, fought for their weight class titles.
The main event, the female heavyweight bout, pitted Pfc. Sativa James, 1st Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, against 1st Lt. Ijeoma Akubueze, 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.
James, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Jack “Galveston Giant” Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion, won the bout by decision.
Boxing runs deep through her blood. Two of her older brothers are boxers, one of whom is a professional fighter. She took up boxing in her youth because her father spent so much time with her brothers.
“I followed right after my brothers,” she said. “I always thought my dad was giving them too much attention. So I was boxing my brothers, and I just kept going.”
She continued boxing, competing in national tournaments and was looking for a gym after she joined the Army.
“I couldn’t really find anything of my interest, so when they said they were going to do Fight Night, I instantly got hooked on it,” James said.
Actually getting into the ring to compete during Fight Night was a longer journey for her though.
“I have been waiting since June, the first Fight Night, and a lot of opponents kept backing out, saying, ‘no, I’m busy,’ this and that,” she said. “I just kept patiently waiting.”
Her opportunity finally arrived during the championship round.
“This means a lot, especially to my people back home,” James said, adding that she is happy she is able to continue her fighting career while serving the country. “Yes, I joined the Army, but that doesn’t mean I stopped boxing.”
James, like all the fighters, was able to balance her boxing training with her Soldier tasks.
“Being a Soldier and trying to box, it’s not just going to school, boxing and having a different schedule,” she said. “This is a consistent schedule, so it’s different just doing it on the fly, back in the civilian world.”
Six other Soldiers will also be heading to the III Armored Corps tournament slated for this summer. The other winners and their weight classes are as follows.
• Junior Welterweight: 1st Lt. Sharnae Harmon, 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade
• Junior Middleweight: Staff Sgt. Broderick Spear, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Artillery, 1st Cav. Div.
• Super Heavyweight: Spc. Vernon Jackson, 1-82 FA Regt., DIVARTY, 1st Cav. Div.
• Middleweight: Pfc. Chester Plummer, 1-62 ADA Regt., 69th ADA Bde.
• Cruiserweight: Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Carrasco, 1st ABCT, 1st Cav. Div.
• Heavyweight: Spc. Tre’Vant “Taz” Thomas, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Div.
Lance Pooler, deputy director of Fort Hood Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, whose team, alongside installation partners, host the fight nights, said the Fight Night events provide a recreational outlet as well as the opportunity to showcase Soldiers’ strengths and warrior spirit.
“This is just something that gives them that ability to display their own personal confidence,” Pooler said, “and also display to the leadership and their fellow fighters that they are that outstanding battle buddy and they do have the back of everybody around them.”
There are many similarities between boxers and Soldiers when considering discipline, adaptability and lethality.
Plummer, who lost his first Fight Night bout, returned for the championship and found redemption, but only after hard work.
“The first time, I kind of didn’t take it serious. I kind of underestimated my opponent a little bit, so he took that one,” he said. “But this time I trained a little harder. I put in more effort, and it seemed like it paid off.”
For Jackson, the super heavyweight champ, boxing motivates him as a Soldier.
“It gives me another lane and another avenue to train harder,” he said. “I knew coming to the Army that physical fitness was a big thing, and taking on boxing on top of PT (physical training) and on top of my own personal workouts, it pushed me to another level.”
The discipline with training and need for adaptability in boxing suits Soldiers well.
Thomas, who entered the championship after winning a box off, said the ability to maintain the training, eat right and sleep well all tie-in with the planning and executing of missions and tasks.
“I believe that putting the mission first, which is training, really applies to that, and actually challenging and holding yourself accountable,” he said. “I just think that’s how it goes hand in hand.”
Carrasco said boxing can enhance a Soldier’s lethality by teaching the importance of being able to fight in close proximity in a dire situation.
“Before a Soldier can be lethal at 300 meters, at 1,000 meters … make them lethal at 0 meters,” he said, adding that weapons systems can fail and vehicles can break down. “Get Soldiers proficient at the zero-meter range before you start worrying about the 3,000- and the 5,000-meter range.”
While the fighters in the ring demonstrated the weeks and months of training for the fights, the family they built in that time was not as obvious, but was there.
Outside the ring, the fighters congratulated and consoled one another with equal vigor. They trained together and supported each other.
Harmon, who was a boxer during her time at West Point, said competing during Fight Night was thrilling, not only because she won her championship fight, but also because of the relationships she built in the process.
“It’s like electrifying. I am so happy to be a part of another boxing team and to have that family culture,” she said.
Capt. Yamiol Acevedo, 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Cav. Div., officer in charge of Fight Night and an assistant coach, helped coach, train and prepare the fighters mentally, physically and emotionally.
“We actually have a family atmosphere,” Acevedo said. “We actually do care about them.”
Acevedo, a longtime boxer, said coaching the Fort Hood fighters extends outside the ring, encouraging the fighters.
“We bring them in, and what I tell them the whole time is, ‘Hey, win, lose or draw, you have the respect of everybody in this room because you stepped in there,’” Acevedo said. “I make sure that they understand that don’t take it personal … it’s not going to define you as who you are as a human.”
Fight Night will continue with more installation-level bouts and preparations have already begun for the next iteration of Fort Hood Fight Nights, Pooler said.
The corps-wide fight night is slated for the summer.
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