In a time when many of the headlines in the boxing world have nothing to do with in-ring action, the sport may be flourishing at the grassroots level. Despite earbiting and professional wrestling appearances by the sports' most recognized figure, Mike Tyson, boxing is only gaining in popularity, especially locally.

As evidence is a newer club, the Warsaw Fighting Tigers. This group is participating in the Indiana Golden Gloves competition, which began on March 26. It takes place for five Thursdays in Indianapolis and will conclude on April 23, when the champions in each class will be decided. Five boxers from the local club will represent Warsaw for the first time.

For one of those five boxers, this state event could become even bigger.

Rick Rivera, a 31-year-old competing in the open class, has the chance to move further with five wins. He must win his boxing match every Thursday through the championship on April 23. Because this event is held by the USA Boxing organization, the same organization that runs the Olympics, Rivera would then move on to the national competition and finally, the World.

"I'm just here for the competition," Rivera said. "I've been to nationals twice before, but I'm just going in to have fun."

Rivera hasn't boxed in a tournament since 1992. One major reason for starting again was to help coach Mike Snipes teach the younger members of the club.

"It's done so much for me as far as discipline, respect and work ethic," Rivera said. "I'm still above their level. They'll catch up sooner or later, but they haven't yet."

For the other four boxers, this is a chance to win a state championship.

Because there are numerous classes and, according to Snipes, boxing does not have the popularity yet of other sports, two of the boxers are already into the state finals in their Golden Glove classes.

Greg Colt, a 24-year-old competing in the subnovice category of super heavyweight, and Troy Hurst, a 17-year-old subnovice, have to win just one match to be considered state champions.

The other two competitors are Mike Snipes, an 18-year-old novice who is the coach's son and bears the same name, and Aron Espinoza, a 16-year-old subnovice. They will both have to win multiple matches to win the state championship.

"With my dad as coach, I've done better than with other coaches," the younger Snipes said. "It makes me more cautious of what I'm doing."

Snipes has fought about 20 matches in his career and has beaten some of the competition that he'll see in the Golden Gloves competition. However, he's only boxed three times since he was 12.

"This keeps me out of trouble," Snipes said. "I was getting into trouble with so much time on my hands when I wasn't boxing. So, that's one reason why I talked dad into starting back up."

He, along with Rivera, talked his dad into starting up the club again. The elder Snipes has now transformed the garage of his house into a training gym to teach those that come to the practices.

According to coach Snipes, this Golden Gloves event is a great opportunity for the Warsaw Fighting Tigers Boxing Club to do some damage.

"You can't project how someone's going to do," Snipes said. "All you can do is prepare them. Since this is the first year we've participated, it's nice to have two people in the finals already. We'll make some noise down there."

Coach Snipes began fighting at the age of 16 and continued that in the Army between 1979 and 1986. He had about 50 fights before retiring about five years ago.

"(After the Army), Rivera and I hooked up with a guy who runs a club in Fort Wayne," Snipes said. "I still had a hunger for it. Then, for my son, it was just natural for him to start boxing."

So these five boxers probably won't step into the ring across from anyone who is ready to bodyslam someone or bite anything that moves. But despite that, they are still making headlines for the boxing community. And these headlines may actually help the growth of the sport. [[In-content Ad]]