Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the station, gets, staff, management,
or ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, you'll find out we've beating the poke Cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Peter Leonard and I'm the Poet Gold, and we're
on the.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Air this morning with Kareem Patterson and Gina Power from
Apja Boxing and we are dying to get to them
and they are events coming up. But first you want
to go to the Poet Cold for her weekly poem
prayer incannotation Cold. Please let it roll.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, I haven't done this one in a while. It's
called fruit. Who do we become?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Most are taught we eat fruit, not that we can
be fruit. We can be like the grape growing together
in clusters, all interconnected, a community. We can be like
the orange, vibrant, rich wood, nourishment to live a healthy life,
a thirst quencher. We can be the fresh apple, whose
seeds will plant food for thought and grow young trees
with branches that will grow more apples. We can be
(00:58):
the kei we the raspberry, the grapefruit, the sweet peach,
the cherry, the next serene, the plum, the BlackBerry, the
pine apple, the tangerine. We can be like any fruit
we choose to be. Therefore I leave you with this,
don't simply eat fruit. Go out into the world and
be fruit. May each one of us possess the assets
the qualities to teach one of us. May we embrace
(01:19):
the gift of life, the opportunities to learn something new
every day, For it is the student who teaches the
teacher how to teach. Therefore, grow, flourish, enrich the society
in our community with the nutrients from our heart and mind.
You are fruit, I am fruit. We are fruit, recognize
and always represent and.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I'll never think of an apple the same way again.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
That was a beautiful poem.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
And when you started listening all the fruits, I knew
the names of many of them, but I only actually
taste it, probably a handful. But give us a sense
of apga. Boxing is about, you know, your youth organization,
and sometimes young boxing has traditionally been a uh, you know,
(02:08):
a youth sport, but sometimes boxing gets a bit of reputation.
Can you give us essential white Boxing is such a
good idea for young people.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Boxing is a great idea for young people because it
teaches the skills needed in life, you know, hard work, dedication,
You get knocked down, get back up, like all these
things students will learn in boxing. Boxing has got a
bad reputation because of the professional side of the sport
(02:37):
is brutal at times. There's a lot of cutthroat with
the with the business of boxing, and you know, people
tend to see that more than the amateur boxing. But
it's a big difference between amateur boxing and professional boxing.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
And the difference is what the youth is. They're protected.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
They were big, big gloves, head protection, mouthguards, and so
it's it's it's sort of like playing football, Okay, you
know what I mean, But in the professional side, your
life is on the line when you go fight. So
that's the difference. But people put them together, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So got it? So like that gladiator type type sport.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, from from an audience perspective, cheering on
you know, yes, yeah, definitely. And and so we also
have a Gina Powers, who's the vice president of APJ.
What is your perspective on on boxing and teaching youth?
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Uh boxing, Given that I'm a boxer's mom as well,
my daughter is one of Coach Caps boxers. She's been
there for five years and fighting for four. It just
sort her confidence. She was very shy, the youngest of
the bond. She had no confidence, no friends. She used
(03:59):
to think she was ugly. But just being at the
gym for a year in working with the coaches and
Coach Cap and that confidence she has now is just unbelievable.
Like she's a completely different kid. And that's why I
work there and I support them and everything they do
because I've seen it for myself, that transformation in my
(04:19):
own kid. Because now she's a senior at Poughkeepsie High School,
she's one on the honor roll. She has like a
couple of colleges that's like pulling together her. She's going
to West Point in October to possibly go there, so
and it's all because that boxing and that confidence she has,
and like being that we live in Poughkeepsie, Like there's
(04:41):
people who try her because they know she can box,
but she knows like I can hurt you. If I
put my hands on you, I can hurt you. And
I'm not going to do that and I'm just gonna walk.
So she's even more comfortable walking away from a situation.
She doesn't feel like she has to be drug into
something because she knows what the end result could be,
so she just walks away. She pays it no attention,
and she.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Has nothing to prove, and she understands that. And that
self awareness probably came through the training, you know, from
being in the gym environment, the community of the gym environment,
the lessons of being in the gym environment, the competition.
It's like, I have more to lose actually by engaging
in something negative than I have to gain. Yes, that's powerful.
(05:23):
So you have an event coming up. Can you tell
us a little bit about the event. We're going to
talk about it a couple of times today, but I
want you to put it out there early.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
So Yeah, Saturday, October fourth, first Saturday in October, we're
throwing up the Pink Punch Out and it's in honor
of breast cancer awareness. We're going to be doing this
event at Goals Gym in Lagrange. Tickets are twenty five dollars.
Tickets are on sale now at APJ boxing dot com
(05:53):
APJ boxing dot com. Again, just in case you didn't
hear it, and you know this, we're going to have
a whole bunch of youth fighters from the area and
New York City area fighting in this tournament, and it's.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Going to be a really really good event.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
My son, he hasn't boxed in over twelve years and
he's making his return to the ring to fight in
front of his hometown, crowded Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
So we're really looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
How does it make you feel as a father?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
It makes me feel really good, really good, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You know when you show your daughter going from and
you put it so Clearlyge, you know when you said
you you had no confidence, you had no friends. It's
a harrowing situations and being in any way you can
get out of that situation. Have your parents be supportive
of going into an untraditional thing for women boxing, I
(06:57):
would imagine you have an awful lot of gratitudes about.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
Most Definitely, yeah, because like I said, she's the youngest.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So seven, so she.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
So we have a set of older kids who start
at thirty four and go down. So the child after
before Imani is twenty one, and then Imani's seventeen. So
that whole thing of them not being in school together
like everybody grown up was in school together back to back,
but MANI is pretty much all on her own. She's
like a little lonesome thing. And she's only four or eleven,
(07:35):
so she's so little. So it just made me very nervous.
And the fact that she didn't really have a lot
of confidence. And these siblings are horrible. They really Now
they don't try her as much, but they're horrible. So
it's definitely coach cap and the coaches there definitely just
brought something in her that it must have always been there.
(07:56):
But she just has so much confidence. She's very focused,
she knows the exactly what she wants to do. She
doesn't stray from her path at all. And I owe
that all to boxing and even the camaraderie with like
everybody at the gym, like everybody there's like a big
old family. It's like it's just what she needed at
the time that she needed it, and it just works
out perfectly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I have two things I want to just had a
point that you said that maybe she already had it
in her, you know, I think those things were probably
already in her and they needed to be nurtured in
the right environment. You know that, And so what led
you to APJ? Had you heard about it in the
community where you were guys, friends or you know.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, that's the funny thing. I'd start.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Me and my oldest daughter, we started doing like kickboxing
classes there and at the time, Imani was doing gymnastics.
She's been doing gymnastics for seven years, so it was
like right up the street from the gym, so I'd
pick her up and then come to kickboxing. So one
day coach Cap let her do kickboxing, and then I
went from her doing kickboxing to let her just try
out for boxing, and then she absolutely loved it and
(09:01):
she just had like this smile always.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She was like so excited to go.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
And then me and my husband decided, well it's cheaper
than gymnastics, so it works out well.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
So well, that's so hard.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I took boxing as a kid for a very short
period of time, and my whole boxing thing ended when
I got hit on the nose.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
The nose hit.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I was good with the shoulder that, I was good
with the chee, but the nose hit changed my projectory.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
It's it doesn't necessarily hurt, but it's an uncomfortable film.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Afraid of the next thing coming exactly. But I don't
know how you find something more likable then I'm four
leaving and I'm so willing to fight and I'm not
going to do it because that is fun together. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
The confidence that boxing in stoles in these kids is
I think every child or young person should go through
the situations that boxing puts you through, because you know,
it helps you build that confidence and know what you
can do and what you can't do, and you know.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
In everyday life.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yes, if you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding
out with Pete and the Poet gold and I'm the
poet Golden. We're here with Kareem Patterson, the founder and
CEO of APJ Boxing APJ.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I said there right right, yeah, APJ Boxing.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
And as well as Gina Powers, who's the VP of
APJ Boxing. Kaream, I want to ask you what led
you to opening a you know, boxing gym for for you, Well, there's.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
A couple of reasons. One, you know, my son he
was coming up at the time, I think he was
about three four years old, and I wanted to do
something that he would look up to me in the
future when he got older because I did this thing.
You know what, I mean, so the boxing and boxing
was my passion, so I said, I didn't want to
(11:09):
go work for at a nine to five at something
that I really don't enjoy doing. I want to try
to figure out how to how to make a living
off of something I'm passionate about. So that's what boxing,
you know, that's how the boxing gym came about. But
it took me eight or nine years of me spending
(11:29):
more money than I was making before it actually worked.
But God kept talking to me and I was listening,
and he said, just stick with boxing, stick with boxing,
and it paid off.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
And that's and that's this is a key point. And
just being an entrepreneur. You know a lot of people
don't realize that that initially you're going to put out.
You're going to put out. You're going to put out,
and the winning is the stick to itness for sure.
Stick to it for sure, you know, I mean outside
of the base understanding how money works and went out
(12:02):
the door, you know, but the stick to it, this
makes a huge difference.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I had a choice.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
I can go be a correctional officer because you know,
that's one of the jobs that's paying the most in
the area, or I can do something I'm passionate about
and not make as much money at the moment, but
eventually I can make enough money to where there's no ceiling.
Working as a correctional officer, there's only but so high
(12:29):
I can get in the ranks, you know what I mean.
And that takes a long time, and I would not
be passionate about that at all, So you know I
made the right decision.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The poetry of the correctional job and starting a boxing
gym for young people is a way in which the
boxing gym prevents young people from having to meet a
correctional yes officer and a lot of great correction the necessary,
(13:01):
but you don't want your kids to meet them.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Absolutely absolutely, so right now we work with river Haven.
We went over there, and you know river Haven if
you don't know, it's a place in Poughkeepsie where kids
I'm at risk, youth. You know, they get in trouble
and they go there. That's the first stage before if
they keep getting in trouble, they will go to jail.
(13:25):
So we went over there and we told all the
kids there that they are free of charge to come
to our gym and let out any frustrations that they
have and you know they've been coming every week and
they love it.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And river Haven, I believe it is a program of
Hutching river Housing, Yes, and Hutching river House to great
nonprofits and uh and it's basically river Haven, from what
I understand, is designed for homeless youth, which is I mean,
we shouldn't have a society it has home with youth.
We have it. River Haven is addressing it and for
(14:02):
you guize to be part of that is its own
honor and blessing for the community.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Well, I grew up in Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I was one of those kids at one point in
my life, growing up in difficult circumstances. So that's another
reason why I opened the gym because I didn't have
the opportunity to box.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There was no boxing in the area.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So I wanted to give the youth an opportunity that
I didn't have growing up.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, it's a big deal, and you know boxing and uh,
all the awe of parts of education or so sun
I mean, in other words, we would create a school
budget and you don't have enough for the extracurriculum.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right, And you are a pure example of what I
call be the poem you know, uh, someone who evolves
through challenges and then and then grows to a place
where their life becomes that of service and they still
can make a living.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yes, and that's that's key to be able to make
a living.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
But to like I said, eight years of doing it,
I was giving more than I was receiving. And I
know from that experience and just from life that you
have to give first before you get back. You got
to be willing to give, you know what I mean.
So you know, it wasn't about the money. It's about
(15:38):
helping the youth, helping anybody. We teach adults as well,
you know what I mean, to get in shape and
through boxing. So it's just helping everybody. And you know,
whatever comes back comes back.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
But that's mentioned the event again.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
So October fourth at golds Germin Lagrange, we got the
Pink Punch Out. We have Litl Remi or Kareem Patterson JUNR.
He will be the main event in the boxing at
the show. It's a metro tournament, so the Metro area.
All the best boxers in the Metro area will be
in this tournament. It's a must see event. Make sure
(16:17):
you come to this event. Get your tickets now at
apjboxing dot com. And I want to give a shout
out to our sponsors because without the sponsors, this show
would not be possible. So we got North Side Auto,
we got Poughkeepsie pal we got Hudson Valley Credit Union,
(16:37):
Snug of the Family, Partnership, Miles of Hope, the Army,
National Guard, Ochshield Kitchen, Alex Food and Groceries, Brud Hodgkins,
Dave Petrovitz, Main Printing, Dutchess Auto Collision, Kirk IMPIRETI Wells Fargo,
TJ's Pizza, Nuanced, Nuvance Health, and there's many more people
(17:01):
contribute into this show. We want to thank y'all because,
like I said this, without you guys, this show would
not be possible, right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So, you know, and kudos for all those organizations and
companies who are pitching in, you know, for this cause
and supporting your vision and giving another pathway to to
our youth because oftentimes sometimes in the city of Poughkeepsie,
you know, people will say, oh, there's nothing to do,
there's nothing to do, and it's and I always say
(17:31):
to them, there are great organizations out there. It's not
that there's not anything to do. Maybe you're not informed
of what's there, which is a different situation. But there
are organizations like yourself organizations and family services organizations through
Community Matters to our Real Skills.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Network, and the list can go on.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You know, out there trying to guide guide our youth
and sports is one of the definite ways, oh for sure.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And then you mentioned Community Matters too.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I didn't put them on this list, but they have
definitely supported us through the years and they are definitely sponsors.
Lagette Taylor, the founder, he just bought a bunch of
our fighters like new gear, wonderful boxing gloves and different
things that they can use for boxing. So we appreciate
(18:18):
Community Matters too.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
So let's let's let's talk about your role. You know,
what is your role in all of this as as VP.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
When it comes to the gym overall, I help out
with the scheduling, booking, making phone calls, checking people in
anything anybody needs there.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I'm there to.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Assist donuts for the babies.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
Yeah, I do donuts for the babies. We start at four,
so our baby boxers, you gotta give them something to
want to come.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Back for right.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Incentives can definitely and it's just a grandmind me too,
Like give them some snacks, I'm going but for the
pink punch out. I worked for ten years. I worked
at the Dice and Breast Center, So I worked with
these ladies' breast cancer patients for years and I absolutely
fell in love with them, just their courage. I got
(19:11):
to see them at their worst day being diagnosed, all
the way up to their best day showing that they
were margin margin cleared and breast cancer free. And they're
just just the community alone in that. It's just a
beautiful community, everybody giving and helping. That's why I was
happy when Coach Cap said, oh, yeah, we can do this.
(19:31):
So it was something I knew.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
It was actually her idea, yeah, to do this, you know,
for breast cancer awareness, and I thought it was a
great idea.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
And it gives the exposure to like our community because
our community doesn't know a lot about breast cancer and
we get affected a lot because they don't understand how
important it is to get checked up and stuff. And
men when it comes to box and men get breast
cancer too, yes, so men need to.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Be aware also.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
So it just like we get to bring awareness to
everybody all together in one setting. And I'm happy because
we get to honor a breast cancer survivor that day
who's a part of our breast cancer sorry, a part
of our boxing community. We get to honor a breast
cancer survivor too.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Me ask who that is or.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Me?
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Okay, no problem. But wait wait for the day.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
The day of the event, I have from three complimentary
tickets for you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Take this part off, but yes, hopefully we see you
guys at the event.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold hold the ticket because
I'm actually on tour that day. I'm actually in Ithaca,
New York performing.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Okay, well you can be actually do to people if
you all right, all right, somebody.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Who may be interested in boxing.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yes, well, thank you so much. That was that was
most kind of you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And to our listeners if you're just tuning in, you're
listening to finding out a Pete the Poet Gold and
I'm the Poet Gold and we're here with Kareem Patterson,
CEO and founder of a p J Boxing as well
as vice president of a p J Boxing Gina Powers,
and I just wanted to I was not familiar that
when you guys were saying, coach Cap, this is coach Cap. Okay,
(21:12):
I was, I'm here about this coach. There's another person.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I'm just saying, so my initials.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
My name is Kareem Massan Patterson.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Okay, everyone calls.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Me got it?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Got it now? Now I'm in the know.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I figured it out. I had to look down to
check the spelling. But Genie, your experience with breast cancer
working through another organization gave you the sort of the
community knowledge on how to be basically what we call
community organized. Yeah, and uh, I mentioned that. I just
(21:52):
mentioning your daughter, the seventh of seven children, you must
have had a lot of experience in terms of facing
the problem of having a young person with a little
conference and few friends. And I would like if you
would talk a little bit about how your experience with
(22:13):
your other kids help you on that and you're experiencing
the community might to help you with that.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
So dealing with my youngest daughter, it was a challenge
for me and my husband because she's not like the
other kids at all. And like I said before, like
the other kids they all had each other growing up.
They are in the same age. Because me and my
husband have mine his an hours, so they were all
in the same age group. So everybody but Imani. She
(22:40):
was always that separate, that last of the mohoguean, so
she just was always felt left out or she wasn't
big enough, or everybody picked on her, and like she
just didn't get it, and nobody wanted to be bothered
because now everybody's teenagers and she was little, so dealing
having that and me and my husband tried to just
pour into it, but there's only so much a parent
(23:01):
can pour into when kids they just I don't want
to hear it no more, like you just have to
say it. So they kids come off like you have
to say, oh, you have to say I'm pretty, and
you have to say I'm smart, and you have to
be nice to me. But they don't understand like you're
trying to pour into them. So you want them to
see it for themselves. So in our case, me and
(23:22):
my husband when we got to APG cap and a
millio and tie, and they were able to pour the
inter her and she can say, oh, maybe my mother
does know what she's talking about, and maybe maybe this
is me, Maybe I do have what it takes to
be what it is that I need and with the community,
it's just I've seen so much and I grew up
(23:44):
here my whole life too, So you definitely want to
you want to instill in your kids that be better
than me, do better than me, and but sometimes it
just you just can't be that person to give them
that message. It has to come from somewhere else for
them to receive it. And that's how it was with
my daughter Imani.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, when you talk about how you can receive it,
that's why you really need a great community needs a
great community organization for sure, either it's APJA boxing or
gold was saying community matters, suitive family services and you
know people, all of us need to drink in the
(24:27):
good stuff. Taking the grace from a source that's not depends.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Yeah, And it takes a community to raise raise children definitely. Yeah,
the village. It definitely takes the village the community to
raise And that's the other thing I love about APJ too,
because we have kids in there who don't even want
to talk. The first they don't want their parents in there,
they don't want to talk, and then give them one
month at the gym and you can't shut them up.
The extremely happy, they're running in the door to be
(24:54):
the first person there, like, it's just it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And everybody knows. It's takes a village because everybody's a
human being and everybody has benefited in a vital way
from things outside their family.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Who want to say what really need is a family?
You need a family. That's just thought. But all of
us who have had a life know that the excitement
of validation, the joy, the embrace of a community is
also vital.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Yeah, and APJ is definitely a family first and foremost.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Let me ask you a question, Kreman, have you had
a moment you know, I'm sure you've probably had many
moments where youth has come through and you've watched such
an incredible transformation, transformation that you sort of had to
sit with yourself.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Yeah, it's happening more often than not nowadays. One thing
that stands out when you said, say that, there was
a young man that was coming to our gym when
we first started teaching, and he had an issue and
he said, you know, he was about to go do
something that could have landed him in prison for a long,
(26:10):
long long time. So I had to talk with him
and I told him, you know, you know his worth
and try to explain to him that he doesn't have
to make that move. This kid, to this day contacts
me and says, listen, you saved my life because that night,
you don't know, I was like on the edge and
(26:33):
I was going to do it until I seen you
and God put you there at that time, and that
those things like lets me know that I'm doing the
right thing. And I'm so happy that I can help people.
That right there is worth more than any dollar I
can get, you know what I mean? Like those instances.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
So what where would you like to are you? How
can I put this? What's your vision? Your future vision?
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I want APJ to be in Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
I want Poughkeepsie to have boxing for the rest of
my life and after my life. I want boxing to
be a staple and Poughkeepsie. So that's that's my main
goal is to keep the gym alive. I'm working with Gina.
We got a Millio Torres, Nabon Stufano. These guys are
(27:27):
coaches at the gym and hopefully when you know I'm
dead and going, they can take over and keep it
going and then.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Pass it on to somebody else so that it always.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Exists a succession plan.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Right, you're the youngest person I ever saw. I have
a succession plan.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
It's you know, you have to think about these things.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Well, it's more ambitious. Let's go conquer the world, I'm
to say, you know, let's make it to dinner. Well.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
APJ stands for Arthur Patterson Junior, and that's my late father.
He passed away, and he wasn't necessarily a boxer, but
he was a giver. He gave to his community, he
gave to his family.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
He worked hard.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
So that's why I named the gym APJ Boxing, because
we give and we work hard, you know what I mean.
So it's in honor of him.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And uh, what is it? Boxer? You had a passion
for boxing, did you? Were you a boxer yourself?
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Yeah? So I started boxing when I was twenty one
years old.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Old.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yeah, I couldn't find there was no boxing in the area.
I wish it was, but I had to go all
the way to Kingston, New York to find a boxing
gym and I instantly fell in love with it. I
was in the gym every single day and then when
I when I came to the point in my life
where I had to decide what I was going to
do with my life. I started to think, what am I?
(29:05):
What do I do and enjoy and nobody has to
pay me for it? But I do it. I worked
super hard at it and it was boxing. So that
was the That was the birth of an idea. And
then eventually I got to the point whereas why not
open a boxing gym so I can give you know, kids,
an opportunity I didn't have.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So well, the key word I'm picking up here is give.
Your father was a giver and you found a way
to a not only personally but institutionally give and give
to the community.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yes, so one more time, because I know we're about
twenty seconds, tell us again the information to the listeners
for your.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Event, the Pink Punch Out at Gold's Gem in Lagrange,
October fourth, That's the first Saturday in October. Tickets are
on sale now at APJ box. This show is going
to have a whole bunch of local talent. You do
not want to miss it.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Definitely don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Be in the space October fourth, Come out and support
this mission, support your community, and thank you so much.
Kareem and Gina for coming on today, for having me,
No no problem. Thank you to our listeners listening to
finding out Pete and the poet Gold. We truly appreciate you,
Thank
Speaker 4 (30:23):
You, appreciate you, guys,
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the station, gets, staff, management,
or ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, you'll find out we've beating the poke Cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm Peter Leonard and I'm the Poet Gold, and we're
on the.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Air this morning with Kareem Patterson and Gina Power from
Apja Boxing and we are dying to get to them
and they are events coming up. But first you want
to go to the Poet Cold for her weekly poem
prayer incannotation Cold. Please let it roll.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, I haven't done this one in a while. It's
called fruit. Who do we become?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Most are taught we eat fruit, not that we can
be fruit. We can be like the grape growing together
in clusters, all interconnected, a community. We can be like
the orange, vibrant, rich wood, nourishment to live a healthy life,
a thirst quencher. We can be the fresh apple, whose
seeds will plant food for thought and grow young trees
with branches that will grow more apples. We can be
(00:58):
the kei we the raspberry, the grapefruit, the sweet peach,
the cherry, the next serene, the plum, the BlackBerry, the
pine apple, the tangerine. We can be like any fruit
we choose to be. Therefore I leave you with this,
don't simply eat fruit. Go out into the world and
be fruit. May each one of us possess the assets
the qualities to teach one of us. May we embrace
(01:19):
the gift of life, the opportunities to learn something new
every day, For it is the student who teaches the
teacher how to teach. Therefore, grow, flourish, enrich the society
in our community with the nutrients from our heart and mind.
You are fruit, I am fruit. We are fruit, recognize
and always represent and.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I'll never think of an apple the same way again.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
That was a beautiful poem.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
And when you started listening all the fruits, I knew
the names of many of them, but I only actually
taste it, probably a handful. But give us a sense
of apga. Boxing is about, you know, your youth organization,
and sometimes young boxing has traditionally been a uh, you know,
(02:08):
a youth sport, but sometimes boxing gets a bit of reputation.
Can you give us essential white Boxing is such a
good idea for young people.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Boxing is a great idea for young people because it
teaches the skills needed in life, you know, hard work, dedication,
You get knocked down, get back up, like all these
things students will learn in boxing. Boxing has got a
bad reputation because of the professional side of the sport
(02:37):
is brutal at times. There's a lot of cutthroat with
the with the business of boxing, and you know, people
tend to see that more than the amateur boxing. But
it's a big difference between amateur boxing and professional boxing.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
And the difference is what the youth is. They're protected.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
They were big, big gloves, head protection, mouthguards, and so
it's it's it's sort of like playing football, Okay, you
know what I mean, But in the professional side, your
life is on the line when you go fight. So
that's the difference. But people put them together, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So got it? So like that gladiator type type sport.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, from from an audience perspective, cheering on
you know, yes, yeah, definitely. And and so we also
have a Gina Powers, who's the vice president of APJ.
What is your perspective on on boxing and teaching youth?
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Uh boxing, Given that I'm a boxer's mom as well,
my daughter is one of Coach Caps boxers. She's been
there for five years and fighting for four. It just
sort her confidence. She was very shy, the youngest of
the bond. She had no confidence, no friends. She used
(03:59):
to think she was ugly. But just being at the
gym for a year in working with the coaches and
Coach Cap and that confidence she has now is just unbelievable.
Like she's a completely different kid. And that's why I
work there and I support them and everything they do
because I've seen it for myself, that transformation in my
(04:19):
own kid. Because now she's a senior at Poughkeepsie High School,
she's one on the honor roll. She has like a
couple of colleges that's like pulling together her. She's going
to West Point in October to possibly go there, so
and it's all because that boxing and that confidence she has,
and like being that we live in Poughkeepsie, Like there's
(04:41):
people who try her because they know she can box,
but she knows like I can hurt you. If I
put my hands on you, I can hurt you. And
I'm not going to do that and I'm just gonna walk.
So she's even more comfortable walking away from a situation.
She doesn't feel like she has to be drug into
something because she knows what the end result could be,
so she just walks away. She pays it no attention,
and she.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Has nothing to prove, and she understands that. And that
self awareness probably came through the training, you know, from
being in the gym environment, the community of the gym environment,
the lessons of being in the gym environment, the competition.
It's like, I have more to lose actually by engaging
in something negative than I have to gain. Yes, that's powerful.
(05:23):
So you have an event coming up. Can you tell
us a little bit about the event. We're going to
talk about it a couple of times today, but I
want you to put it out there early.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
So Yeah, Saturday, October fourth, first Saturday in October, we're
throwing up the Pink Punch Out and it's in honor
of breast cancer awareness. We're going to be doing this
event at Goals Gym in Lagrange. Tickets are twenty five dollars.
Tickets are on sale now at APJ boxing dot com
(05:53):
APJ boxing dot com. Again, just in case you didn't
hear it, and you know this, we're going to have
a whole bunch of youth fighters from the area and
New York City area fighting in this tournament, and it's.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Going to be a really really good event.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
My son, he hasn't boxed in over twelve years and
he's making his return to the ring to fight in
front of his hometown, crowded Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
So we're really looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
How does it make you feel as a father?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
It makes me feel really good, really good, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You know when you show your daughter going from and
you put it so Clearlyge, you know when you said
you you had no confidence, you had no friends. It's
a harrowing situations and being in any way you can
get out of that situation. Have your parents be supportive
of going into an untraditional thing for women boxing, I
(06:57):
would imagine you have an awful lot of gratitudes about.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
Most Definitely, yeah, because like I said, she's the youngest.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So seven, so she.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
So we have a set of older kids who start
at thirty four and go down. So the child after
before Imani is twenty one, and then Imani's seventeen. So
that whole thing of them not being in school together
like everybody grown up was in school together back to back,
but MANI is pretty much all on her own. She's
like a little lonesome thing. And she's only four or eleven,
(07:35):
so she's so little. So it just made me very nervous.
And the fact that she didn't really have a lot
of confidence. And these siblings are horrible. They really Now
they don't try her as much, but they're horrible. So
it's definitely coach cap and the coaches there definitely just
brought something in her that it must have always been there.
(07:56):
But she just has so much confidence. She's very focused,
she knows the exactly what she wants to do. She
doesn't stray from her path at all. And I owe
that all to boxing and even the camaraderie with like
everybody at the gym, like everybody there's like a big
old family. It's like it's just what she needed at
the time that she needed it, and it just works
out perfectly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I have two things I want to just had a
point that you said that maybe she already had it
in her, you know, I think those things were probably
already in her and they needed to be nurtured in
the right environment. You know that, And so what led
you to APJ? Had you heard about it in the
community where you were guys, friends or you know.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, that's the funny thing. I'd start.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Me and my oldest daughter, we started doing like kickboxing
classes there and at the time, Imani was doing gymnastics.
She's been doing gymnastics for seven years, so it was
like right up the street from the gym, so I'd
pick her up and then come to kickboxing. So one
day coach Cap let her do kickboxing, and then I
went from her doing kickboxing to let her just try
out for boxing, and then she absolutely loved it and
(09:01):
she just had like this smile always.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She was like so excited to go.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
And then me and my husband decided, well it's cheaper
than gymnastics, so it works out well.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
So well, that's so hard.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I took boxing as a kid for a very short
period of time, and my whole boxing thing ended when
I got hit on the nose.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
The nose hit.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I was good with the shoulder that, I was good
with the chee, but the nose hit changed my projectory.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
It's it doesn't necessarily hurt, but it's an uncomfortable film.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Afraid of the next thing coming exactly. But I don't
know how you find something more likable then I'm four
leaving and I'm so willing to fight and I'm not
going to do it because that is fun together. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
The confidence that boxing in stoles in these kids is
I think every child or young person should go through
the situations that boxing puts you through, because you know,
it helps you build that confidence and know what you
can do and what you can't do, and you know.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
In everyday life.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yes, if you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding
out with Pete and the Poet gold and I'm the
poet Golden. We're here with Kareem Patterson, the founder and
CEO of APJ Boxing APJ.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I said there right right, yeah, APJ Boxing.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
And as well as Gina Powers, who's the VP of
APJ Boxing. Kaream, I want to ask you what led
you to opening a you know, boxing gym for for you, Well, there's.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
A couple of reasons. One, you know, my son he
was coming up at the time, I think he was
about three four years old, and I wanted to do
something that he would look up to me in the
future when he got older because I did this thing.
You know what, I mean, so the boxing and boxing
was my passion, so I said, I didn't want to
(11:09):
go work for at a nine to five at something
that I really don't enjoy doing. I want to try
to figure out how to how to make a living
off of something I'm passionate about. So that's what boxing,
you know, that's how the boxing gym came about. But
it took me eight or nine years of me spending
(11:29):
more money than I was making before it actually worked.
But God kept talking to me and I was listening,
and he said, just stick with boxing, stick with boxing,
and it paid off.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
And that's and that's this is a key point. And
just being an entrepreneur. You know a lot of people
don't realize that that initially you're going to put out.
You're going to put out. You're going to put out,
and the winning is the stick to itness for sure.
Stick to it for sure, you know, I mean outside
of the base understanding how money works and went out
(12:02):
the door, you know, but the stick to it, this
makes a huge difference.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I had a choice.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
I can go be a correctional officer because you know,
that's one of the jobs that's paying the most in
the area, or I can do something I'm passionate about
and not make as much money at the moment, but
eventually I can make enough money to where there's no ceiling.
Working as a correctional officer, there's only but so high
(12:29):
I can get in the ranks, you know what I mean.
And that takes a long time, and I would not
be passionate about that at all, So you know I
made the right decision.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The poetry of the correctional job and starting a boxing
gym for young people is a way in which the
boxing gym prevents young people from having to meet a
correctional yes officer and a lot of great correction the necessary,
(13:01):
but you don't want your kids to meet them.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Absolutely absolutely, so right now we work with river Haven.
We went over there, and you know river Haven if
you don't know, it's a place in Poughkeepsie where kids
I'm at risk, youth. You know, they get in trouble
and they go there. That's the first stage before if
they keep getting in trouble, they will go to jail.
(13:25):
So we went over there and we told all the
kids there that they are free of charge to come
to our gym and let out any frustrations that they
have and you know they've been coming every week and
they love it.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And river Haven, I believe it is a program of
Hutching river Housing, Yes, and Hutching river House to great
nonprofits and uh and it's basically river Haven, from what
I understand, is designed for homeless youth, which is I mean,
we shouldn't have a society it has home with youth.
We have it. River Haven is addressing it and for
(14:02):
you guize to be part of that is its own
honor and blessing for the community.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Well, I grew up in Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I was one of those kids at one point in
my life, growing up in difficult circumstances. So that's another
reason why I opened the gym because I didn't have
the opportunity to box.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There was no boxing in the area.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So I wanted to give the youth an opportunity that
I didn't have growing up.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, it's a big deal, and you know boxing and uh,
all the awe of parts of education or so sun
I mean, in other words, we would create a school
budget and you don't have enough for the extracurriculum.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right, And you are a pure example of what I
call be the poem you know, uh, someone who evolves
through challenges and then and then grows to a place
where their life becomes that of service and they still
can make a living.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yes, and that's that's key to be able to make
a living.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
But to like I said, eight years of doing it,
I was giving more than I was receiving. And I
know from that experience and just from life that you
have to give first before you get back. You got
to be willing to give, you know what I mean.
So you know, it wasn't about the money. It's about
(15:38):
helping the youth, helping anybody. We teach adults as well,
you know what I mean, to get in shape and
through boxing. So it's just helping everybody. And you know,
whatever comes back comes back.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
But that's mentioned the event again.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
So October fourth at golds Germin Lagrange, we got the
Pink Punch Out. We have Litl Remi or Kareem Patterson JUNR.
He will be the main event in the boxing at
the show. It's a metro tournament, so the Metro area.
All the best boxers in the Metro area will be
in this tournament. It's a must see event. Make sure
(16:17):
you come to this event. Get your tickets now at
apjboxing dot com. And I want to give a shout
out to our sponsors because without the sponsors, this show
would not be possible. So we got North Side Auto,
we got Poughkeepsie pal we got Hudson Valley Credit Union,
(16:37):
Snug of the Family, Partnership, Miles of Hope, the Army,
National Guard, Ochshield Kitchen, Alex Food and Groceries, Brud Hodgkins,
Dave Petrovitz, Main Printing, Dutchess Auto Collision, Kirk IMPIRETI Wells Fargo,
TJ's Pizza, Nuanced, Nuvance Health, and there's many more people
(17:01):
contribute into this show. We want to thank y'all because,
like I said this, without you guys, this show would
not be possible, right.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So, you know, and kudos for all those organizations and
companies who are pitching in, you know, for this cause
and supporting your vision and giving another pathway to to
our youth because oftentimes sometimes in the city of Poughkeepsie,
you know, people will say, oh, there's nothing to do,
there's nothing to do, and it's and I always say
(17:31):
to them, there are great organizations out there. It's not
that there's not anything to do. Maybe you're not informed
of what's there, which is a different situation. But there
are organizations like yourself organizations and family services organizations through
Community Matters to our Real Skills.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Network, and the list can go on.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
You know, out there trying to guide guide our youth
and sports is one of the definite ways, oh for sure.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And then you mentioned Community Matters too.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I didn't put them on this list, but they have
definitely supported us through the years and they are definitely sponsors.
Lagette Taylor, the founder, he just bought a bunch of
our fighters like new gear, wonderful boxing gloves and different
things that they can use for boxing. So we appreciate
(18:18):
Community Matters too.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
So let's let's let's talk about your role. You know,
what is your role in all of this as as VP.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
When it comes to the gym overall, I help out
with the scheduling, booking, making phone calls, checking people in
anything anybody needs there.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I'm there to.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Assist donuts for the babies.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
Yeah, I do donuts for the babies. We start at four,
so our baby boxers, you gotta give them something to
want to come.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Back for right.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Incentives can definitely and it's just a grandmind me too,
Like give them some snacks, I'm going but for the
pink punch out. I worked for ten years. I worked
at the Dice and Breast Center, So I worked with
these ladies' breast cancer patients for years and I absolutely
fell in love with them, just their courage. I got
(19:11):
to see them at their worst day being diagnosed, all
the way up to their best day showing that they
were margin margin cleared and breast cancer free. And they're
just just the community alone in that. It's just a
beautiful community, everybody giving and helping. That's why I was
happy when Coach Cap said, oh, yeah, we can do this.
(19:31):
So it was something I knew.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
It was actually her idea, yeah, to do this, you know,
for breast cancer awareness, and I thought it was a
great idea.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
And it gives the exposure to like our community because
our community doesn't know a lot about breast cancer and
we get affected a lot because they don't understand how
important it is to get checked up and stuff. And
men when it comes to box and men get breast
cancer too, yes, so men need to.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Be aware also.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
So it just like we get to bring awareness to
everybody all together in one setting. And I'm happy because
we get to honor a breast cancer survivor that day
who's a part of our breast cancer sorry, a part
of our boxing community. We get to honor a breast
cancer survivor too.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Me ask who that is or.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Me?
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Okay, no problem. But wait wait for the day.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
The day of the event, I have from three complimentary
tickets for you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Take this part off, but yes, hopefully we see you
guys at the event.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold hold the ticket because
I'm actually on tour that day. I'm actually in Ithaca,
New York performing.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Okay, well you can be actually do to people if
you all right, all right, somebody.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Who may be interested in boxing.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yes, well, thank you so much. That was that was
most kind of you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And to our listeners if you're just tuning in, you're
listening to finding out a Pete the Poet Gold and
I'm the Poet Gold and we're here with Kareem Patterson,
CEO and founder of a p J Boxing as well
as vice president of a p J Boxing Gina Powers,
and I just wanted to I was not familiar that
when you guys were saying, coach Cap, this is coach Cap. Okay,
(21:12):
I was, I'm here about this coach. There's another person.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I'm just saying, so my initials.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
My name is Kareem Massan Patterson.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Okay, everyone calls.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Me got it?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Got it now? Now I'm in the know.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I figured it out. I had to look down to
check the spelling. But Genie, your experience with breast cancer
working through another organization gave you the sort of the
community knowledge on how to be basically what we call
community organized. Yeah, and uh, I mentioned that. I just
(21:52):
mentioning your daughter, the seventh of seven children, you must
have had a lot of experience in terms of facing
the problem of having a young person with a little
conference and few friends. And I would like if you
would talk a little bit about how your experience with
(22:13):
your other kids help you on that and you're experiencing
the community might to help you with that.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
So dealing with my youngest daughter, it was a challenge
for me and my husband because she's not like the
other kids at all. And like I said before, like
the other kids they all had each other growing up.
They are in the same age. Because me and my
husband have mine his an hours, so they were all
in the same age group. So everybody but Imani. She
(22:40):
was always that separate, that last of the mohoguean, so
she just was always felt left out or she wasn't
big enough, or everybody picked on her, and like she
just didn't get it, and nobody wanted to be bothered
because now everybody's teenagers and she was little, so dealing
having that and me and my husband tried to just
pour into it, but there's only so much a parent
(23:01):
can pour into when kids they just I don't want
to hear it no more, like you just have to
say it. So they kids come off like you have
to say, oh, you have to say I'm pretty, and
you have to say I'm smart, and you have to
be nice to me. But they don't understand like you're
trying to pour into them. So you want them to
see it for themselves. So in our case, me and
(23:22):
my husband when we got to APG cap and a
millio and tie, and they were able to pour the
inter her and she can say, oh, maybe my mother
does know what she's talking about, and maybe maybe this
is me, Maybe I do have what it takes to
be what it is that I need and with the community,
it's just I've seen so much and I grew up
(23:44):
here my whole life too, So you definitely want to
you want to instill in your kids that be better
than me, do better than me, and but sometimes it
just you just can't be that person to give them
that message. It has to come from somewhere else for
them to receive it. And that's how it was with
my daughter Imani.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, when you talk about how you can receive it,
that's why you really need a great community needs a
great community organization for sure, either it's APJA boxing or
gold was saying community matters, suitive family services and you
know people, all of us need to drink in the
(24:27):
good stuff. Taking the grace from a source that's not depends.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Yeah, And it takes a community to raise raise children definitely. Yeah,
the village. It definitely takes the village the community to
raise And that's the other thing I love about APJ too,
because we have kids in there who don't even want
to talk. The first they don't want their parents in there,
they don't want to talk, and then give them one
month at the gym and you can't shut them up.
The extremely happy, they're running in the door to be
(24:54):
the first person there, like, it's just it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And everybody knows. It's takes a village because everybody's a
human being and everybody has benefited in a vital way
from things outside their family.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Who want to say what really need is a family?
You need a family. That's just thought. But all of
us who have had a life know that the excitement
of validation, the joy, the embrace of a community is
also vital.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Yeah, and APJ is definitely a family first and foremost.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Let me ask you a question, Kreman, have you had
a moment you know, I'm sure you've probably had many
moments where youth has come through and you've watched such
an incredible transformation, transformation that you sort of had to
sit with yourself.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Yeah, it's happening more often than not nowadays. One thing
that stands out when you said, say that, there was
a young man that was coming to our gym when
we first started teaching, and he had an issue and
he said, you know, he was about to go do
something that could have landed him in prison for a long,
(26:10):
long long time. So I had to talk with him
and I told him, you know, you know his worth
and try to explain to him that he doesn't have
to make that move. This kid, to this day contacts
me and says, listen, you saved my life because that night,
you don't know, I was like on the edge and
(26:33):
I was going to do it until I seen you
and God put you there at that time, and that
those things like lets me know that I'm doing the
right thing. And I'm so happy that I can help people.
That right there is worth more than any dollar I
can get, you know what I mean? Like those instances.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
So what where would you like to are you? How
can I put this? What's your vision? Your future vision?
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I want APJ to be in Poughkeepsie.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
I want Poughkeepsie to have boxing for the rest of
my life and after my life. I want boxing to
be a staple and Poughkeepsie. So that's that's my main
goal is to keep the gym alive. I'm working with Gina.
We got a Millio Torres, Nabon Stufano. These guys are
(27:27):
coaches at the gym and hopefully when you know I'm
dead and going, they can take over and keep it
going and then.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Pass it on to somebody else so that it always.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Exists a succession plan.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Right, you're the youngest person I ever saw. I have
a succession plan.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
It's you know, you have to think about these things.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Well, it's more ambitious. Let's go conquer the world, I'm
to say, you know, let's make it to dinner. Well.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
APJ stands for Arthur Patterson Junior, and that's my late father.
He passed away, and he wasn't necessarily a boxer, but
he was a giver. He gave to his community, he
gave to his family.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
He worked hard.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
So that's why I named the gym APJ Boxing, because
we give and we work hard, you know what I mean.
So it's in honor of him.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And uh, what is it? Boxer? You had a passion
for boxing, did you? Were you a boxer yourself?
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Yeah? So I started boxing when I was twenty one
years old.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Old.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yeah, I couldn't find there was no boxing in the area.
I wish it was, but I had to go all
the way to Kingston, New York to find a boxing
gym and I instantly fell in love with it. I
was in the gym every single day and then when
I when I came to the point in my life
where I had to decide what I was going to
do with my life. I started to think, what am I?
(29:05):
What do I do and enjoy and nobody has to
pay me for it? But I do it. I worked
super hard at it and it was boxing. So that
was the That was the birth of an idea. And
then eventually I got to the point whereas why not
open a boxing gym so I can give you know, kids,
an opportunity I didn't have.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So well, the key word I'm picking up here is give.
Your father was a giver and you found a way
to a not only personally but institutionally give and give
to the community.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yes, so one more time, because I know we're about
twenty seconds, tell us again the information to the listeners
for your.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Event, the Pink Punch Out at Gold's Gem in Lagrange,
October fourth, That's the first Saturday in October. Tickets are
on sale now at APJ box. This show is going
to have a whole bunch of local talent. You do
not want to miss it.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Definitely don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Be in the space October fourth, Come out and support
this mission, support your community, and thank you so much.
Kareem and Gina for coming on today, for having me,
No no problem. Thank you to our listeners listening to
finding out Pete and the poet Gold. We truly appreciate you,
Thank
Speaker 4 (30:23):
You, appreciate you, guys,
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