Mamou boxer wins state boxing championship

Amateur boxer Brandon Arvie of Mamou continues down the road to his goal of competing in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, this time by becoming the Louisiana lightweight champion after winning a match in Rayne on Saturday, November 24.
His next goal is winning the regional championship in his weight class next year, then the national championship. Then he’ll qualify for the Olympic trials.
It hasn’t been an easy ride, starting shortly after he began boxing in 2009, when doctors told him he wouldn’t be able to continue boxing because of shoulder and knee problems. But two shoulder surgeries and one knee surgery got him back in the ring.
Then there were four “robbery” matches, as he calls them. They’re matches the judge calls his opponent the winner although Arvie was sure he won. An example earlier this year was when a punch he landed on his opponent caused his opponent’s blood to splatter on the canvas floor. That was supposed to be called a knockout, but the judge failed to notice it. Or, as Arvie believes, the cause could be “bias” on the part of judges, even in professional boxing. Arvie said the judge’s call is the last call, and the decision can’t be reversed, even if a video it should be.
But the judges at the match in Rayne, who live in Texas, didn’t seem to be biased, Arvie said.
He said boxing is all about a war of wits, or “psychological warfare,” as he calls it. “Right out of the box I put pressure on him,” he said about his recent state championship win.
He said he made sure his opponent sensed his confidence as Arvie “kept on my toes,” from the start of the match.
Of course, that mental strategy is backed up by a rigorous training schedule. He spends three days a week at the Rajun Cajun Amateur Boxing Club in Lafayette, under famed trainer Beau Williford.
Williford became a professional boxer in 1968, a year after becoming the National Amateur Champion. Williford has been a sparring partner with, among others, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. He moved to Lafayette in 1979 and opened the boxing club in 1982.
Arvie says his experience at the boxing club is “like a family,” in the personal support he receives there and sparring with the other amateur boxers. “It’s one of the best in the nation,” he says about the Rajun Cajun club.
Arvie said he may well go pro and may follow Williford’s lead by training young boxers. But first, his sights are firmly set on the Olympics, so he’ll keep building his amateur resume until he has a shot at that.