New Jersey’s Tyric Trapp improves on last year’s results to win National Golden Gloves title

After falling short in last year’s National Golden Gloves and Olympic trials, Tyric Trapp knew he had some adjustments to make. The 24-year from Red Bank, N.J. returned to Gleason’s Gym Jersey Shore with the goal of turning his weaknesses into his strengths and becoming more comfortable in the ring.

That work paid off on Saturday night as the southpaw won the National Golden Gloves title at Huntington Palace Convention Center in Detroit, Mich., defeating California’s Ogonna Chukwurmeka by a 4-1 decision in the final. The victory capped off a long tournament in which he registered four wins – including a first round stoppage of Buffalo’s Stephane Kelly in his opening bout and a walkover win over Cleveland’s Willie Hardy due to a cut sustained in an early bout – prior to making it to the finals.

“Being in the ring is my happy place right now, that’s where I feel most comfortable. That’s what really helped me win this tournament, taking my personality outside the ring and bringing it inside the ring and being me,” said Trapp, who was the only boxer from the New Jersey local boxing committee (LBC) to win this year’s tournament.

What makes this feat more remarkable is that Trapp has only been boxing for just over two years. He picked up the sport in February of 2022 as a tribute to his father, Denard Trapp, who he felt was unjustly incarcerated on a resisting arrest charge. Denard Trapp had been an amateur standout in his own right, competing in nearly 300 bouts during the 1980s and 1990s, becoming four-time All-Army champion and three-time Inter-Service champion, making it to the finals of the 1991 US National Championships and fighting against future professional champions John Ruiz and Dariusz Michalzcewski along the way.

Trapp had his first fight in July of 2022 and has accumulated a record of 31-6, winning two N.J. Golden Gloves titles along the way, plus the 2023 Summer Festival and the 2024 National Open this past March. He said his primary focus is winning the other two major national tournaments this year, including the Summer Festival in June and the US National Championships later in the year.

With his father at his side as his trainer, Trapp has learned the fine points of the sport, as well as its tough realities.

“He was just telling me there’s no handouts in this sport so is this something you really want to do? I told him, this is something I want to do and I want to go far with. He told me you can’t cut corners. Once I got started I never looked back,” said Trapp, who credits fellow amateur standout and training partner Malachi Georges and his father/trainer Ray with helping push him.

“I never played a sport that was so honest and so loyal. The time that you put in, it reciprocates and comes up with wins or you fall short. Going in there and being yourself and imposing your will on the man across the ring from you is the best thing ever.”

Prior to boxing, Trapp had excelled in basketball, averaging 12.8 points and 5.5 rebounds a game for the Ocean County College Vikings in the NJCAA Division III. The 6-foot-3 Trapp says he had offers of interest to transfer to NCAA Division I schools University of Tennessee at Martin, Quinnipiac University and St. Peter’s University, but decided to pursue boxing instead.

After playing every other sport as a child, it was the sport that you don’t play that piqued his interest the most.

“A lot of people call me crazy but I don’t know about that now,” said Trapp.

Trapp’s championship is the 15th for New Jersey boxers at the National Golden Gloves since the tournament began in 1928. Previous winners from New Jersey are Malachi Georges (2023), Anthony Johns (2019), Raymond Ford (2018), Aadam Ali (2017), Mike Hilton (2015), Julian Rodriguez (2013), Leroy Davila (2012), Michael Perez (2008), Denis Douglin (2008), Jeremy Bryan (2004 and 2005), Frank Savannah (1991), Jose Rosario (1982), Curtis Harris (1974) and William “Red” Berry (1974).

Other results

There were two repeat champions this year at the National Golden Gloves as Kayla Gomez of El Paso, Tex. defeated Atiana Edwards of Colorado Springs, Co. by unanimous decision to win her second straight 119-pound title, and Algeria Lee Johnson of Rochester, N.Y. defeated Chicago’s Brianna Gulia by split decision to repeat as 146-pound champion.

Isaiah Olugbemi of Odenton, Md., who produced the shock of the tournament when he edged last year’s 203-pound champion Malachi Georges in the quarterfinals, completed his feat by defeating Alonzo Sanchez of Monmouth, Oregon by split decision to win the 203-pound championship.

Georges revealed after the tournament that he likely suffered a break to his left hand and would require some time to recover.

Marco Romero, an 18-year-old competing in just his second adult national tournament, won the 165-pound tournament with a unanimous decision over New York’s Melvin Martinez. “El Tiburon” Romero of Olathe, Kansas had previously won the US National Championship last December in Louisiana. He had shown stunning power in earlier rounds in the tournament, stopping Carlos Lopez of West Haven, Conn. in the quarterfinal round and then forcing the corner of California’s Chase Stanley to throw in the towel in the semis.

Julius Ballo, 21, of San Diego, Calif. added National Golden Gloves champion to his long list of accomplishments, defeating New Jersey’s Keith Colon by unanimous decision in the 125-pound final. Ballo had previously won the National Championships in 2022 and 2021, and won the 2021 Junior Pan American Games.

112-men: Diego Aviles W-SD Marcellus Smith

132-men: Amir Gibson W-UD Carlos Martinez

139-men: Dustin Jimenez W-SD Dante Hernandez

147-men: Jasir Riley W-UD Adrian Salazar

156-men: Jirair Thompson W-SD Seth Duran

203-plus men: Gilbert Kabamba W-SD Sardius Simmons

110-women: Irene Diaz W-UD Margarita Mendoza

125-women: Deborah Grant W-UD Jennifer Perella

132-women: Kayla Floyd W-UD Ilene Herrera

139-women: Marie-Angelis Rosendo W-UD Nicole Campbell

154-women: Christine Forkins W-UD Chelsi Davis

165-women: Kendra Samargis W-SD Katherine Harrington

178-women: Ornella Sathoud W-RSC Mckenzie Stewart

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com.

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