The future is in Lockport.
Future of boxing, that is.
Joe Taylor, a professional fighter out of Lockport, had his glory days. He earned a 23-2 record and ranked first in New York State in kickboxing and MMA. But, he can’t reside in the ring forever, and needed a prodigy to follow in his footsteps.
Enter Solamon Britton, who just earned national champion honors in the 154-pound, 14-15 aged bracket at the 58th Annual National Silver Gloves Boxing Tournament in Independence, Missouri.
“This kid is amazing, I’m telling you the truth. He is the future,” Taylor said. “I’m 40 years old and my time is up. It took 15 years, but we found someone else now who is about to take over, and that’s Solamon Britton. He’s really about to take over and he’s gonna make it a lot farther than what I did.”
Britton, who joined JT’s Mixed Martial Arts and 24/7 Fitness at 10 because he was bored and wanted to be productive while his older brother did it, caught on to boxing quickly.
But, the 14-year-old didn’t have the prettiest path on his way to donning a belt.
He started sparring a month after joining the gym and would do it weekly before Taylor asked Britton if he wanted to do fights. He was only 11, but jumped at the opportunity.
He won his first bout weighing 112-pounds and got a second win before going on a five-match losing streak.
“I thought he was gonna quit. I thought he’ll never come back to the gym,” Taylor said. “And then after the fifth loss, he said, ‘Coach, I need a key to the gym.’”
Refusing to be comfortable with his losses, Britton showed how pressure creates diamonds.
“I’d just tell myself, if I quit now, there’s no way I’ll be able to recover my record,” Britton said. “I didn’t wanna leave the sport with a bad record, or quit early and lose out on a good opportunity that I have now.”
Taylor would see Britton training at all points of the day on the security cameras, and it exemplified the commitment he had to the sport. The two got together to figure out what needed to be done to change the trajectory of his fight career, and they stumbled upon a home remedy that seemingly had the answer: peppermints and pressure points.
Britton had a habit of letting his nerves overpower him before bouts, leading to him throwing up several times before stepping into the ring, which meant he was facing his opponents in a weakened state.
After doing research, the pair found that peppermints, specifically Altoids, and massaging the pressure points on his hand and wrist would ease his anxieties.
It worked, as he’s now on a 10-match win streak and won the national title by unanimous decision. The opponents he was set to face in Rochester pulled out, giving him an automatic bid to the regional portion of the tournament in Massachusetts, where he won both of his matches to punch his ticket to nationals.
Britton, who aims to be a professional boxer one day and then transition into kickboxing and MMA, enters his bouts with unwavering confidence after entering a flow-state during his warmups.
“Oh no, this boy got to deal with me? He got to deal with me at 100%?’” Britton said regarding his thoughts before his national championship bout. “I would hate to fight me right now. Especially after all the work I had put in.”
The faith he has in himself allows him to control his matches and dictate the fights with his jab, as well as fight patiently and take advantage of his opponents when he can fight from inside the pocket.
He spars with Taylor, who’s 225 pounds, and can take the big hits without missing a beat. Sparring against his coach and other bigger-sized athletes at the gym helps him remain unphased by fighters his size, in addition to working on his technique and high guard, as well as his IQ because he has to put together strategic sequences and can’t just dogfight them.
Britton has no plans of slowing down, rather to work harder and develop into the strongest version of himself in the ring while he chases his dreams of going pro.
“I was telling (Taylor) at nationals, ‘I cannot stop working,’” Britton said. “I’m going to have to defend my title next year, at the next tournament, and if I stop now, somebody will get me.”