PROSPECT WATCH: TONY HIRSCH JR.
boxing is not an even playing field. “A lot of fighters who had an easier start had big amateur careers, which I didn’t. I had to go on the B-side for most of my fights and just take it,” said Hirsch of the options available to him. “There wasn’t going to be any reason for me to be the A-side if I only had four amateur fights. That was my route. Same with my dad; he didn’t have a big amateur career either.” Being the “B-side” might not sound so bad, but let’s put it like this: The B-side is the away fighter, the man in enemy territory, and that man rarely gets the decision in a close fight. Hirsch’s first three fights were in Mexico and his fourth was in Arizona. That run included back-to-back draws, a rarity for a prospect who now has boxing writers around the world talking about him. “I thought we won both, but we took the fights last-minute in their hometown,” said Tony Sr. “I told him, ‘You don’t want to feel like this again, so you’ve got to run that extra mile, get in the gym longer, because they’re not going to give you anything. You’ve got to take it.’” That advice will likely stick, because it’s what Hirsch has always done. “He never stopped training,” said Tony Sr. “That’s why he’s so fluid in the ring – because he was always in the gym.” After the rocky start, Hirsch has climbed his way into a position where he and his father believe he can make the most of his talent. “A lot of these prospects, their opponents take the fight on short notice, [when they’re] not in camp,” said Tony Sr. “But give that same athletic kid the same strength and conditioning coach, the same meal-prep coach, a full camp, and put everyone on an even playing field, now you see who’s really good and who had it easy.” These are words of experience from a fighter who spent his career away from
Hirsch has received from Ward through his father isn’t the kind that would’ve come with a longer amateur pedigree. “I knew how to fight, but I didn’t know how to box,” said Tony Sr. “Andre showed me how to box, how to take a round off, how not to show you’re tired when you are. He showed me what a true professional is.” It’s knowledge that no amateur trophy can buy. With momentum behind him, the young prospect now has his eyes set on some lofty goals over the next 12 months. “I want to be a contender,” he said without hesitation. “I want to be named with some of the top people in my division, one of the best fighters out there.” Tony Jr. is not happy to settle for simply being a “good prospect.” The father is optimistic and wary in equal measure when asked just how far his son can go: “All the way to the top,” he said. “As long as he keeps doing what he’s supposed to, stays humble, doesn’t get a big head and we build him the right way, he can go all the way.” The father-son partnership is a familiar sight in the sport of boxing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But after speaking with both Jr. and Sr., it is clear that their relationship is far from a father pushing his son for vicarious glory. Tony Sr. has walked the hard road himself and is now passing down invaluable wisdom and insight about just how tough boxing can be, hoping to spare his son from becoming another cautionary tale. The Hirsch men are a stark reminder that even in a working- class sport, there are still the haves and the have-nots. Invisible barriers remain, and few overcome them. And yet, Tony Hirsch Jr. reminds us that the best stories in our sport are not always those of a young man destined for greatness, but of one who had to fight against the odds to find it.
Hirsch has excellent technique and ample power to back it up.
the bright lights and PPV nights, now a father joyful at the prospect of his son having opportunities that he and many other blue-collar boxers were never given. At the time of writing, Hirsch’s record sits at 9-0-2 with a headlining eight-rounder set for mid-November in Stockton. He is coming off two impressive wins that showed he can
deal with both boxers and punchers: a majority decision over the heavily favored stylist Robert Meriwether III and a devastating knockout of power- puncher Jaybrio Pe Benito, whom he finished off with a series of vicious right crosses in the third round. Hirsch could be forgiven for riding high on that success, carrying a little bravado with him. Instead, when speaking to the
of the company he and his father have kept. “Everything my dad learned from sparring Andre, he’s trying to pass on to me – the technical side, the mentality,” Tony Jr. revealed. “One of the things he always taught me from Dre was body language.” If The Phantom’s body language could be translated, it would say something along the lines of “substance over style.” The wisdom
25-year-old fighter, you’re met with a man of striking composure, a demeanor that reflects his alias, “The Phantom.” Low-key, calculated and hard-hitting. Perhaps those qualities are a product
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