Durango’s Good Fight Boxing Gym hosts boxing event (2024)

Animus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic took place on Saturday

On Saturday inside the Main Mall in downtown Durango, punches were being thrown as some top local amateur fighters competed in Animus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic hosted by Durango’s Good Fight Boxing Club.

Fighters as young as eight years old and as old as 34 fought in 10 amateur-sanctioned bouts. The weights ranged from 65 pounds up to 147 pounds.

“I went into it with three objectives,” Good Fight Boxing Gym owner and head coach Katy Kopec said. “The first being just to really honor and do right by our athletes and our other local boxing clubs coming and really make it a good boxing event. So the second objective was to introduce the community to something new and have a fun community event. The third objective was to support our club and our growth in this endeavor.”

Kopec was proud to have one of the best officiating crews in the nation with the Colorado officials coming down to Durango. She said the crews were very happy to have sanctioned boxing back in the Western Slope.

She was also very happy to see more than half the spectators at the event on Saturday were visitors, either tourists or people hanging around town who wanted to see something new.

Kopec also praised the 40 volunteers who helped staff the event on their own time and expense.

Finally, Kopec was happy for the new local boxers who got to see an actual event. She thinks it will motivate some boxers to further their boxing and compete for the first time.

The amateur-sanctioned bouts were three rounds long and the length of the rounds in each fight depended on age and experience.

Proceeds from the event went to support the club and to allow the club to start a scholarship fund to help with access to the boxing gym and to create further access to boxing education for vulnerable and underserved populations.

“It's definitely a start with this being our first event,” Kopec said about the scholarship fund. “We definitely had some expenses that we'll not have next time because we can reuse signs and we have a little bit better base. It definitely gave us a great start. We are starting not only with the competitive athletes, but we have adults and young adults who have made their lives better by boxing here, by having this outlet and having this community. Those folks are going to benefit as well.”

Kopec doesn’t know when exactly the last sanctioned event was in Durango but she knew it had been a while.

The Good Fight Boxing Gym will next host a professional fight on Oct. 12 at the La Plata Fairgrounds in Durango.

Kopec hopes to work with local businesses and nonprofits to make this event special.

bkelly@durangoherald.com