Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 4, 2006 14:27:21 GMT -5
Within a two-week period, Shawn Hawk said, three of his cousins took their own lives, one using a 12-gauge shotgun and pulling the trigger in front of his girlfriend.
�It's bad,� he said. �Miserable.�
His reference was to life on what he terms �the res� � the Cold Creek Reservation for the Sioux tribe at Fort Thompson, S.D. �Nothing there but alcohol and that's it,� he said. �Even kids. When I was back there drinking, I was drinking with 13-year-olds. Just prairie. No businesses. No tourism. The rates of teenage pregnancy and suicide are the highest in the nation.� Hawk said he no longer drinks. At 22, his thrust is to take himself to the pinnacle of boxing. �To the top, ranked No. 1, a champion,� he said. To this end, he makes his first appearance since Sycuan Ringside Promotions signed him to a promotional contract tonight when he boxes as a 210-pound heavyweight on a program Sycuan interests are offering at Camp Pendleton for service personnel stationed there. Hawk (12-0, with 10 knockouts) is to oppose Karl Evans of Topeka, Kan. (5-13-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled six-rounder. Said Hawk: �I am just proud of boxing for the troops, the real
warriors who are fighting for their country.� At a time in boxing when a high percentage of cards are presented on American Indian lands, Hawk, one of the few American Indians involved in the sport, clearly is marketable. This occurred to Sycuan matchmaker Sean Gibbons when he looked in on a recent Hawk bout in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Hawk entered the ring to the accompaniment of a drumbeat while wearing a feathered headdress. �That part was the first thing that got my attention,� said Gibbons, �but when the fight started, he was like a Ricardo Mayorga. He can punch. He's a very exciting, explosive fighter.� Gibbons is the man who encouraged Sycuan to create an alliance with Carlos Baldomir of Argentina, who subsequently has claimed the WBC welterweight championship and is preparing to oppose Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas on Nov. 4. At the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho, Hawk had been booked by a matchmaker Gibbons identified as Mo Smith.
�Mo was wise enough to know that they had taken Shawn as far as they could,� Gibbons said. Hawk was free to align with Sycuan. �That's Native Americans helping a Native American,� Hawk said of Sycuan's action. Hawk is not a polished fighter. The word Glenn Quiroga, president of Sycuan Ringside Promotions, has for him is �raw.� At no more than 5 feet 11 inches, Hawk further is not tall enough to have a future as a heavyweight. Sycuan plans to have trainer Freddie Roach school him to box as a cruiserweight at Roach's Hollywood gym. �I need a trainer,� Hawk agreed. Roach has been working with another Sycuan fighter, Israel Vazquez, and Hawk has been counseled by Amilcar Brusa, who once handled Carlos Monzon before joining Baldomir. �Besides a lack of communication, we're getting along fine,� Hawk said. �I don't speak Spanish and he doesn't speak English.� Hawk was born in Sioux Falls, S.D. His father is three-quarters Sioux and one-quarter black. His
mother is half-Sioux, half-white. Shawn is mindful of his Sioux heritage and proud of it. �The warriors of the plains,� he said of the Sioux tribe, �and the tribe that has been most resistant of the government.� He does not attempt to disguise his resentment of what he regards as the ills federal authorities have visited upon American Indians. �How else could you react to people giving you land that's already yours?� he questioned. When Shawn was 4 or 5, as he remembers, his family moved to the Chicago area. His introduction to boxing came when he would watch his father give boxing lessons to another of his sons, Sarley, who is 9 years Shawn's senior. At 6, Shawn began boxing. �It was something I was good at,� he said. �My dad told me I had natural skills.� He would have, by his count, about 120 amateur bouts. From the ages 12 to 15, he said, he twice won national Silver Gloves championships and later would win a national Golden Gloves title. �I
try to outthink people; I never considered myself a puncher,� he says. �But I hit people, and they get knocked out.� Hawk's time in Chicago, by his account, was troubled. On his 18th birthday, he chose to return to South Dakota to finish high school. At length, he said he realized he wanted to make something of himself through boxing. �The tribe is $35 million in debt to the government,� he says, �but the tribal council gave me $5,000, money it didn't have, to begin a professional career.� Let the drumbeat continue. In a scheduled 10-round main event at Camp Pendleton, Eric Ortiz of Mexico City (24-5-1, 17 KOs) is to engage local favorite Benji Garcia of San Diego (11-7-3, 1 KO). Bantamweight Heather Donoho of San Diego (3-0, 0 KOs) also will fight on the seven-bout card. While the general public cannot attend the program, it is being televised by Azteca America. First bout is at 6 p.m.
www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060929-9999-1s29boxfix.html
�It's bad,� he said. �Miserable.�
His reference was to life on what he terms �the res� � the Cold Creek Reservation for the Sioux tribe at Fort Thompson, S.D. �Nothing there but alcohol and that's it,� he said. �Even kids. When I was back there drinking, I was drinking with 13-year-olds. Just prairie. No businesses. No tourism. The rates of teenage pregnancy and suicide are the highest in the nation.� Hawk said he no longer drinks. At 22, his thrust is to take himself to the pinnacle of boxing. �To the top, ranked No. 1, a champion,� he said. To this end, he makes his first appearance since Sycuan Ringside Promotions signed him to a promotional contract tonight when he boxes as a 210-pound heavyweight on a program Sycuan interests are offering at Camp Pendleton for service personnel stationed there. Hawk (12-0, with 10 knockouts) is to oppose Karl Evans of Topeka, Kan. (5-13-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled six-rounder. Said Hawk: �I am just proud of boxing for the troops, the real
warriors who are fighting for their country.� At a time in boxing when a high percentage of cards are presented on American Indian lands, Hawk, one of the few American Indians involved in the sport, clearly is marketable. This occurred to Sycuan matchmaker Sean Gibbons when he looked in on a recent Hawk bout in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Hawk entered the ring to the accompaniment of a drumbeat while wearing a feathered headdress. �That part was the first thing that got my attention,� said Gibbons, �but when the fight started, he was like a Ricardo Mayorga. He can punch. He's a very exciting, explosive fighter.� Gibbons is the man who encouraged Sycuan to create an alliance with Carlos Baldomir of Argentina, who subsequently has claimed the WBC welterweight championship and is preparing to oppose Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas on Nov. 4. At the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho, Hawk had been booked by a matchmaker Gibbons identified as Mo Smith.
�Mo was wise enough to know that they had taken Shawn as far as they could,� Gibbons said. Hawk was free to align with Sycuan. �That's Native Americans helping a Native American,� Hawk said of Sycuan's action. Hawk is not a polished fighter. The word Glenn Quiroga, president of Sycuan Ringside Promotions, has for him is �raw.� At no more than 5 feet 11 inches, Hawk further is not tall enough to have a future as a heavyweight. Sycuan plans to have trainer Freddie Roach school him to box as a cruiserweight at Roach's Hollywood gym. �I need a trainer,� Hawk agreed. Roach has been working with another Sycuan fighter, Israel Vazquez, and Hawk has been counseled by Amilcar Brusa, who once handled Carlos Monzon before joining Baldomir. �Besides a lack of communication, we're getting along fine,� Hawk said. �I don't speak Spanish and he doesn't speak English.� Hawk was born in Sioux Falls, S.D. His father is three-quarters Sioux and one-quarter black. His
mother is half-Sioux, half-white. Shawn is mindful of his Sioux heritage and proud of it. �The warriors of the plains,� he said of the Sioux tribe, �and the tribe that has been most resistant of the government.� He does not attempt to disguise his resentment of what he regards as the ills federal authorities have visited upon American Indians. �How else could you react to people giving you land that's already yours?� he questioned. When Shawn was 4 or 5, as he remembers, his family moved to the Chicago area. His introduction to boxing came when he would watch his father give boxing lessons to another of his sons, Sarley, who is 9 years Shawn's senior. At 6, Shawn began boxing. �It was something I was good at,� he said. �My dad told me I had natural skills.� He would have, by his count, about 120 amateur bouts. From the ages 12 to 15, he said, he twice won national Silver Gloves championships and later would win a national Golden Gloves title. �I
try to outthink people; I never considered myself a puncher,� he says. �But I hit people, and they get knocked out.� Hawk's time in Chicago, by his account, was troubled. On his 18th birthday, he chose to return to South Dakota to finish high school. At length, he said he realized he wanted to make something of himself through boxing. �The tribe is $35 million in debt to the government,� he says, �but the tribal council gave me $5,000, money it didn't have, to begin a professional career.� Let the drumbeat continue. In a scheduled 10-round main event at Camp Pendleton, Eric Ortiz of Mexico City (24-5-1, 17 KOs) is to engage local favorite Benji Garcia of San Diego (11-7-3, 1 KO). Bantamweight Heather Donoho of San Diego (3-0, 0 KOs) also will fight on the seven-bout card. While the general public cannot attend the program, it is being televised by Azteca America. First bout is at 6 p.m.
www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060929-9999-1s29boxfix.html