Cvetic, Byrdsong announce new gym coming to Homewood
Just a few days ago, Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor captured the eyes— and finances—of millions, with a highly-anticipated and, eventually, highly-entertaining boxing match.
Most spectators watched for entertainment. But for Pittsburgh Black teens Donald Ware and Chree Smith, boxing takes on a different meaning.
“I’m real passionate about it,” Ware, 17, said about the sport of boxing. “I would love to be a boxer. I can’t wait to get into the ring.”
“I always had a little thing for boxing,” Smith, 16, said. “It’s the fighter in me. I want to hit people and not get in trouble for it.”
But for them to get into an actual boxing ring, it was community activist Flo Taylor who stepped into the teens’ ring—the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh.
Taylor, as per usual, talked with a number of teens during this year’s Three Rivers Regatta festivities and found some who wanted to fight for a purpose, not just on the street. “Eye contact is the key,” Taylor told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview. “If I get eye contact from them for five seconds, then I know that’s a kid that will also listen.”
Smith, a Westinghouse High School student, was one of the teens Taylor convinced at the Regatta to meet her the following Saturday (Aug. 12) at a real ring Downtown—Jimmy Cvetic’s Third Avenue Gym.
Ware was there, too. He was told about the opportunity from his cousin, who obtained the information from Taylor at the Regatta.
Cvetic, a retired Allegheny County police officer and founder of the Western Pennsylvania Police Athletic League, has been opening boxing gyms across the region for decades. Much of the gym space is used for youth who are looking to learn the art of boxing, while learning life lessons in the process.
“This is for all the marbles. This is it,” Cvetic told Smith and Ware at their first time inside the gym, Downtown. “You guys could possibly become police officers, a schoolteacher, anything you want…if you have the heart for it.”
The two teens then received some introductory lessons from Cvetic.
“There’s a lot going on with on the east side between Homewood, Larimer and all the other hoods over there, there’s usually a lot of fighting after school, but I’m too busy to be fighting anymore. So, I’m just trying to do this, and stay positive,” Ware told the Courier. The opportunity Taylor is providing with Cvetic “is real positive and it’s a good way to stay out of trouble. A lot of people will just take it to Facebook or bring it to guns, but this is the most legal way to fight without getting in trouble.”
“Honestly, I’m like the big guy and I ain’t used to taking disrespect, so anytime there’s disrespect I just tense up and it feels like someone’s coming at me so I just rumble,” Smith told the Courier. But Smith, like Ware, said boxing in a ring under the direction of veteran boxers is the better way. “A lot of people with anger issues who need to let something out can come down here. They need to know (about this opportunity).”
Taylor said at least 10 teens, including girls, were interested in the opportunity during her discussions with teens at the Regatta earlier this month. Other teens who are interested in the art of boxing at Cvetic’s gym can contact Taylor directly at 412-583-9008. Taylor is also looking for partnerships with foundations and other organizations through her Mothers March for Peace initiative that can provide financial contributions.
“Our kids don’t get grief counseling at all in the inner-city, so we have to just absorb everything that’s going on in our community,” Taylor said. “There’s unrest, shootings, murder…our kids have gotten used to it, so yes, some of our kids are full of rage, and some of it is justified. There’s no counseling, so fighting is what they learn to do.”
Cvetic also told the New Pittsburgh Courier exclusively that he’s assisting in a new gym opening at the Community Empowerment Association in Homewood. Cvetic and CEA founder Rashad Byrdsong said the new gym on Kelly Street could open as soon as November.
“Our community needs access to more recreational things they can involve themselves in,” Byrdsong said. “Use the boxing as a life skills piece, socialization, civil responsibility, training, exercising, not just for young men but for the broader community.”
Byrdsong said oftentimes, young Black men have not been properly taught how to deal with resolving conflicts. Boxing is a way for “young men to be involved in a disciplinarian sport, a good way of resolving conflict peacefully.”
Byrdsong is currently looking for “strong, positive men willing to assist” the gym, by calling 412-371-3689. Byrdsong credits Cvetic with the actions he’s taken to help make the gym a reality. Then ultimately, the Homewood community must embrace and be fully responsible for its longevity.
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