Laurel fighter captures title

Laurel resident Thomas Williams Jr. and Beltsville's Joel Young took home titles from the 178-pound and 141-pound divisions, respectively. Capitol Heights resident Antonio Russell, younger brother of Olympian Gary Russell Jr., won the 15/16-year-old, 106-pound open division crown. R. J. Tyler, 13, of Camp Springs took home the 13/14, 80-pound open division title. Upper Marlboro resident Lamont Roach won the 11/12, 100-pound open division.

For Williams, 21, winning the championship provided a little redemption after he suffered a disappointing setback at the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in May.

"We trained really hard for this," Williams said. "I did more of everything. They key word for this tournament was more. More pad work, more running, more sparring, watching more videos, more everything. I felt that I needed this tournament as a career boost."

Meanwhile, Young's victory was the most significant of his career.

"I was very happy, it was one of the proudest moments of my life," said the 22-year-old Young. "Heading in, I was really ready because I worked so hard and I really wanted that [championship] belt. This belt is going to set off a lot of goals for me. This is my first national tournament that I've won."

The Ringside triumph was Williams' second tournament championship. All of Williams' victories at the Ringside event came by way of four-round decisions.

Williams said he learned a lot from his loss at the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions. He noticed that as the level of competition increases, he has to make sure to control the pace.

"It was just a different style of fighting [at the Golden Gloves]," Williams said. "The rings are smaller and that's more for brawlers. I'm not that type fighter. I let the fight come to me. After that, we went back to the drawing board and we started working on being aggressive."

Williams and Young are based out of Cherry Lane Boxing and Youth Fitness in Laurel. Trainer Wil Nicholson said Young and Williams would compete in the Police Athletic League championships, Sept. 27-Oct. 4 in Oxnard, Calif., a national tournament sponsored by USA Boxing.

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.