Mostly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 54F. Winds light and variable..
Mostly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 54F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: December 31, 2022 @ 8:05 pm
Seven fighters from Hankinson Boxing Gym earned top-10 rankings in the country at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Jabreiona Hankinson recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Jabreiona Hankinson, middle, with parents James, left, and Brittany, recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Aiken’s Jabreiona Hankinson, back row, second from left, recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Seven fighters from Hankinson Boxing Gym earned top-10 rankings in the country at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Jabreiona Hankinson recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Jabreiona Hankinson, middle, with parents James, left, and Brittany, recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
Aiken’s Jabreiona Hankinson, back row, second from left, recently won the title in her weight class at the USA Boxing National Championships.
The bar has been raised once again by Hankinson Boxing Gym.
The most recent road trip for the Hankinson crew – and they don’t ever come home empty-handed – produced more championships, more high finishes, more respect at the national level.
December’s USA Boxing National Championships were further proof of how far these local fighters have come, and also how much more they’re capable of accomplishing.
Seven different Hankinson boxers placed in the top 10 nationally in their respective weight classes, with two earning No. 1 rankings.
“I feel very blessed to be a coach from Aiken, South Carolina, with the accomplishment of seven kids ranked in the top 10 in the nation. I feel good. That’s the only way I can explain it,” said James Hankinson, who along with wife Brittany coach, train and mentor their boxers. “I really feel good, and I just know that God is with us. Not only am I setting records around here in Aiken, I’m raising the bar. That’s the biggest thing, just to raise the bar, because there’s many other boxing gyms. But the accomplishments that we have, we’re raising the bar for any boxing gym around or any boxing gym that comes after us or the next coach.”
Jabreiona in particular keeps raising the bar for herself. She’s racked up championships at the regional and national levels over the last few years, and her victory over New York’s Antanina Petroglia made her the national champion in her weight class in the Youth Female division to retain her spot on the national team.
“I placed No. 1 in my weight division. Now I’m a four-times world champion. It went well,” said Jabreiona, a junior at South Aiken High School. “Tough competition but, you know, I came out with a win. Hopefully we’ll be back to do it again.”
Jabreiona, who had previously won an unopposed national title, this time stood face-to-face with another fighter with a title on the line. She said she stayed in control of the bout throughout, and she listened to the guidance from her parents to come out with the win.
“Really, as long as you’re confident then you’ll be all right. Confidence is key,” she said. “If you’re not in tune with yourself, then you’ve automatically lost the fight. So as long as you had a thought that you’ll go in there in win, then you’ll be all right.”
She has plenty of reason to be confident when she steps in the ring, and her ever-growing trophy collection has another championship belt, medal and jacket from USA Boxing.
“As a father, I’m very proud. I’m overwhelmed. I’m proud for her. Words can’t express how I feel,” James said. “As a coach, you can look back at your body of work and be like, ‘She really did it. We really did it.’ It’s the biggest thing, just trusting and believing in God with everything.”
Jabreiona wasn’t the only fighter from Hankinson Boxing Gym to leave Lubbock, Texas, with a No. 1 ranking. Zedric Swedenburg was the unopposed champion of the Bantam Male 154-pound class.
Additionally, Tyesha Harrison (No. 2 in Youth Female 154 pounds), James Hankinson, Jr. (No. 3 in Bantam Male 90 pounds), Shakeem Price (No. 3 in Bantam Male 85 pounds), Willie Franklin (No. 6 in Bantam Male 85 pounds) and Brysan Belvin (No. 8 in Bantam Male 80 pounds) all earned top-10 national rankings.
Needless to say, seeing results like that at the national level can bring a lot more confidence back to the Edgefield Highway gym.
“The confidence benefits them a great deal,” James said. “When you have that one child or children that walk into your gym and they’re just shy, or they might have been bullied before, or they’re just not as out-spoken, when they come here and you see them come out of their shell and they’re not shy anymore and their confidence is through the roof, it’s another thing that makes you feel great.”
Coming up in the immediate future is USA Boxing’s Region 3 Silver Gloves tournament in mid-January in Macon, Georgia. And, of course, there are even bigger goals in mind down the road – Jabreiona and Harrison are training with hopes of making the U.S. roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
“What I mean by saying we’re raising the bar higher, I’m not being cocky by any means. What I mean is for the kids to come after we leave, they’ve got to be just that much better,” James said. “That means whoever’s coaching them has got to be just as great. As long as you’ve got greatness in the building you can’t lose, because everybody has one common goal and that’s to make these kids be as successful as they can be.”
