Carpentersville teen wins Golden Gloves championship
Carpentersville-based amateur boxer Simon Buettner has a reputation for knocking his opponents out.
In 10 fights, the 19-year-old Buettner is the owner of nine victories -- five coming via knockout.
And knockout number five was of the especially dramatic variety.
Fighting in the 178-pound (light heavyweight) novice (under age 20 with less than 10 bouts) title match of the prestigious 2008 Chicago Golden Gloves tournament recently at historic St. Andrews Gym on Addison Street in Chicago, the 5-foot, 9-inch Buettner came out to start the second round.
As is custom in boxing, the combatants usually touch gloves prior to the start of the round.
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That didn't happen.
"In his last fight I noticed he didn't hit gloves," said Buettner, a 2007 Dundee-Crown graduate. "I told somebody if he did that to me I was going to knock him out. He didn't knock gloves and I knocked him out in the second round. The ref came up to me after the fight and said, 'He should have hit gloves.'"
That knockout gave Buettner the coveted Chicago Golden Gloves championship -- his seventh overall combat title (the previous six came in the kickboxing discipline).
"That tournament has been around since 1923," said Buettner. "It's the biggest boxing tournament around here. It's a really big deal for me."
Buettner reached the semifinals of Golden Gloves last year, just a short while after switching over from kickboxing. He's won Midwest, U.S., North American and world titles in kickboxing.
"I've always liked fighting sports," said Buettner, who played football at D-C but had to give it up after a back injury. "I don't like kicking that much, which is why I went to boxing. I've been boxing for about a year."
Buettner trains out of Z's Martial Arts Academy in Huntley and is coached by Rob Zbilski, the gym's owner. Zbilski is the head coach of the U.S. kickboxing team. His gym trains fighters in a number of disciplines, including mixed martial arts, kickboxing, boxing and the martial arts.
Zbilski, who originally trained Buettner in kickboxing, says the success his prized pupil has enjoyed in the ring stems from bottom-line punching power, the sort that tends to result in the referee calling for the bell much earlier than expected.
"Simon has extreme power in both hands," said Zbilski. "He's kind of built like Mike Tyson. He's short and compact. He knocks people out. He hurts you."
Scoring five knockouts in an amateur boxing setting is not a commonplace occurrence.
"Getting five wins via knockout in amateur boxing is pretty hard to do," said Zbilski. "It's about scoring points. Most of the time fights go to decisions. Simon has tremendous hand speed and knockout power. He's very strong. He set a lifting record in high school. But he still has the speed and agility and the good hand speed and power."
Buettner, who trains four or five times a week at Z's (sometimes twice a day), chalks his success up to more than just a powerful punch.
"I've got good aggression," said Buettner. "I'm not afraid to get hit. My movement is getting a lot better. If I get hit, I move and I don't get hit again."
Conditioning has also been crucial for Buettner.
"I was in better shape than everyone I fought (at Golden Gloves)," said Buettner. "I'm in really good shape. We work cardio and do a lot of running and sprints at Z's. I want to make sure I'm in better shape than my opponents. If someone is better than me, I can win by pure aggression."
And Buettner also has a great thirst for the sport on his side.
"Simon is great to train," said Zbilski, a sixth-degree black belt. "He wants to learn. He's a nice, humble kid. He's not cocky and he doesn't talk a lot of smack. You would never know he's a fighter if he was walking down the street. He listens and picks up on things quickly."
Buettner, who keeps a busy calendar outside the ring between his studies at Elgin Community College (he is studying criminal justice and would like to be a police officer) and his job at a local automotive center, has no plans to slow down on the boxing circuit.
"I want to get as many fights as I can in a year and then start to train to go pro," said Buettner. "We'll take any fight we can get in the next year, even if it's on short notice. I'm going to make sure I'm at weight and am training just as hard like if I had a fight."
There is one fight, however, that Buettner dreams about.
"I flew out to see Roy Jones (Jr.) fight at Madison Square Garden," said Buettner, speaking of the Jones-Felix Trinidad fight that Jones won. "He's my favorite fighter. I try to fight like him. It was awesome. It was cool to see what it's like. It would be nice to fight him in Madison Square Garden some day. My goal is to fight for a pro world title one day."
Buettner is scheduled to fight in a kickboxing tournament at the Hyatt in Chicago Aug. 1-3 and will compete in a national boxing tournament in Iowa Aug. 5-7.