Coach Franco helps Matthew into his headgear, fitting the mouthpiece over his braces. Next come Matthew’s gloves, which are nearly as big as his head. While Franco offers a few last-minute words of advice, Matthew’s father and assistant coach, Joe Charlton, rubs his shoulders. Matthew climbs through the ropes, taking his time stepping into the red corner. Across from him in the blue corner, Jesus Flores looks slightly more confident—though they’re both still young boys, doing their best to appear grown up. Matthew and Jesus meet in the center of the ring, touch gloves, and return to their corners to await the bell. The announcer, in his pork pie hat and oversized suit, paces the floor, stoking the crowd. Everyone in the gym is fired up and ready for action—everyone except Matthew, who still looks uncertain, like he might rather be anywhere else. But then the sound of an arpeggiated electric guitar—the opening of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”—blasts from the overhead speakers. Matthew throws a few jabs into the air and bounces on his toes. He’s suddenly transformed.
On a frigid afternoon in early January, while the city was still buried beneath thick layers of snow and ice, approximately 300 people—some having traveled from as far away as Seattle—gathered together in a basketball gym at the Moore Street Salvation Army for Portland’s first amateur boxing match of the year. Informally called a “smoker,” these bouts are typically held once or twice a month, in the downtime between bigger-stakes tournaments like the Golden and Silver Gloves. Different boxing gyms throughout the region take turns hosting these meetups, and this afternoon’s smoker was hosted by Rip City Boxing, a local club for kids age nine to 15, led by head coach James Franco.