Recent Activities: Peter Welch’s Gym (PWG)

Promoter, Tom Loeffler. Several friends and habitues of PWG showed up to greet each of them.

by Rick Winterson

Peter Welch gave us a call on Monday. He told us that Callum Walsh, a Junior Middleweight (147-154 pounds) who hails from Cork, Ireland, was going to visit his gym that afternoon. In the past, PWG has frequently served as a launching platform for pro boxers from overseas. In this case, Callum Walsh is going to fight in the Agannis Arena in March, and might well end up on the West Coast if his current trip is a success. Anyhow, we stopped in at PWG to say “hello”. Callum was accompanied by his Trainer, Freddy Roach, and his

South Boston Online recently published the news that the St. Patrick’s Day Boxing Show is back, now that the pandemic threat has diminished. Once again, the matches will be held at Peter Welch’s Gym (PWG), and it’s worth repeating the news here because up until 2020, it had always been one of our favorite Evacuation Day activities. This year, the Boxing Matches will take place on Saturday, March 18 – a weekend day that sits neatly between St. Patrick’s/Evacuation Day on Friday, the 17th, and Parade Day on Sunday, the 19th. And not that it makes all that much difference, but the first day of spring follows on Monday, March 20. It will be a great weekend, so be sure to take part!

Tryouts for this Boxing Show are underway. They’re open to all young athletes between 8 and 15 years of age. Female boxers are welcome, too. Young athletes will be carefully selected and matched in these tryouts, which are being held every Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. and every Saturday at 12:15 p.m. before the matches take place on Saturday, the 18th. Please bring your mouthpiece, sneakers, and boxing clothes with you to the tryouts.

And you will be trained in boxing free of charge, courtesy of PWG.

If you have questions, drop into PWG at 371 Dorchester Avenue, or phone the gym at 617-269-4641.

South Boston Online toured PWG while waiting for Callum Walsh to show up. It was refreshing to see number of men and women working out with boxing-related equipment and routines. The gym now has a “punching machine” that measures the force of a punch. Callum gave it a good right cross that registered 799 on the scoring readout. Not too shabby. There was definite buzz of humor, challenge, and enjoyment as everyone’s workout proceeded. It was a pleasure to see just how much PWG means to all its members. We’ll close with the quote prominently displayed on PWG’s east wall:

“We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long with so little, we are qualified to do anything with nothing.” Do we add Amen?