Belleville Boxing Club taught this champion to box. His sister taught him to fight.
AJ Graham was born a competitor.
But it was his trainer, Ken Reilly, who taught him how to box. And it was his sister, Asia Graham, who taught him how to fight.
The oldest of Catherine Barrow’s five children, AJ once dreamed of moving to Japan and teaching martial arts. While in school, Graham made the wrestling team but was not allowed to compete in matches because coaches feared he would injure the opposing wrestler.
While attending Belleville East High School, Graham would do his best to out-perform the biggest student in physical education class.
Always a fierce competitor, contact sports were a particular draw.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve always liked fighting. But I never liked street fighting because I was always afraid I was going to hurt someone and I never wanted to hurt anyone. But I always liked contact sports, especially competitive boxing and competitive wrestling.’’
Now 22, Graham is on the verge of a career in professional boxing.
With the help and guidance from Reilly and the Belleville Boxing Club, Graham has become one the top 132-pound amateur boxers in the nation in less than two years. The St. Louis Golden Gloves novice division champion, he is 23-1 with his only loss coming last month at the National Golden Gloves Championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Graham will fight one last time as an amateur before turning professional later this year. Like most of those who step into the ring, he dreams of being a world champion and being able to provide for those he loves the most.
Among those who inspires Graham the most is his sister, Asia, who has waged a different kind of fight.
In September of 2014, Asia was struck by a car driven by an off-duty police officer on North Illinois Street in Swansea. She suffered severe trauma to her head and body.
Catherine Barrows told the News-Democrat in 2015 that her daughter had suffered permanent brain damage, and she has filed a civil lawsuit against the officer and his department. The trial is scheduled to begin on May 4 of next year.
Due to the pending litigation, Barrows would not comment for this story.
For AJ, watching his sister sit in bed day after day is a constant reminder of life’s fragility and motivation to pursue his goals with gusto, both for himself and his family.
“It is so difficult to see her having to sit in bed all day. She can communicate a little bit and she can use her arms. She is doing a lot better. But she’ll never be like she was before,” Graham said. “Asia never got the chance to live her life or live her teenage years and she’ll never have the chance to do the things that I’m able to do.”
“And so what I want to do is give her the best possible life that I can give her because her life was basically taken away from her.’’
A natural
Reilly, one of two trainers who offer free training at the Belleville Boxing Club, located at Bellevue Park Plaza near the intersection of West Main Street and North Belt West, has been working with Graham for a little over 18 months.
Like most of the young people who venture into the club, Graham had no prior boxing experience.
But after watching Graham fight his first bout, Reilly knew Graham could be special.
“I knew right away that AJ had the dog in him, the no quit, no back down, I’m coming after you type mentality,’’ Reilly said. “But he had no skills. He had no style, no stance at all. But I knew that if I could teach him to fight that I would have a good fighter.”
Determined to be great from the outset, Graham went to work with Reilly, who wasted little time in pitting his talented young fighter against more experienced boxers who, in some cases, already were Golden Gloves champions.
It didn’t matter.
“In his second fight, AJ was at the St. Louis Golden Gloves, he fought a guy who was 9-0. In his fourth or fifth fight, he took on the St. Louis Golden Gloves champion and he beat him... I took him to Kentucky and he beat the Kentucky Golden Gloves champion,’’ Reilly said.
““Then we came back here to St. Louis and fought Zach Cooper who was the St. Louis champion a year ago in the open division in the 132 pound class and we beat the (expletive) out of him. We fought the best in Kentucky, Chicago and Tennessee. (He) beat them all.’’
Graham was the St. Louis Golden Gloves Boxer of the Year in 2018.
“AJ is going to be a world champion. I truly believe that with all my heart,’’ Reilly said. “The kid is just incredible and the reason he is so incredible is that he is so focused and so determined. He’s not going to let anything get in the way of him achieving his dreams and goals.”
Asia taught AJ to fight
AJ Graham was at the Lake of the Ozarks with friends on that September morning in 2014 when he got the call from his grandmother about the tragedy that befell his sister.
“At first when she said accident, I was hoping it wasn’t that bad,” AJ said. “Then she started explaining and that she (Asia) might be dead. I didn’t know what to do.
“I remember my friend’s dad asked me if I wanted to go home and I told him no because he had spent a lot of money on this really nice condo and I didn’t want to ruin the fun that everybody was having.’’
A few days later, Graham saw Asia.
“It took me a while to go see Asia in the hospital because I was scared,’’ Graham said. “When I did go to the hospital, it broke my heart to see her that way. Again, there were a lot people who questioned if I cared. I’m like of course I care. I was just trying to stay strong.
“I’m not one who shows a lot of emotion, but when I was alone, I cried a lot.’’
AJ said he felt he had to be strong. His father left when he was very young and the family moved often, sometimes living in hotels.
All of that, plus Asia’s struggles, pressed him into maturity, he said. And they have taught him how to fight.
“Asia is AJ’s inspiration. He learned how to fight from his sister. He learned how to box from me,’’ Reilly said. “He wants to be able to take care of his family. He comes from a broken home. There is no father figure in his life. I’m his father figure. I love him like a son and he loves me like a son loves his dad.’’
A price to pay
Long before Graham ever put on the boxing gloves, he loved to train and push himself.
“When I was younger I would go out in the back yard and kick trees because I just loved martial arts and I loved Bruce Lee,’’ Graham said. “Now when I’m out running or in the gym working out, I will visualize my next opponent in front of me and he’s blocking my path and preventing me from getting to where I want to go, preventing me from achieving my goals and stopping me from taking care of my family.
“It just pushes me to do more.’’
As his trainer, motivation is no concern for Reilly.
“AJ’s a good kid and I have all the trust in the world in him. Why? Because I know he’s doing the right things. He isn’t out there going to parties, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t put himself in a position that’s going to get him into trouble,’’ Reilly said. “He does what he’s told to because he wants to be a world champion and be able to to provide for his family.”
That has made Graham a role model for other boxers at the Belleville Boxing Club and throughout the St. Louis boxing community.
“AJ reminds me a little bit of (former world champion) Hector Camacho, although AJ is more of a dog. Camacho was more flash, more of a dancer,’’ Reilly said. “He is the kind of athlete who when he is the ring, other people stop and watch.”
Hoping to leave his mark
Others in AJ’s life, including his girlfriend, Esther, and good friend, Myriam, also help motivate Graham.
Being there for his sister is at the top of his mind, though.
“Sometimes when my mom is taking care of her, my sister will punch her. She likes to punch people. I think maybe she gets that from me,” AJ said. “But my sister tells everybody that she loves them. Every time I go see her she’ll tell me ‘I love you AJ.’ I tell her too that I love her very much.”
Graham’s final amateur fight will be Aug. 9 at the Belleville-Swansea Moose Lodge. He’ll face 2019 Golden Gloves open division 141-pound champion Zack Hooper.
Reilly said this week that negotiations for Graham’s first professional fight have begun. He hopes he’ll have his card by the fall.
“Coach (Reilly) is like a father to me. I tell him all the time that I can’t lose him because he’s everything to me. He’s gotten me where I am,’’ AJ said.
“He’s tough on me — I get yelled at every day, but I get all that, I understand. He sees I have ability and that I I have the ability to be a world champion. He pushes me because he wants to help me get the most out of my talent.
I want that and more. ... I want to be someone people see making a difference, someone who has a positive influence on people’s lives.’’
This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
