FORT WORTH – In Greek mythology, it was the Golden Fleece that prompted noted pugilist Pollux to outbox the brawny Amycus and ultimately win a place on Mount Olympus.
For Antonio Hatchett, it was a rapper or some such who has brought him to the brink of a spot at the table of next week’s Texas State Golden Gloves Tournament at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
Profound experience might best describe Hatchett’s call to the sweet science. Others would go with a weird and wacky night.
While on the security detail in Oklahoma some years ago for an unnamed pop artist, Hatchett was the muscle who leaped to action to neutralize a would-be assailant on his man.
“A guy got into it with the artist,” Hatchett said of his Secret Service moment. “One of the guys swung at me and I had to hit him to defend myself. I knocked him out with one punch.
“The music manager then paid for me to start boxing.”
Some call that fate, others a nudge.
More than four years and 40 or so fights later, the 28-year-old will go mano a mano with defending champion Quran Barton for the 165-pound Fort Worth Regional championship on Saturday night.
Hatchett outpointed Sergio Alanis in the semifinals Friday night at Will Rogers’ Watt Arena. Barton had a bye into the finals.
Hatchett, a son of Hamburg, Ark., hometown of NBA great Scottie Pippen, needed a strong third round against Alanis to advance.
Unable to shake Alanis with the big shot, Hatchett went back to the art of boxing, getting behind his jab and finding the left hand, which he used to pound on Alanis’ body, the same thing he did in winning the first round fairly convincingly.
Twelve boxers will vie for regional championships in the Open Division on Saturday. Six will advance to state next week.
Hatchett journeyed to Texas to feed his family. The wood mill where he worked shut down, and with a child on the way, he put business-friendly Texas into the GPS and got here as soon as he could.
He found work at Meyer Distributing, a truck and specialty parts center in Arlington.
A career in nursing was once a calling.
Hatchett was in school nine or so years ago when he suddenly one night needed a healthcare professional.
At a party with friends, things turned not fun. Hatchett was in the wrong place and the wrong time.
That’s the only way to describe being shot when you weren’t the target. The bullet bit him in his right knee, causing only a superficial wound. A minor wound is how it’s described when it’s not you who has been shot.
“Knocked a chunk off my knee … that’s it,” Hatchett said, agreeing that a Big Mac was a bigger deal.
He’s definitely back on his feet. School might be in his future, too, one day. At present, he’s up to his elbows in alligators with obligations.
Two other guys who fought on Friday also share ambitions to go into medical careers.
Is it just me or is a boxing avocation not really in keeping with medicine’s chief pledge, primum non nocere – first, do no harm?
“People ask me that,” said Nathaniel Primous, 28, once upon a time a nose tackle at Marshall High School, who is 100 pounds below his playing weight. “It’s just too much fun to let go.”
He wants to be a surgeon of some kind.
Harm is what he does with an overhand right that, when it misses, could rival a wind turbine in generating energy.
Primous is a strapping, broad-shouldered, muscle-bound sort. Learning that he was a powerlifter on the club team at Texas Tech wasn’t a National Enquirer “Elvis lives” bombshell revelation.
In fact, he said he was ranked as high as eighth in the nation as a powerlifter at one point as a college student.
There was little reason not to believe him.
“I think that’s where the power comes from,” he said. “I was also a football player in high school. I was doing a lot of strength training. It all translated over.”
He is currently applying to medical schools. Until then, “I hope to win as many fights as I can.”
Primous will get another shot on Saturday, fighting for the 165-pound title in the Novice Division.
Mansfield native Dakendrick Wallace, who will battle Mathew Gray in the Novice 152, has visions of nursing, too.
At 26, he’s finishing up study at Tarrant County College in southeast Arlington. If all goes right, he’ll start nursing school there soon after.
“That’s my alter ego, baby,” Wallace said of his right hand, it, like Primous’, a weapon with a really bad attitude and ill intentions. “His name is ‘Sweetness.’
Of his prospective nursing career: “I’m going full steam ahead. That’s his career he has for me. That’s my calling. This [boxing] is just something he asked me to do in the meantime.”
“He” is a powerbroker, the ultimate influencer, social media or otherwise.
God … with a big “G.”
“Jesus Christ picked me up and washed me clean. I was on my way to hell. He saved me. I got my name in the ‘book of life.’ I’ll be living in the everlasting kingdom with Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior.”
To God be the glory, he said and repeated.
He’ll get no disagreement from me, one raised and confirmed in faith.
And Lord only knows the result if he were to release “Sweetness” on, relatively speaking, this old man.
Friday’s results
Bantam novice
60 pounds (8 years old): Daniel Segovia defeated Isaias Villegas, decision; Isael Botello d. Jaylen Henery, dec.
75 pounds (8 years old): Cole Joyner d. Brandon Zamarripa, dec.
55 pounds (9 years old): Ethan Mares d. Ivan Ramirez, dec.
65 pounds (9-10 years old): Ruben Quezada d. Irvin Aguilar, dec.
Bantam open
75 pounds (9-10): Isaiah Blanco d. Reymundo Rangel, dec.
Junior novice
75 pounds (11-12): Jaycob Timmons d. Alexander Ruvalcaba, dec.
85 pounds (11-12): Demain Morales d. Lucas Mashburn, dec.
132 pounds (11-12): Victor Delgadillo d. Andrew Myatt, dec.
154-plus (12-13): Marcelino Isaac d. Gabriel Montemayor, dec.
Junior open
80 pounds (11-12): Elixlan Carrillo d. Marcielo Pena, dec.
114 pounds (11-12): Joshua Franco d. Santiago Buendia, dec.
Intermediate novice
132 pounds (13-14): Brandon Click d. Francisco Ramirez, dec.
Intermediate open
101 pounds (13-14): Michael Fernandez d. Nestor Mejia, dec.
110 pounds (13-14): Juan Barron d. Emillio DeLeon, default.
Senior novice
138 pounds (15-16): Orlando Montoya d. Jorge Ibanez, default.
145 pounds (15-16): Ryan Austin d. Phil Hanley, dec.
Senior open
119 pounds (15-16): German Lopez d. David Lopez, referee stopped contest, second round.
Junior novice females
132 pounds (11-12): Ariana Guerrero d. America Perez Vega, dec.
Intermediate novice females
101 pounds (13-14): Kayleigh Wadsworth d. Carolina Gaitan, default.
Senior novice females
119 pounds (16-17): Yasmine Little d. Cameron Bittick, dec.
Youth men’s open
123 pounds: Miguel Martinez d. Camran Colier, default.
Men’s novice
152 pounds semifinals: Dakendrick Wallace d. Isaiah Hannie, dec.; Mathew Gray d. Jama Mberwa, dec.
165 pounds semifinals: Kuinteion Newman d. Marcus Simmons, dec.; Nathaniel Primous d. Adam Morrison, dec.
178 pounds semifinals: Taylor Kervaugh d. James Kavanaugh, dec.; Rogers Braxton d. Hakeem Balogum, disqualified (uniform violation, tights under trunks).
Men’s open
165 pounds semifinals: Antonio Hatchett d. Sergio Alanis, dec.
Saturday’s finals
(7 p.m., Watt Arena)
Tickets: $10, $11, $12, $15
Bantam novice
60 pounds: Daniel Segovia vs. Isael Botello.
70 pounds: Eduardo Gaitan vs. Esteban Mata.
75 pounds: Gavin Tijerina vs. Kristofer Adams.
90 pounds: Isaac Flores vs. Jonathan Marquez.
Junior novice
101 pounds: Keegan McGraw vs. Devin Franklin Jr.
114 pounds: Antonio Aguilar vs. Jack Damphouse.
Junior open
85 pounds: Ezekiel Mares vs. Iziah Garcia.
Intermediate novice
90 pounds: Donavyn Walton vs. Kevin Segovia.
Intermediate open
110 pounds: Joseph Rios vs. Juan Barron.
114 pounds: Julian Maldonado vs. Emmanuel Carrillo.
132 pounds: Emilio DeLeon vs. Francisco Castro.
Senior novice
154 pounds: DeAllen Larremore vs. Fernando Diaz.
176-plus: Nathaniel Huff vs. Joshua Bokor.
Senior open
145 pounds: Jacob Reynolds vs. Brandon Solis.
Senior female novice
119 pounds: Ana Ibarra vs. Yasmine Little.
Women’s novice
132 pounds: Kayley Ryan vs. Mercadies Ramirez.
152 pounds: Shannon Matsinger vs. Audrey Gifford.
165 pounds: Paige Harris vs. Bailey-Siamone Mason.
Youth men’s novice
123 pounds: Andrik Trejo vs. Kole Lenz.
132 pounds: Christian Herrera vs. Miguel Martinez.
Men’s novice
132 pounds: Dearon Bursey vs. Brandon Martinez.
141 pounds: Desmon White vs. Keinon Douglas.
152 pounds: Dakendrick Wallace vs. Mathew Gray.
165 pounds: Kuinteion Newman vs. Nathaniel Primous.
178 pounds: Taylor Kervaugh vs. Rogers Braxton.
201 pounds: Cesar Gomez vs. Dametrez Marshall.
201-plus pounds: Aaron Curry vs. Cyril Ogbeide.
Men’s open
123 pounds: Manuel Ochoa vs. Christopher Martinez.
132 pounds: Brandon Rivas vs. Joel Martinez.
141 pounds: Brandon DeSpain vs. Gabriel Aguilar.
152 pounds: Juan Gomez vs. Adam Salgado.
165 pounds: Quran Barton vs. Antonio Hatchett.
201 pounds: Justin Prince vs. Jurgen Deraj.