Amateur lightweight Salim Ellis-Bey shares an origin story with Muhammad Ali

Salim Ellis-Bey may be a super Philadelphia boxer to comply with in IBF welterweight titleholder Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ footsteps.

Ellis-Bey, a 17-year-old phenom within the newbie light-weight division, just lately received the 2024 USA Nationwide Championship in December and was granted the Youth Male Excellent Boxer award. 

Ellis-Bey, who now holds an newbie file of 123-20, trains out of the Entrance Avenue Gymnasium that’s finest recognized for being a set piece in the film Creed. 

His father and now coach, Dawud Bey AL-Rasul, purchased Ellis-Bey a Mongoose bicycle when his son was roughly eight years previous. They lived in a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia. Ellis-Bey went right into a retailer to get a snack, solely to return out of the shop and see somebody using his bike down the road.

Ellis-Bey tried to chase him, however his younger legs couldn’t catch the person who stole his bike. He went residence dissatisfied and indignant. After a stern lecture from his father, Ellis-Bey started to punch a sofa. His father instructed him to go hit the heavy bag in entrance of the home as a substitute. Ellis-Bey hit the heavy bag so exhausting that the sound of the punches could possibly be heard in the home.  

“Is that the way you hit the bag?” his father requested. Then his father got here exterior and began instructing him. Ellis-Bey began throwing one-twos. It appeared like he was taking part in Mortal Kombat. As a substitute of hitting the A and B buttons, he hit the bag.  

His father requested if he wished to go to the boxing gymnasium. They went the very subsequent day, and Ellis-Bey has been within the gymnasium ever since. 

“I inform those who story typically as a result of that is the identical means that Muhammad Ali began boxing,” his father mentioned. “Someone stole Ali’s bike and he went to the boxing gymnasium. He wished to learn to field as a result of if he came upon who took his bike, he wished to have the ability to whip their ass. That was the identical as my son.” 

Regardless of a storybook entry into the game, it wasn’t till a couple of years in the past that Ellis-Bey determined that boxing could possibly be a profession for him. 

“I used to be 14 years previous once I determined that I’d aspire to be an expert fighter. It was earlier than the pandemic. I used to be boxing, so I could possibly be taking part in a sport,” Ellis-Bey mentioned. “After I turned 14, that is once I determined at some point I wished to go professional.” 

For the Nationals this yr, Ellis-Bey had a chip on his shoulder. He and his staff didn’t like the place they have been ranked. As a person, he was given the fourth seed.

“I assumed that I might be seeded greater within the event,” Ellis-Bey mentioned. “I’ve extra nationwide wins than the quantity two seed and the quantity three seed.” 

“We took it as disrespect, as a result of Salim is ranked quantity six within the nation by way of win-loss,” his father mentioned. “If there are solely 5 folks with higher nationwide information than him, how can two folks be forward of me in my very own weight class? We took [the ranking] as disrespect and determined to let that be the chip on our shoulder. We educated exhausting, we labored exhausting, and we have been in a position to go in there and get the specified outcomes.”

After selecting up a stoppage win, he confronted one of many favorites in his division, power-punching Marcus Luther. His father knew {that a} match-up with Luther was inevitable – Luther had crushed his son a yr earlier than. This time, Ellis-Bey received a call.

“I used to be getting ready him to stumble upon Marcus once more,” his father mentioned. “The most important change from final yr to this yr was his bodily power. He simply wanted to be larger and stronger to soak up Marcus a little bit higher, as a result of Marcus is a giant puncher.

“I labored on increase his physique for a yr as a result of we felt that we had extra ability. To be utterly trustworthy, we thought we have been higher. My factor is at all times to make it to allow them to’t say you misplaced.

“We educated exhausting. We labored exhausting.  We have been in a position to go in there and get the specified outcomes. We had a plan. We have been in a position to execute the plan, and I’m happy with that as a coach. I am normally all enterprise, after which after Saturday, once they handed the awards out, I sort of, like, relaxed and rejoiced. Then I appeared again on all the pieces that we completed.”