Boxing Along The Beltway Turns 8

by Gautham Nagesh 

Congratulations are in order for our good friend and colleague Gary “Digital” Williams, whose essential site Boxing Along The Beltway celebrated its eighth anniversary earlier this week.

To call Digital the dean of the DMV boxing writing scene would be a gross understatement. Simply put, no one, save the trainers and fighters themselves, has done more to put boxing on the map in the Beltway region in recent years than Gary Williams. For a large portion of the local boxing community, including myself, Gary’s site is often the first and only source of information on local fighters, shows, and other boxing news.

BATB fills a vital role that would otherwise go lacking in this day and age, when professional boxing shows held downtown and attended by thousands of people don’t merit a three-sentence blurb in the local paper or sports blogs. On top of his enormous investment of time and effort, Gary does it all with remarkable kindness and good nature. He is one of the friendliest, most helpful people I have met in my journalism career, and an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the Sweet Science.[[MORE]]

An area native and alumnus of Howard University and Georgetown Day School, Digital has seen practically every fighter that has passed through the DMV over the past 20 years. He often speaks fondly of past nights spent at D.C. Armory or the then-MCI Center, where he covered local stars like Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson and William Joppy in their primes. But Digital remains just as enthusiastic about the sport today, and has often said the current crop of youngsters is the area’s most talented since he has been around.

In addition to providing comprehensive coverage of local amateur and professional boxing on his blog, Digital also records a post-fight podcast after every show. Somehow he has also found the time to serve as the public address announcer for the Coppin State University men’s and women’s basketball teams for the past 20 years, all while taking care of his family and working full-time as a teacher at Booker T. Washington Public Charter School in Northwest D.C. It is a full plate, certainly, but one that befits a man with so much spirit and joy in every movement.

I have been meaning to write something about Digital for some time now, and record some of the vast troves of institutional knowledge that he holds in trust for the local boxing community. There will be plenty of opportunities for that, as I’m sure we will be spending many more evenings as the only residents of press row at another local show, while Digital’s trusty partner Juan Marshall of ProAmFightTalk captures the action from the mat.

For now, the best tribute I can make is to implore you to check out his site, which has been raised to another level recently with the addition of Marshall’s photography. If you are a local fight fan or simply someone that loves the sport, no one is closer to the fighters and their camps than Gary, and he always knows what’s coming next. His site was the first place I heard of future stars like D'Mitrius Ballard, Antoine Douglas, and Emmanuel Taylor, and I’m sure he’s got the book on at least a few promising youngsters that I would barely recognize.

They say in boxing that by the time the lights are on, the fight is already won or lost. Like any dedicated fighter, Gary Williams and BATB do the hard, unglamorous work that it takes to stage a show and build a real fight scene in a community. Many factors have contributed to the area’s recent boxing renaissance, but BATB and Gary have undoubtedly played a crucial role.

So the next time you see the towering, gregarious gentleman in a tuxedo at ringside, stop by and say hello. If I know Gary “Digital” Williams, he probably won’t let you leave without a hug.