‘A little bit of everybody’: Spokane Boxing Gym attracts young immigrant fighters from around the globe

There’s no place in the world more inclusive than a boxing gym, at least according to Rick Welliver.

The owner and operator of Spokane Boxing Gym sees fighters from all over the globe walk through his downtown doors.

Semi Mungualinipa, of Uganda; Yakobo Mleha, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Mateo Hilts, of Guatemala; Aidan Kierans, of India; and Janek Chojnowske, of Poland, are some of them.

“There’s no biases in a boxing gym,” Welliver said. “If you can fight and you can pull your weight and you put in the work, you’re gonna fit in. It don’t matter what color you are, it don’t matter what sex you are, it don’t matter what gender you are. Everyone’s welcome, and everyone’s invited and everyone’s included. Inclusion matters.”

Mungualinipa, 19, and Mleha, 21, are friends who attended Lewis and Clark High School.

Mungualinipa said he arrived with his family in Spokane in 2015 when he was about 10 years old as they searched of a safer environment and better education. He called Uganda a tough place to grow up where meals were often scarce.

In Spokane, his family found more financial stability, better access to food and free schooling. He said people had to pay to attend school in Uganda, but his parents couldn’t afford the tuition, so he and his siblings stayed home.

“You just basically survive as a young kid,” Mungualinipa said.

He said he was nervous when he got to Spokane because he didn’t speak much English, but people were nice and looked out for him.

“They made me feel like I belong here,” Mungualinipa said.

Mungualinipa graduated from Lewis and Clark last year. He works as a caregiver while going to Spokane Falls Community College, where he studies business with goals of starting a real estate company.

He played soccer in high school and joined Welliver’s gym a few months ago. The sport has helped keep him in shape physically and mentally.

“I can come here and release my stress, and it’s a time for me to just walk in here and be free,” he said.

Mleha said he came to Spokane 14 years ago to escape his country’s war and repair his broken leg. He was born in Congo, but his family moved to Tanzania because of Congo’s war.

He said doctors in Africa wanted to cut off his broken right leg, but his mother refused. Mleha said they left the hospital with his leg still broken and it healed incorrectly. But doctors at Shriners Children’s hospital in Spokane fixed it.

Mleha said he’s boxed on and off at Spokane Boxing Gym since his freshman year at Lewis and Clark, but he’s taken it more seriously after his father died in August. He said he wants to fight professionally.

He thought boxing would be easy when he first started, but said it’s a “reality check” when stepping into the ring. He said the sport helped him figure out who he truly is.

“Once you actually step into the ring, the reality sets in,” Mleha said.

He said the gym is like a family atmosphere where everyone is friendly and coaches keep him and other boxers disciplined.

Mleha is studying business at Spokane Community College. If his boxing career doesn’t pan out, Mleha, who is 5-foot-7, wants to use his business degree to start a basketball league for short people. Diving into the sales industry is his third career option.

Hilts is another boxer who has overcome obstacles.

He was born in Guatemala and graduated from Deer Park High School. Seven years ago, he beat leukemia. More recently, he lost more than 30 pounds boxing at Welliver’s gym.

“It just feels scary in a way that I can’t really explain,” Hilts, 19, said of cancer.

He wanted to box for a while and joined Spokane Boxing Gym almost two years ago. He boxes five days a week at the gym.

He said he gained a lot of weight from the cancer treatment, and it feels great to lose it.

“Rick has helped out so much in pushing me to do the best for myself,” Hilts said.

Hilts, a freshman at SFCC, said he wants to be a mental health counselor after his cancer experience. He said he received great support and spoke to a counselor during his treatment, which inspired him to want to give back to people who need it most.

Kierans, 15, has been all over the world before settling in Eastern Washington.

Kierans lived the first nine years of his life in India before moving to England, then California and finally Spokane for about the past four years.

He said the weather in Washington is more sporadic than England, where it’s fairly consistent year round. He said he saw snow for the first time in Spokane.

“It can be hard,” Kierans said of the snow. “It can definitely hurt to get smacked in the side of the head with a snowball.”

The North Central High School student has been at the downtown Spokane gym for almost two years. He said boxing improved his confidence and is a great way to get rid of aggression.

“(If) you’re mad, you just punch that bag and let it go,” Kierans said.

Chojnowske, an 18-year-old from Poland, arrived in Spokane about two months ago. Chojnowske, who boxed in Poland, said he found Spokane Boxing Gym online and wanted to box there.

“I like to fight,” he said.

Welliver said he’s always had a diverse group of boxers at his gym.

“I love everything about it,” he said. “This boxing gym is a direct representation of what our country is. A little bit of everybody.”

Welliver started the gym in 2001 and operated it at the downtown location, 115 S. Jefferson St., since 2016.

Spokane Boxing sits on the ground floor of a 116-year-old building. A boxing ring is located in the center of the room, and punching bags dangle above the worn hardwood floors.

Mirrors hanging on a brick wall allow boxers to evaluate their technique in real time.

Welliver said the boxers at the gym have varying degrees of experience.

He said seeing his boxers improve is why he operates the facility.

“You watch these kids and adults walk through the doors of this gym, and you can see in their eyes, they’re looking for something,” he said. “These kids from Africa and these kids from Ireland, they want to be a part of something. They want to be included.”

Welliver was a boxer , fighting in 17 professional fights and 60 amateur ones.

“Boxing, it’s a really special kind of magic,” Welliver said. “It gives strength to the weak, confidence to the shy, and makes a kid feel like he can do anything in the world.”

He said boxing is one of the few sports that not only builds character, but reveals it.

“If you can achieve in this kind of sport, you can do anything in the world,” Welliver said. “There’s nothing harder than this.”

Left to right, Janek Chojnowske, 18, of Poland; Semi Mungualinipa, 19, Uganda; Yakobo Mleha, 21, Congo; and Aidan Kierans, 15, India, work out on Oct. 31 at Spokane Boxing Gym.