By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – On some nights, amateur heavyweight boxer Alvin Varmall Jr. springs awake, fearing that he’d just suffered defeat.

Fortunately, that only seems to happen in his dreams.

The 21-year-old LaPlace native has been virtually untouchable through his amateur boxing career thus far. Since taking the sport up as a 16-year-old, Varmall – nicknamed Iron Magik – has won 20 of 21 fights, 18 of those victories by way of knockout, 11 in the first round. His lone loss came as a result of stoppage after Varmall separated his shoulder during a match, one in which he seemed primed to earn victory once again.

On April 6, Varmall secured the biggest victory of his career: a unanimous decision over Hakim Lopez to earn the heavyweight gold medal at the USA Boxing National Championships. He currently stands as the top-ranked amateur heavyweight in the nation as per USA Boxing, and the 5-foot-8-inch, 192 pounder plans to turn pro next year.

To call his rise meteoric would be putting it mildly. Varmall has big fists and bigger dreams.

“Every time I drive by the Superdome, I picture myself up there on its side,” said Varmall. “And everyone coming to see me fight.

“I feel like New Orleans is gonna love me, ‘cause I’m their baby.”

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Varmall didn’t think at all about a potential boxing career while attending East St. John. This was in spite of the fact that it runs in his family: his uncle, Rodney Jenkins, is a veteran boxing trainer.

The teen’s first love was football. But his gridiron pursuits weren’t working out.

“I wasn’t getting scholarship offers or recruiting letters,” said Varmall. “I was a little overweight, and I told my dad, ‘If you get me a punching bag, maybe I can get in shape.

“As it turned out, it was a sign from God.”

Varmall began to throw his energy into the boxing game. At first he didn’t ask his uncle to train him, instead cutting his teeth at the gym of a friend, Sergio Rivera. He said he didn’t want people to think that he was only taking up the sport because of Jenkins. But eventually, he asked his uncle to train him, and a beautiful partnership was born.

“My uncle trains me physically, but also mentally and emotionally. He’s my best friend,” said Varmall. “I always felt like I was kind of the black sheep of my family. Nobody really took this dream of mine seriously. But my uncle always shows me love.

“I didn’t have anything. People looked at me like I was a bum. Not my uncle. He believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. We’re like spaghetti and meatballs, inseparable.”

It didn’t take Jenkins long to assess that his nephew possessed special talent.

“It was his first sparring session,” said Jenkins. “He hit a left uppercut right to the guy’s solar plexus and knocked him clean on his butt, against the ropes. And I’m thinking, ‘Wow.’

“I’ve been training people for 22 years, and I haven’t seen anyone like Alvin since Mike Tyson. You don’t see people with that kind of power and speed combination at his size. I honestly believe Alvin will be even better. He’s a once in a generation kind of talent.”

SIGNATURE WIN

Even for a man that had never suffered a clean loss, Varmall knew the Lopez fight would be a challenge. Like many opponents he’d faced before, he was outflanked in terms of experience; in this case, championship level experience. Lopez fought in the heavyweight finals of the Junior Olympics National Meet in 2011 and has fought since the age of nine.

“I mainly went up there to get experience,” said Varmall. “It’s one of the most prestigious tournaments in the amateur ranks, and I knew it would be a huge test.”

But once the fight came, Varmall’s confidence grew quickly.

“As we got toward the end of the second round, I really started to open up on him,” he said. “I felt like he had nothing for me. I have the utmost respect for him, but at that point I felt locked in … Everyone there was asking, ‘Man, where are you from?’ I told them Louisiana, and they were shocked, because we haven’t had a great fighter from here in a long time.

“I want to be that guy.”

IRON MAGIK

The Iron Magik name is actually inspired, in part, by Tyson. “Iron Mike” is Varmall’s all-time favorite boxer, and to see Varmall in the ring, it’s easy to understand why. In a heavyweight pool that by definition is full of very large men with long reaches, both Tyson and Varmall are compact fighters that rely on similar tactics – and prodigious power – to thrive.

“I’m short, compact, strong … some heavyweights are 6-foot-4, 6-foot-7 with that long reach,” said Varmall. “They usually want to stay back and use that range. So I’ve got to get inside on them. And when I do that, and they feel my power, things change.”

When Varmall speaks of Tyson, its not of trying to replicate the success Tyson had over his career, but to exceed it. He said that he watches Tyson fights to learn and apply the former world champion’s strengths to Varmall’s own style. However, he also spoke of Tyson’s flaws and limitations inside the ring, the things that ultimately led to his being surpassed and marginalized in the boxing world. Varmall wants to become an evolved Tyson.

It’s at this time that one begins to understand that the charismatic Varmall’s great confidence in his abilities stops short of cockiness.

He’s a student of the game, and knows that without the proper preparation, he’s as apt to be defeated as anyone else on a given night. Jenkins calls his nephew’s work ethic “impeccable.”

“Even when he’s not feeling 100 percent, he’s giving it everything,” said Jenkins.

You win a fight through preparation in the gym, Varmall said, not on fight night itself.

 But given that preparation? He likes his chances.

“In the amateur ranks, you’ve got three rounds to get the job done. In the pros, I don’t feel like anyone can withstand the my pressure or my power for 12 rounds,” he said. “I’ve got unbelievable combos. I feel I’m a smart fighter, elusive, quick, slick, and I’ve got a great chin. I’ve never been knocked out.

“They call this the sweet science. Well, I like to call myself the Mad Scientist.”

And the Magik part of his actual nickname?

“That’s from my uncle,” he said with a grin. “He said, ‘We’re gonna call you Magik, cause your opponents go ‘Poof.’”

PATH TO SUCCESS

One of the greatest goals Jenkins had when he began training was to provide a diversion for youths that might otherwise find themselves in trouble.

Varmall knows the pitfalls life can bring to those with too much time and not enough inspiration. He hopes to provide the latter for many.

“You see people killing each other out there. People caught up in peer pressure, doing things they shouldn’t be doing. It could have been me,” said Varmall. “I never wanted that. I’ve got two little sisters, and that’s where it starts for me. I want to be the best role model I can be.God has blessed me to be in this position, and I’m gonna help people.”

Finding his passion was the key to it all. 

“If you feel something strongly in your heart, you go for it,” he said. “Because there’s a reason for that feeling. You chase your dream.”

And while losses sometimes creep into those dreams, others lead to a much more pleasant awakening.

“You’re talking to the future heavyweight champion of the world,” he said.