Hundreds of fighters in Tulsa for USA Boxing National Open

There are over 800 boxers in Tulsa this week for the USA Boxing National Open. The event is at the Arvest Convention Center through September 20. Oklahoma City-based Rival Boxing Gym has five of its athletes competing.

High-level competition

The USA Boxing National Open is one of four national tournaments this year.

"It is the best of the best competing every time we come to a national tournament, so it is definitely a different level and a very high level of competition," Rival Boxing Gym OKC owner and head coach Nicole Burleson said.

She adds it is the best opportunity her athletes will have all year to compete locally.

"Being at the level that he is at and some of my other boxers are, you do not get a whole lot of opportunities to fight back at home just because it is hard to get the fights and find the fights," Burleson said.

Rival Boxing Gym OKC

Before owning and coaching at her own boxing gym, Burleson was a professional boxer herself. She picked up the sport at 28 years old and went 8-1 in her professional boxing career.

"Towards the end of my career, I got into coaching, and I just fell in love with it," she said.

12 years ago, the gym she was coaching at was about to close, so she took over.

"I got into coaching and took the gym over to give the kids a safe place to go, keep them out of the streets, keep them out of trouble," Burleson added.

Going for Gold

Brandon Noriega is one of Rival Boxing Gym OKC's fighters competing in the USA Boxing National Open. He is the #1 seed and already has six national titles.

He started boxing at 9 years old, but it took some convincing of his parents.

"They thought I was too young and that I was going to get hurt," he said. "I just kept asking and asking, and eventually they let me, and ever since then, I just stuck with the sport."

This week, Noriega is chasing yet another gold medal, but his goals go beyond that.

"My bigger goals are to make the Team USA Youth high performance team and win internationally," he continued, "After that, I hope to be on the Team USA elite team and hopefully be an Olympian."

Fan Experience

The USA Boxing National Open has two sessions every day at noon and 6 p.m. through Thursday. The finals will be on Friday and Saturday at noon.

The competition is open to spectators. Tickets are $50 for the whole week or $10 per day. Ticket prices jump up to $25 for the finals on Saturday. For more information, visit the USA Boxing website.