Olympic trials champ Malachi Georges shows ‘nerds’ have their place in the ring, too

TEANECK, New Jersey – Few amateur boxers will have a year like Malachi Georges had in 2023.

The 20-year-old from Teaneck, New Jersey, made the jump from local prospect to national champion, becoming the only male boxer to win the National Golden Gloves and Olympic Trials last year. The trials championship he won in December has pushed his US boxing ranking to number two at 203 pounds, and has him knocking on the door for a trip to the Paris Olympics this summer.

Not bad for someone who had been a rookie just a year earlier and had to move up from his natural weight class of 189 pounds because it wasn’t an Olympic weight class.

“Honestly, it’s still catching up to me. It all happened so quickly due to the fact that I never stopped,” Georges said during an interview at the gym where he does most of his training, Different Breed Sports Academy in Teaneck, New Jersey.

“This is like brushing my teeth, it’s what I do all the time. I’m always watching movies, I’m always training. “I think that’s why my training and growth was so fast, because I gave it my full attention.”

It’s hard to process that a fighter who looks as comfortable in the ring as he does has only about 30 amateur fights. He is a well-functioning southpaw who combines the rhythmic movements and timing of Jaron Ennis with the punching power and speed to finish the fight at a moment’s notice. He stands a towering 6’3”, but appears even larger due to the largest afro seen in a boxing ring since Afro Thunder in the Ready to Rumble video games two decades ago.

From what his father said, there was nothing that seemed natural about him taking up boxing.

Ray Georges, who trains his son, was a boxer during the 1980s. Raised in the Harlem section of New York City, Georges had approximately 100 amateur fights while training at the Times Square Boxing Club, which was owned by the deceased Jimmy Glenn and was operated by him. He didn’t feel that his son, who grew up in a quiet suburban town in North Jersey, was cut out for the “savagery” of boxing.

Ray Georges remembers that his son was a “nerd” who excelled in all subjects at school, especially math. Malachi had never been in a real fight while he was growing up, except for one time when he and a friend of his were mistreated by some bullies.

“He had accepted the fact that he is a brainiac and a social misfit and that he will grow up to fit into society that way. I didn’t want to put him in anything that he wasn’t prepared for because he grew up in the suburbs and didn’t have any challenges that normal kids would have,” Ray Georges said.

It turns out that there are certain athletic advantages to being the studious type.

When Malachi started playing soccer at age ten, he taught himself to play soccer by placing all the pillows in the house on the floor in different formations. His father was the soccer coach of the city’s youth team, and another coach named Rodney Bennett convinced him to let him on the field when the team was short of players. Although he was not as big or as athletic as the other boys, Malachi soon became the team’s quarterback due to his ability to run plays better than others.

As other kids experienced growth spurts and overshadowed Malachi, his passes began to be knocked down at the line and wide receivers began to outplay his throws. More worrying was that Malachi began to avoid contact. Bennett suggested that Malachi try boxing to help him overcome his aversion to physicality.

Ray Georges was adamantly against the idea, but relented when Malachi’s high school guidance counselor mentioned how much the straight-A student wanted to pursue sports. Malachi started boxing in the Bergen County Police Athletic League with his trainers and then was mentored by his father once Ray Georges’ furniture moving business slowed down during the pandemic.

Malachi Georges says he can understand why some might consider him a nerd. He says he approaches the sport much like he prepared for his school subjects.

“I have to study for it, I have to analyze things. I treat everything like I treat math, everything is connected, in my mind that’s how it works for me. That’s how I deal with film study, shadow boxing, punch combinations, moves,” said Malachi Georges, who is an avid boxer and plays video games like Dragon Ball Z and Madden 2K in his free time.

Ray Georges said Malachi began outstripping more seasoned professionals in sparring simply by imitating boxing moves he had seen other boxers do, almost as if he were performing a dance move he had seen on social media.

Whatever his method was, it was producing results. Malachi Georges won his first national tournament last March, winning the National Qualifier in Detroit. He established himself as one of the best boxers in the country with his performance at the National Golden Gloves in Chester, Pennsylvania, two months later, dominating a fearsome puncher named Danel Brown in the finals and knocking him down in the process. His mastery of the ring was on display at the Olympic Trials, as he barely suffered a scratch in four bouts, winning every card along the way.

His next step in his boxing journey begins on Monday, January 8, when the USA Boxing selection camp begins at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colonel Georges will be competing to be the heavyweight boxer the United States sends to the World Olympic Games. Boxing qualifying events, which are scheduled for February 29 to March 12 in Busto Arsizio, Italy, and in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 23 to June 3.

At camp, Georges will compete against Jamar Talley, a fellow New Jersey resident who is a couple of hours’ drive south on the New Jersey Turnpike in the Philadelphia suburb of Camden. Talley has been part of the USA Boxing High Performance team for the past few years, representing the country in international tournaments. Talley failed to qualify for the Paris Games when he was defeated by two-time Olympic gold medalist Julio César La Cruz in his first match at the Pan American Games in October.

USA Boxing CEO Mike McAtee tells The Ring that the selection process will consider a number of factors, including how well boxers perform against each other in test bouts, as well as their experience in international competitions. Coaches will also take into account how well boxers maintain their weight, as well as following team rules and showing up to activities on time.

Georges believes he can earn that selection by showing his discipline and commitment during the five-week training camp.

“I am more than confident in facing this situation. It’s nothing different than what you would normally be doing. The schedule does not change, I will still get up early like I normally do, I will continue to train, nothing will change except the location,” said Malachi Georges, whose parents are of Dominican and Haitian descent.

“I won’t be number two.”

His dreams are to reach the highest heights possible in the sport of boxing, win professional titles and eventually become a Hall of Famer. Like solving a math problem on a whiteboard, Georges is looking to add a trip to the Paris Games to that equation.

“I wanted to go to the Olympics, but that wasn’t the end. That’s why I never talked about it as much as I would have talked about being the greatest of all time. For me, the Olympic Games are a big step for me to take,” said Georges.

“My main goals are to reach all the levels that can be achieved in boxing, both amateur and professional, and to show people that God can give them the same favor that he gave me.”

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism Class of 2020. You can contact him at [email protected].