Define "getting into the amateur circuit". I thought that after you learn about boxing, and do some training, and after you do some sparring, then when you actually go to an official fight after that, you're an amateur. Isn't that right?

In other words, when it comes time for your first fight, do you just kind of say "Hey, I'm an amateur boxer now" and that's it, or is there some process you have to go through to be approved?

I spoke to a boxer at a boxing gym in my area today on the phone. The manager was busy so this guy picked up the phone. They said they had some people going to a Golden Gloves tournament thing today, but he made it sound like Golden Gloves was only one step above sparring.

Is Golden Gloves what amateur boxers do (or part of it), or is being an amateur boxer one step above Golden Gloves?

I tried to work in the issue of age without giving too much personal information about myself. From what the guy said, age wouldn't be a problem if I was only boxing in local events. I guess they're not part of the USA Boxing thing. He said he was 35 and someone else was 38 and they were boxing against people in their 20's.

I have to call back and talk to the manager next week, and gather more intelligence on what I should say to the people at the boxing gym that I WILL go to concerning my age.

So far my plan is to claim I'm 32, born in 1973 instead of 1970, and hope they don't ask for a driver's license or birth certificate or anything like that.

The_One77, you're right, I mostly just want to try something new, I don't have much excitement in my life right now. But I would like to learn enough and fight enough to know what goes on and how it all is.