Upper top left is East Orange’s Armonee Wright wearing her gold medal from the nationals. Upper top right are Bashir McEachern, who is Wright’s coach, Wright and Legacy Boxing Club owner Yessenia Montalvo. Bottom left are an unidentified male, Wright and McEachern. Bottom right, Wright joins her teammates from nationals.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — Armonee Wright, a 25-year-old East Orange resident, won a gold medal at the second USA Boxing’s Women’s National Championships at CajunDome & Convention Center in Lafayette, Louisiana, Aug. 15-21.
Wright was among 11 women on a team that competed in the tournament. Most of the girls on the team are from New Jersey.
Wright’s coach, Bashir Eachern, was one of the coaches of the team and the only male of the contingent. In an interview with the Record-Transcript, McEachern said he was honored to coach the team.
“It was a wonderful experience to have the opportunity to coach these women,” said Eachern, an East Orange resident. “These women were very humbled and passionate. It was an honor to be able to coach them.”
Wright recently graduated from the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy and was hired by the EO Fire Department. She will be the headline of “Jingle Brawls Police vs. Fire,” which will take place on Dec. 13 at the VFW in Kenilworth, as policemen and firefighters from various municipalities will compete for a good cause. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Legacy Youth Empowerment’s Youth Boxing program.
McEachern was extremely proud of Wright for winning the gold medal.
“I’m very proud of her, in light of the fact that within the last year she has accomplished so much, graduating from the academy and now being an East Orange firefighter, as well as being a very humble young lady at 25 years old. She has a contagious personality, very humble, but then the lioness comes out of her in the boxing ring.”
The following is a Q&A with Wright:
Q: How did it feel to become a national gold medalist?
A: It felt and feels amazing becoming a national gold medalist and bringing the gold back home to New Jersey.
Q: What got you interested in the sport of boxing?
A: I honestly started boxing to keep me in shape and out of trouble for my basketball offseason when I was in high school and then from there I fell in love with boxing and never looked back.
Q: Who are your mentors and why?
A: I would say in my life right now my mentors are those around me that continue to pour into me, those that are positive and motivating, those that love me for me and allow me to push towards my goals and supporting me through my goals, the people in my life that just stick beside me on the good days and the bad days, those that I love and cherish that just continue to teach me continue to always give me words of wisdom, showing and pushing me to go harder at life, especially in the days where I don’t have it to push myself.
Q: How has your coach, Bashir, helped you in your development?
A: Coach Bashir has helped me in my development in so many ways!! Coach B has walk side by side with me from the moment I decided to become a USA licensed boxer and to the moment I decided I wanted to be firefighter. Bashir has shown me the dedication the discipline that it takes, the character and just the humbleness that should come with being a face in boxing, and just in my community, he showed me the patience, showed me unity, trust, faith, honesty and so much more that plays a huge part of who I am today, inside and outside of the ring.
Q: What made you interested in becoming a firefighter?
A: I would say my interest in becoming a firefighter came from noticing as a young child how involved firefighters were with the community. I love what being a firefighter stands for. I love that the mission of a firefighter is to save lives, protect property, and to strengthen community relationships with professionalism, courage and dedication, but most of all, I just loved the overall thought of me being a firefighter, having a stable career that I love doing, giving back and saving the city/community that I was raised in, while still being able to pour into myself and my boxing career at the same time.
Q: What are your immediate goals in boxing?
A: My immediate goal in boxing is hold a minimum of seven belts, from my amateur boxing career to the end of my pro boxing career, and to just be one of the best female boxers of all time and the best female firefighting boxers of my time.
Photo Courtesy of Bashir McEachern
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