Amid the heavy punching bags, speed bags and sparring ring, visitors to Finefrock & Stumpf Golden Gloves Center on Liberty Street in Lancaster will witness boys, girls and men pushing themselves to the limit, living up to the mantra that hangs on the wall in the rear of the gym: “If you want to box, train. If you want to win, train harder.”
Nineteen-year-old Manny Pentz embodies this slogan as his intense training and his winning have given him the opportunity to fight for the light heavyweight title at the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves State Championship Saturday night at the Drexelbrook Hotel and Event Center in Drexel Hill.
Pentz first appeared in the gym a little over two years ago, but gym owner and coach Barry Stumpf was in the hospital recovering from a serious leg injury after getting hit by a van. Stumpf, who had coached Manny’s dad, Ryan, in the early 1990s, remembered getting a phone call while in the hospital with the news that “Pentz’s kid is in the gym, and he’s not little anymore.”
MIKE GROSS | Sports WriterStumpf remembered a young Manny running around and throwing toys at people’s faces.
Today, Manny towers above others at 6-foot-4 with a chiseled 176-pound frame and now he’s throwing jabs and hooks.
Stumpf’s assistant coach, Juan Vazquez, took notice right away after seeing the then-17-year-old Pentz shadow box. Pentz remembered another trainer telling him “he could hear me before he saw me,” commenting on the power of his punches.
Upon returning to the gym after his hospitalization, Stumpf recognized Pentz’s potential.
“He’s so smart and adaptable with his size, uses his reach, can take a punch, and has great footwork,” Stumpf said.
Emmanuel Pentz, 18, practices a few doges while using a speed bag inside Finefrock & Stumpf Golden Gloves Center, on East Liberty St., in Lancaster City on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Pentz will be competing in the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves state championships on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
Once Pentz stepped in the ring, he progressed quickly. Typically, a boxer fights in the novice category through 10 fights, but Stumpf moved Pentz up to the open level after he dominated his first five bouts. He can still remember the fifth fight, the one that “sealed the deal.”
Pentz was facing the open class champion from the Baltimore-Washington area, a boxer nicknamed “Grave Digger.” Before the match, his opponent pantomimed as if he were digging Pentz’s grave. Pentz simply turned to Stumpf, smiled and said “Just wait ’til the bell rings.” He then proceeded to dominate, knocking his opponent down three times.
Stumpf recognizes what boxing can do for young people because the sport changed his life. He was completing community service, dumping trash cans, as a youngster when a boxing trainer named Milton Finefrock encouraged him to put on the gloves.
About a decade later, as a 24-year-old who had found his way into trouble, Stumpf again would encounter Finefrock, who reminded him that “this is your community.”
Finefrock trained Stumpf to be a boxing coach, and over the past 54 years, Stumpf has trained 13 national champions. He sees that same potential and work ethic in Pentz that those previous champions demonstrated.
Pentz, a 2023 McCaskey graduate who attended the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center, follows a strict diet, runs 30-35 miles a week, trains in the gym five times a week, and carefully cultivates a strength training program that balances mobility and power.
“It (boxing) has created a big 360 in my life,” Pentz said. “I never thought I was good at anything, but now I am obsessed with it. I learn something about myself every time I step in the ring.”
As Pentz trains, the younger kids watch in awe between their own training. At least six of them will travel this weekend, driven by “team mom” Becca Toomey, to cheer on their hometown hero.
But Pentz said he enjoys watching them train just as much, reflecting that it is “like watching a young child learn to walk.”
Pentz considers himself a student of boxing history and studies many fighters to sharpen his techniques, but it is MMA fighter Conor McGregor whose words inspire him most and fuel him: “Every fight is a blank canvas. You paint the picture.”
Saturday night, Pentz will work to create his latest masterpiece as he attempts to win a Pennsylvania Golden Gloves championship.
