Democracy Prep Charter High School junior Kahlil Gordon was recognized last Friday in Harlem at a town hall in the school’s auditorium for winning an October 2024 national boxing championship in California at 176 lbs. His victory garnered the 16 year old an invite to the Silver Gloves National Championship later this month in Independence, Missouri.
Gordon, who works part time at his deceased great-grandmother’s famous Harlem soul food eatery, Sylvia’s Restaurant, was joined by his father, Richard Gordon, his mother, Shantsia Johnson, and other family members. He shared with the AmNews how he began boxing as a pre-teen.
“Actually, my father (encouraged me to start boxing) because I was in the house just gaining weight, getting fat, wasn’t really doing nothing,” he said. “So he put me in boxing to start moving around and to learn some self-defense, and it ended up being that I was just better than what people expected me to be.”
Gordon began boxing at 12 and lists current and former boxing legends Floyd Mayweather, Gervonta Davis, Terence Crawford, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson as his favorites. Gordon began to realize he possessed substantial talent at age 14 or 15. He spars at El Maestro Boxing Gym on Freeman Street at 1300 Southern Blvd in the Bronx and is trained by Jose Davila.
Gordon, who was born in Boynton Beach, Florida, and moved to Harlem at age three, shared that he has a passion for fashion and could someday be a fashion designer. He said having the ceremony held at his high school was special and he was happy to share the moment with his community.
“I’m with these people every single day, so it only made sense,” he said. “The other choice was to do it at work, and I would’ve done it at work because it’s my great-grandma’s establishment, but I chose to do it here because I just felt more people would be able to come out to it.”
Gordon’s high school peers cheered as he walked to the stage and spoke to them before receiving a citation.
“Whereas Khalil Gordon, a 16-year-old boxing phenom and national champion from Harlem, New York, balances his job school training to become a symbol of perseverance and hope for his community. And whereas such service, which is truly the lifeblood of the community and the state so often goes unrecognized and unrewarded now, therefore it be resolved that as a duly elected member of the State Assembly of New York, I recognize that in Khalil Gordon, we have an outstanding citizen, one who is worthy of the esteem of both the community and the great state of New York,” said Jordan J.G. Wright, a newly elected New York State Assemblyman for the 70th District.
The loud applause of his peers symbolized the pride they have in the success of one of their own.