Harlem’s Kahlil Gordon keeps stacking titles.
The 18-year-old Democracy Prep Charter High School senior captured the 2026 Ring Masters Championships (formerly the Golden Gloves) in the 176-pound division on April 10 at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden. It follows his title in the 165-pound weight class at the 2026 USA Boxing International Open in Pueblo, Colorado this past February.
Gordon’s win at the Garden came against Newburgh, New York’s Landen Buie, who beat him in a bout last September.
“I fought him previously at a different boxing event called SBC [Six Borough Championship], and over there I actually lost,” said Gordon. “It was a controversial fight. Everybody was saying I won that fight, so I personally felt like I got robbed that night. So it was definitely a little bit of motivation I carried with me to the [Ring Masters] fight. I just won. So when I won that and I got my rematch, my hand was raised, it definitely felt great.”
Gordon went back to the lab to make the necessary adjustments for the rematch with Buie.
“I watched the tape back,” he told the AmNews. “I saw that I was flat-footed, and I saw that my being flat-footed really allowed my opponent to catch me more. So the next fight, I really was on my toes, moving around, and it worked. My opponent couldn’t really land any punches on me, and I also threw more punches in general.”
Outside of the ring? In addition to finishing his senior year in high school and training five days a week, Gordon spends his weekends working at Sylvia’s Restaurant, the famous Harlem soul food eatery founded by his late great-grandmother, where he celebrated his Ring Masters accomplishment.
“It’s a little scary,” he admitted about moving on from high school and entering adulthood. “I’m still young, but I would say these 18 years definitely went by pretty fast. I remember being in middle school and being a freshman in high school. I blinked, and now I am a senior. I feel that as I get older, I definitely have more responsibilities, but I do have more freedom.”
As he approaches graduation, Gordon plans to enroll in a college in the New York City area and continue boxing under the watchful eyes of his parents, Shantasia Johnson and Richard Gordon-Woods.
“I keep a small circle [of family and friends] so the people I do keep around me are people who want to see me do good, and continue motivating me.”