Boxer set to start pro career

It was Casey Adams’ big night recently at the Cut Off Youth Center. A crowd gathered, mostly on his behalf, to see the Larose native lace up his gloves for the final time as an amateur.

“We did it to kind of get a following to help start his pro career,” said Damien St. Pierre with Bayouside Boxing Club. “He’s done this before, but we wanted to just kind of make the fight his last hoorah in front of the locals.”

As he entered the ring, Adams did his usual routine – he jogged a quick lap around the ring. The jog usually is to get his blood flowing before the battle begins. This time, it did a little more.

With each step, he glanced and saw a family member or close friend in the crowd.

Anything but victory wasn’t an option.

“I was just thinking about how I couldn’t lose this fight,” Adams said. “Just mentally getting myself ready to go. I didn’t want to let this big crowd down.”

Standing on the other side of the ring was 17-year-old Randy Cheramie, an upstart amateur who also doubles as a MMA fighter.

“We knew Randy would give him a good fight,” St. Pierre said. “We wanted it to work for everybody.”

St. Pierre’s sentiments held true, as Adams was pushed to the limit throughout the fight. With every moment of adversity, the crowd willed Adams along, chanting “Casey,” all throughout the fight.

“It was awesome,” Adams said. “I’m blessed to have all this support.”

The masses were pleased at the end of the day, and Adams eventually fought through Cheramie’s challenge, and matched his aggression with some of his own, earning a fairly easy, unanimous decision.

Upon hearing his name as the victor, Adams fell to his knees on the mat – rejoicing in victory, reflecting a chapter of his career now complete.

“I was definitely emotional,” he said. “I wanted to go out as a winner … That was the best amateur fight I’ve gone through.”

Amateur victories are not anything new to Adams – he’s won “countless” bouts in his decorated young career.

He started boxing when he was 9-years-old and has been trained by his father Gerard Adams, who boxed for a decade and had two professional fights.

“He had to put in a lot of hard work,” the elder Adams said. “As a kid, he didn’t have great speed. We had to work very hard to build the speed that you’re seeing now.”

Adams also struggled at a young age to fully dedicate himself to the sport.

“He was in and out of it as a kid,” the father said. “He wouldn’t ever stay out of it for too long before he’d come back in, though.”

After growing up and understanding the sport, Gerard said his son became the Golden Gloves fighter he is today – with a little help from an old, American icon, too, of course.

“Rocky Balboa is his absolute biggest idol,” Gerard said. “He saw all of the movies as a kid, you know, and when he started watching those movies, he started seeing what you have to do, and started to put the time he needed into it … You can talk to them all you want, but they seem to kind of grasp something a little better when they can see it visually. For Casey, it was Rocky Balboa. That’s where he got that style of fighting. He fell in love with the movie, then would come into the gym and work harder than I’ve ever seen him work. That’s how he’s been ever since.”

Aside from Balboa, Casey also received a boost from his brothers Brody and Devon.

Older brother Brody was a decorated amateur fighter, who fought in the Olympic Trials, and younger Devon is currently an amateur fighter, as well.

“It helped having the brothers in it with him,” Gerard Adams said. “They really pushed one another.”

With the amateur chapter in his career now complete, Adams will make his professional debut on July 10 in Bay St. Louis, Ms.

That gives the Bayou Boy about two and a half weeks to get ready for what might soon become the new biggest night of his career.

“For amateur boxing, I didn’t train much, but now that I’m going out for pro, I’m going to train all-day, every day if I can,” Casey said. “Fighting, fighting – every day. All of the time, boxing.”

Adams’ father said Casey will be able to be “as good as he wants to be,” on the professional level.

But before the first fight, Gerard said he would continuously remind Casey to stay levelheaded.

“A lot of these amateur guys come out in their debut and try to kill the guy in the first 20 seconds,” Gerard Adams said. “That would be great if Casey could do that, but we just will want him to be calm and understand that if he is calm, things will happen faster for him than if he’s overanxious.

St. Pierre, who will assist Gerard in managing his son professionally, agreed and said Casey’s amateur experience will go a long way in determining what he predicts to be professional success.

“Casey’s got a lot of experience – a lot of amateur experience, and today that just doesn’t happen,” St. Pierre said. “Everybody just goes for the money now. But he’s stayed in it long enough to build his craft and build a fan base. He’s got the tools to make it as far as he wants to go.”

Local fighter Casey Adams (right) eyes his next move against Randy Cheramie in a bout earlier this month at the Larose Civic Center. Adams defeated Cheramie in his final amateur bout and will move to the professional ranks July 10 in Bay St. Louis. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR