Union City’s Joe Botti getting inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame

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Union City’s Joe Botti is getting inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame this year, recognized for training 34 NJ Golden Gloves champions and over 100 junior champions throughout his career.

Super middleweight boxer Jason Escalera (left) and Joe Botti. Photo courtesy of Joe Botto.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Botti was born in Jersey City and boxed as an amateur between 1977 and 1986. In 1989, he started training fighters in Hudson County after opening the Union City Boxing Club.

In addition to his Golden Gloves and junior champions, Botti’s amateur teams won seven first place team trophies in the Garden State, defeating much larger teams from Paterson, Newark, Jersey City, and Trenton.

The New Hersey Golden Gloves honored him as “Trainer of the Year” in 1993, after leading 12 Golden Glove champions in a two year period. Botti also was selected as head trainer of multiple national teams from New Jersey.

Furthermore, he has managed and trained dozens of professional fighters including Jason “Monstrou” Escalera who fought for the USBA title in 2012. His fighters have fought all over the world and on every major TV network, including HBO, Showtime, ESPN and MSG.

Botti, who has trained over a thousand amateurs, has an 80 percent winning percentage in the amateurs and a 90 percent winning percentage in the pros.

Botti made boxing history when he organized and promoted the first sanctioned amateur female boxing match in the NJ/NY metropolitan area under USA Boxing in 1993 when two Union City boxers trained by Botti fought on the Union City card.

Additionally, he trained the first female boxer to win an “outstanding fighter of the tournament” award in NJ in the NJ Diamond Gloves tournament in 1995.

Botti has also worked in several world championship training camps and worked the corner of two-time world champion Joey Gamache of Maine.

A retired police captain who worked for the Union City Police Department from 1997 to 2021, Botti is also the author of two historical boxing books.

Those works are Joe Jennette: Boxing’s Ironman and the soon to be released Lightning & Thunder: The Arturo Gatti & Joe Gatti Story.

He is also a member of the Hudson County Boxing Association & Ring 14 Veteran Boxers Association.

Also being enshrined with Botti are North Bergen’s Danny McDermott, Frank Bartolini, Frank “The Animal” Fletcher, Anthony Fletcher, Omar Sheika, Jerson Ravelo, Jolene Mizzone, Angel DeJesus, Maurice Harris, Shaun George, Charlie McGill & Archak TerMeliksetian.


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