DEKALB COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) — For 70 years, one Garrett native has been in and out of the boxing ring. On Friday and Saturday, he will join nine other Hoosier boxer in being inducted into the Indiana Boxing Hall of Fame.
“I was never doing it to gain recognition,” Placencia said. “I just wanted to be the best at what I was doing.”
With every jab, cross and hook, 80-year-old Ed Placencia has always strived for greatness. He joined his father’s and five brothers’ love of boxing at the DeKalb County boxing club when he was just 10 years old.
“By channeling that energy into a boxing program, you didn’t have that energy at home to fight on of your brothers, so it was a way of getting of getting out that aggression, which I believe everyone has in them.”
Starting in 1963, he won the Indiana Golden Gloves tournament three years in a row. The same year he won his last Golden Glove, Placencia joined the army, where he was recruited to box. However, Placencia tells WANE 15 he would have rather served his country by fighting in Vietnam. According to Garrett High School’s website, he saw combat as an Infantryman during his tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam in 1967. When he returned home in 1968, he picked up his boxing gloves and traveled across the country, competing in national championships until 1976.
Placencia eventually retired as a professional boxer, but to this day, you can still find him in the ring. The decorated boxer returned to the DeKalb County Boxing Club to teach the next generation of boxers…