Richard Galvan’s son likely saved his life.

The 31-year-old Fort Gibson man always loved boxing, watching it faithfully, cheering his favorites and booing the rest.

He started going to a local boxing gym — Hooligan’s — with his son Jordan, 12, who wanted to try the sport. Jordan kept bugging Galvan to work out with him.

Galvan began lifting weights, punching bags and sparring. Soon, he had dropped 60 pounds to get to 182, a fitting weight for the lean, muscular man who stands 5 feet, 11 inches tall.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Galvan accomplished more than many could in seven months. He won a Tulsa-area Toughman contest. In four U.S.A. Boxing-sanctioned amateur matches, he took the title.

Last Friday, the ultimate invitation came in the mail: Contest officials invited him to compete in nationals next May in Tunica, Miss.

Obvious pride shows itself as trainer Tyrel Brown talks about the strides Galvan has made and in such a quick fashion.

Each night from 5 to 9 p.m., Brown unlocks the door to Hooligan’s, a local old-school boxing gym. Bare walls frame a floor littered with mats that have seen better days. Look up and you will see exposed beams. This gym doesn’t have fancy music or machines. Blood and guts are the fuel needed to make it there.

“I’m the hooligan,” he says with a mischievous grin.

That’s just the way Brown wants it. An athlete in high school, he turned to boxing at age 19 as a way to keep fit. Lacking a place to box, he opened Hooligan’s about a year ago.

Word-of-mouth advertising has brought in numerous men and women, ages 8 and older, he said. Besides boxing, Leigh, his wife, also offers yoga on occasion. Brown teaches a women’s boxing class, too.

“The harder I work ’em, the more my class grows,” he said.

Brown and Galvan both brag about the pride, determination and foxing boxing brings out in both young people and adults. It’s a sport that kind of rides the undercurrent in this area, but its popularity is growing, Brown said.

This summer, Brown, a professional boxer, and Galvan, are planning a public contest at the Muskogee Civic Center, in part for fun and also to expose people to the fundamentals and benefits of boxing, he said.

“It’s nothing but healthy,” Brown said. “The workout is never the same.”