History making boxer hopes to inspire and ‘defy expectations’ in KC’s Golden Gloves competition

By Alan Shope

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — The Kansas City Golden Gloves competition is this weekend.

A Lawrence boxer hopes to have a big performance.

“It’s not just a sport to me,” Boxer Shiloh ‘Shy’ LeBeau said.

LeBeau has been an amateur boxer for about seven years.

“The first belt I had won was a United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association,” LeBeau said.

That was a pretty special belt.

“It wasn’t until I had gotten back that I had been told that I just made history for the state of Kansas as the first full-time male or female student to ever win an intercollegiate boxing title,” LeBeau said.

The Haskell college graduate has punched her way into some pretty good company, winning four more belts and two golden gloves. More than anything, she wants to inspire young women, especially Native American women.

“Being Native American, I want to be able to inspire. Put down the violence, you know, gloves, not guns, and have a happy, healthy life,” LeBeau said.

When she’s not boxing, she spends a lot of her time talking to kids at schools and on reservations.

“Being able to share that with a younger generation and give them something positive,” LeBeau said.

The title winner started boxing in 2012. She’s not quite sure if she wants to go pro yet. Right now, she’s focusing on the Olympics.

This is actually LeBeau’s second run at the Olympics. In her first attempt, she made it to the last-chance qualifiers in California.

The Golden Gloves Tournament goes from Thursday through Saturday at Memorial Hall.

Tickets start at $10.

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