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Team Lethal Boxing Gym offers a no-frills way to stay in shape.
Cecil Pettigrew, a former professional boxer who competed as a middleweight from 1981 to 1998, now runs Team Lethal Boxing Gym at 5663 S. Mingo Road.
Team Lethal Boxing Gym may not offer fancy equipment, flat-screen TVs or even air conditioning, but it has heart and soul to spare.
Not to mention motivation, supplied in ample measure by the facility’s gravel-voiced founder and trainer, former professional boxer “Lethal” Cecil Pettigrew.
“I always tell kids, ‘If you want to do something, do it,’” Pettigrew, 52, says. “Life’s too short to mess around.”
Having grown up on a farm near East Pine Street and North Garnett Road in what is now east Tulsa, Pettigrew is no stranger to hard work. A chance entry in a local Toughman competition — an opportunity for amateur fighters to test themselves in the ring — set him on his ultimate career path.
“My friends and I dared each other to sign up for the fights,” Pettigrew recalls with a laugh. “The next day, I was the only one who actually had.”
He made good and won. Having found that he had a knack for competing in the ring, he went on to fight professionally as a middleweight from 1981 to 1998, amassing a career record of 52 wins and just 12 losses and three no-decisions. He had 38 knockouts in bouts from the storied Madison Square Garden in New York all the way to England and Italy.
Pettigrew has operated an amateur boxing gym in Tulsa since 1982. It started in a garage, but the current incarnation is located at 5663 S. Mingo Road in Building Q. Even with limited space (just 1,300 square feet) and limited hours (the gym is open only from 4-7 p.m. Monday through Friday), about 100 clients of all ages — both men and women — visit at least once a week. A modest $25 monthly fee covers workouts, which typically last an hour or more and include sit-ups, leg raises and jump rope sessions; time on the speed bag, heavy bag and double-end bag; and in-ring sparring.
Pettigrew works one-on-one with about 30 of the boxers. The most promising enter regional tournaments, the costs of which are paid through the Cecil Pettigrew Foundation. Local football players, including several from The University of Tulsa, have been known to seek out Pettigrew to increase foot speed and reaction time.
“The people here are from all walks of life,” Pettigrew says. “Some of them think they can fight — and many can — but others just need some sort of release. It’s a good, cheap psychiatrist.”
In many cases, Pettigrew — who counts amateur champ Isaac Mendoza as a former protégé — ends up mentoring the boxers and treating them as family.
Kris Clark, who has been boxing with Pettigrew for two decades, has seen that mentoring firsthand.
“The most attractive thing about Cecil is how he fosters and takes care of some of these younger kids who want to learn the sport,” Clark says. “He really takes them under his wing. When I was younger, it helped keep me on the straight and narrow. We’re playing a rough sport in here, but we’re teaching life skills at the same time.”
The gym also offers a workout experience that is varied enough to keep clients such as expectant mother April Zumwalt interested for the long haul.
Zumwalt, a women’s health nurse practitioner, visits the gym three times a week to stay in shape. She and her husband, Anthony, who also works out at Team Lethal, will welcome their first child in the spring.
“It’s a different kind of workout,” she says. “You’re not just getting on a treadmill for 30 minutes or just running. You’re doing all of these other things, so it makes it more interesting. You build a lot more strength, and having Cecil is like having your own coach to help you along.”
Having that personal touch can often make all the difference. In addition to his time at Team Lethal, Pettigrew works as a personal trainer at Fitso in Brookside. At both facilities, he constantly reminds his clients that the real key to getting in shape — or perhaps regaining shape after the holidays — is to keep moving.
“Not everybody needs to box,” he says. “But the key is to stay active. If you can’t run, go walk a little bit. If it’s too bad outside to walk, get a jump rope and go out to your garage and jump for five minutes. That five minutes will turn into 10 and then into 15.
“The main thing is, just go do something other than sit down and watch TV.”
