Amateur boxers from around the region will step into the ring at Clyde Iron Works next Saturday for “The Return to the Clyde,” the first home fight night hosted by the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office PAL Boxing Club. Doors open at 3 p.m. and bouts begin at 4 p.m. on August 15 at the historic venue at 2920 W. Michigan St. in Duluth, with tickets priced at $20 at the door and free entry for children age 10 and under accompanied by an adult.
The event was announced by St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay on Facebook, who noted the card will feature local, state and regional boxers. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office PAL Boxing Club, the fight night will include 15 to 18 bouts, with eight local PAL boxers squaring off against athletes traveling in from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Canada. Every bout is sanctioned by USA Boxing under sanction number 26-30-927489, which requires all participating fighters and coaches to be registered with the national governing body and to follow its amateur safety standards.
A Free Gym Built on Police-Youth Mentorship
The PAL Boxing Club opened in January on the third floor of the Duluth Dream Center at 300 E. 2nd St. as a free, non-profit boxing gym for youth ages 8 to 18, according to FOX 21. The gym charges no membership fees, a structure the program says is meant to build positive mentorship between young people and law enforcement, foster discipline, and give kids a safe recreational outlet as part of a broader crime-prevention strategy, per Northern News Now.
Head Coach Joe Lorenzi, a Saint Louis County deputy and former amateur boxer, leads the gym alongside a volunteer coaching staff that includes Duluth Police Officer and active professional boxer Amy Lemenager, former professional fighter Andy Kolle, and other local law enforcement officers, Northern News Now reports. Lorenzi has spent two decades building youth boxing programs across northern Minnesota, having founded Lorenzi's Boxing on the Leech Lake Reservation in 2007 and the Bemidji Boxing Club in 2021 before co-founding the St. Louis County PAL program, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office PAL Boxing Club.
Sheriff Ramsay's Community Policing Push
Sheriff Gordon Ramsay, who was elected in November 2022 and took office in January 2023, has championed the PAL initiative as part of his tenure leading the office. Ramsay previously served as Duluth Police Chief from 2006 to 2016 and as Wichita, Kansas Police Chief from 2016 to 2021, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office, before returning to Duluth and later running for county sheriff.
Hosting the fight night at Clyde Iron Works ties the program to a site with deep roots in West Duluth. The building at 2920 W. Michigan St. originally operated as a heavy industrial manufacturer founded between 1899 and 1901, producing hoists and cranes used in the construction of the Panama Canal and the Empire State Building, before it was redeveloped into an event venue, brewery and restaurant in the 2000s, according to Clyde Iron Works. That redevelopment, which began in 2003, was closely tied to the adjacent Duluth Heritage Sports Center, turning the aging industrial site into a hub for youth athletics and community events, per MPR News.
A Venue With a History of Hosting Law Enforcement
Clyde Iron Works has become a regular gathering spot for public safety events in Duluth. The Duluth Police Department held a swearing-in and promotion ceremony at the venue's Malting Building in November 2024, underscoring its established role as a gathering space for both municipal and county law enforcement functions.
Open questions remain about the PAL program's future, including how it will be funded and sustained over the long term as a free-to-join gym, and how local community members view the model of police-led youth mentorship through sport. For now, the club's focus is on August 15, when its young fighters will get their first chance to compete in front of a hometown crowd at Clyde Iron Works.
