New Jersey boxing coach Joe Botti earns USA Boxing Gold Level certification

Howell resident and New Jersey Boxing Hall of Famer Joe Botti trains 16 fighters at Strategic Combat Academy in Sayreville and calls mentoring them his top achievement.

Joe Botti has packed several careers into one life in boxing. Now 59, the Howell, New Jersey, resident serves as head coach at Strategic Combat Academy, a mixed martial arts gym in Sayreville, where he has spent the past several years. Earlier, he ran a Union City gym for 25 years while working as a police captain, a post he left at retirement in 2021. He has also written multiple books about the sport.

Recognition has followed him throughout. A member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, Botti was chosen for a camp at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and came away with USA Boxing's Gold Level Coach certification. Only around 40 of the roughly 18,000 coaches in the country hold that credential, which clears them to coach at the international amateur level.

Asked what he values most, Botti points away from the honors. "The thing I love the most is watching these kids grow as people," he said. "Seeing them grow, learn the work ethic it takes to be successful, that's not only needed for boxing - these kids can use that in life." He added: "So many kids that I've seen that look like they were heading to a life - maybe in and out of prison, or a life going nowhere - to watch so many of these kids turn around and have decent lives, can you save them all? No. But in my opinion, if you can save one, it's worth it."

Sixteen fighters currently train under his direction. At the Colorado Springs camp, the chosen coaches were briefed on changes to international competition so they can ready their boxers, and sessions also covered nutrition and technology used in training. Away from the gym, Botti is preparing a third book, one that chronicles the life and boxing career of longtime promoter Don Elbau.

His list of past collaborators includes Joe Gatti, brother of the late Hall of Fame boxer Arturo Gatti, along with Frankie and David Toledo, who each won IBF Featherweight titles. Botti cornered Maine's Joey Gamache during that two-time world champion's career. He also oversaw New Jersey's amateur scene, where Newark native Shakur Stevenson developed before claiming an Olympic silver medal in 2016.

The 1980s, when Atlantic City sat at the center of the fight world, remain a reference point for Botti, and he believes the city can restore New Jersey's standing in the sport. "I can see that again happening in Atlantic City," he said. "You just need the right fighter to come up." One example he cited is Vito Mielnicki Jr., an Essex County native who is a four-time Junior National Golden Gloves champion and owns a 24-1 professional record; Botti took trips with him as a boy and says the fighter is "starting to bring it back."

By his own count, Botti has trained "over several thousand fighters over my lifetime." The hardest battle for most of those students, he said, "is within themselves to believe in themselves." Graduates of his program have gone on to become teachers, police officers and actors, and some have opened gyms of their own.

His method with young boxers is deliberately unhurried. "You have to take these kids out, drive them around, get them the experience," Botti said. "Obviously, get them the fights. It's very important to carefully take your time building them, because if you overmatch them, whether it's sparring or fighting, you can ruin the kid's confidence."