SALT LAKE CITY — Just a month after Quinton Randall became the man his son could look up to, the little boy who inspired him through hardships that would have crushed weaker men was ripped from his life.
“I had two options,” the 28-year-old Houston native said after losing his 8-year-old son, Quenell, to a car accident in January 2017. “I could die with my son or live for my son. USA Boxing gave me a second family. It was the medicine for me, the fuel for me. I kept going; I kept fighting. And no matter where I went, I took my son with me.”
His only solace comes from knowing the life he built made his son proud.
“It was probably the most difficult decision in my life,” said Randall, who is a two-time national champion who is in Salt Lake City to compete in USA Boxing’s National Tournament, which begins Tuesday at the Salt Palace and culminates Saturday with championship bouts. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. Every time I fought, it was for him. I just thought about what he would want me to do.”
And then Randall did the only thing he says he’s ever wanted to do.
He kept fighting.
“Without boxing, I probably would have been dead inside of three months from suicide,” Randall said. “But I picked myself up off the ground and kept going day by day, one step at a time.”
Randall knows something about rebuilding a broken life.
“I wanted to box since I was 13,” he said at a Monday press conference. “But the life decisions I made led me to prison.”
From age 8 to 18, Randall was in and out of juvenile facilities. When he turned 18, authorities sent him to prison.
“I was in 23 and one, where you’re locked up 23 hours a day,” he said. “When you’re in there, you have a lot of time to think. All I wanted to do was box, and I wanted to make my son proud of me when I got out. And that’s exactly what I did.”
After his release at age 21, he found a gym and got a job.
“(I) made countless sacrifices, was homeless for months, slept at (my) job under the stairs just to make ends meet, so (I) could be able to afford training and send (my) son some money.”
After five long, difficult years, he earned his first national championship at a tournament just like the one that will see 700 boxers from around the country competing for a chance at national titles and a possible spot on Team USA. There are a handful of local fighters who've qualified to compete, and all bouts are free except Saturday night's title fights. The bouts begin every day at noon and again at 6 p.m., and all fights will be held at the Salt Palace.
Without boxing, I probably would have been dead inside of three months from suicide. But I picked myself up off the ground and kept going day by day, one step at a time. – Boxer Quinton Randall
On Dec. 10, 2016 in Kansas City, he won a national championship.
“At 26 years old, at the high peak of (my) life,” he said. “Working (my) whole life just to make (my) family proud of (me), make (my) son proud, to have somebody to look up to from the black sheep of the family.”
A month later, on Jan. 10, 2017, Quenell was killed in a car accident.
“To go from riding this high, being on Cloud 9, to having the No. 1 thing you fight for having been taken from you,” he said. “What do you do?”
Randall said winning that tournament gave him a spot on Team USA, and it was that training that saved him. He said the discipline required from the sport is a lifeline to many because without commitment, boxers can easily be beaten.
“The sacrifices you have to make in order to be at the top of this sport will humble you,” he said. “It will give you self-control.”
He said “getting punched in the face” will make even the most rebellious soul listen to the instructions and admonitions of a coach.
“I love this more than the next man want to take it from me,” he said. “You can’t do nothing without God, can’t do nothing without strong faith.”
He continued, “I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. I pray that you all put your shoes under your bed. So when you wake up in the morning, you got to get down on your knees to get ’em. And while you’re down there, thank God for grace and mercy.”