By Jason Brown
Leavenworth Times
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — A correctional officer at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth is set to climb between the ropes and compete in a charity boxing match Saturday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Albert Prescott, a 33-year-old correctional officer from Leavenworth, is slated to compete at the annual Guns N Hoses charity boxing event. The event is hosted by the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission and has been dedicated to raising funds for the S.A.F.E. (Surviving Spouse and Family Endowment Fund) program since 2005.
S.A.F.E. was started by the Kansas City Crime Commission in 2003 to provide immediate financial assistance to surviving families of first responders who lose their life in the line of duty.
Jan Zimmerman, chief of police in Raymore, Missouri, and director of S.A.F.E. since 2019, said this year’s Guns N Hoses has been highly anticipated since last year’s edition of the event was nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The reason why 2020 was so devastating for us was because we actually lost seven first responders last year,” she said. “So, to not be able to do our primary fundraiser and to suffer that many losses of first responders, was really difficult for us and so this is huge for us. This is really important because we never want to not have the funds to be able to respond if a first responder is lost.”
Prescott has lived in the Leavenworth area since he was in sixth grade and has worked as a correctional officer for 13 years. After spending three years at the Lansing Correctional Facility, Prescott began working at the United States Penitentiary where he has been for the last 10 years.
Prescott became interested in boxing when he started training at Title Boxing with an experienced trainer.
“That’s kind of how I got into boxing,” Prescott said, “because I’ve never boxed in my life, so I was pretty much starting from scratch. Then started training with one of the instructors there, Alemeo Carter, and he used to fight. So I started doing a couple of privates with him.”
After Title closed due to the pandemic, Prescott started training at Falco Ramirez in Kansas City, Kansas, around the same time he heard about the opportunity to participate in Guns N Hoses.
“The opportunity came up to enter this event for firefighters or police officers,” Prescott said. “I’m in the law enforcement side of things so I decided to enter it and see if I can at least give it a shot once and see if I like it or not. I kind of want to take it to the next level as far as fighting.”
Prescott will have a challenge ahead of him as a newcomer to the event. He is slated to face Kansas City, Missouri, firefighter Larkin Collins Sr., a five-year veteran of the event. Competitors will box three one-minute rounds while wearing headgear and 16-ounce gloves.
Zimmerman said the event is returning from a year off due to the pandemic and will be on a bigger stage than ever before.
“We had previously had event in the Grand Ballroom (at the Kansas City Convention Center),” Zimmerman said, “and this year, we’re moving to Municipal Auditorium. It’s such a historic venue, they’ve boxed Golden Gloves there. The circus has been there and they had Joe Lewis actually box there back in the 1930s.”
She said this year’s event will also welcome many of the families that have been assisted by S.A.F.E. since its inception and will feature a ceremony dedicated to fallen first responders in the organization’s 11-county reach.
Guns N Hoses is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Municipal Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased for $25 through Ticketmaster.
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