Act two for Blue Springs boxer

Sometimes, all you need is a break. Whether it be to just rest, pursue something else in life, or maybe to find one’s self, breaks are needed at certain points.
And it’s been working wonders for Josh Luteran.
Luteran is a boxer who lives in Blue Springs. Two years ago, he laid off boxing for a while. As an amateur fighter, he was 5-1. At 18, he was presented with a contract to fight professionally. He turned it down.
“I wasn’t ready,” he said.
He had other things to take care of first.
Luteran has been in the boxing gym since he was 8.
“I bugged my dad about it constantly until he took me,” Luteran said.
Luteran’s father was a single, working parent, raising three kids – Joan Jacque, Josh’s older brother, now 28, Joanni, Josh’s older sister, now 27, and Josh, himself, who’s now 23. Joan Jacque also fought, but only as an amateur.
“He wrestled, he did football, and he was actually going to do MMA (mixed martial arts), but that didn’t work out,” Josh said of his brother.
Joan Jacque and Josh came from a long line of boxers, from his father, to his grandfather, to his great grandfather, who was a bit of a character.
“He boxed professionally, but he also played professional hockey, and he was a professional race car driver,” he said. “And he was actually one of (notorious Kansas City mob boss) Tom Pendergast’s lieutenants.”
With his family giving him the genes, it wasn’t long before Josh got in the ring.
“I got in the ring, and I was good!” Luteran remembered. “I was quick, I had a lot of energy …
“But once I got in the ring, it all just dissipated. And I hated that. I hated that I’d look good on the bag and then it’d just disappear.”
So Luteran kept training.
“I just kept getting into the ring, and getting into the ring, and I’d keep going at it until I put it all together.”
But that’s no surprise to anybody who knows the kind of person Luteran is.
“Anything I do, I want to succeed at it,” he said. “If I’m going to put in the time and effort, I’m going to be good at it.”
Luteran’s first bout at 11 was a loss. So was his second bout.
“It took time to get good,” he said.
But a match in Little Rock, Ark., changed everything.
“Everything just spontaneously came together. It all just clicked,” Luteran said.
And from there, Luteran never looked back.
“I went on a tear,” he said, laughing.
Luteran continued to box through high school with the help of a childhood acquaintance that would prove to be a very important bond.
Craig Cummings, who is now Luteran’s trainer and promoter, was a professional boxer. Cummings topped out as the No. 3 ranked fighter in the World Boxing Organization. In 1997, he fought Steve Collins for the super middleweight title in Glasgow, Scotland.
The fight ended with a TKO in Collins’ favor.
But now, Cummings is a firefighter with the Kansas City Fire Department. He also helps run Danger-Fire Promotions with his partner “Dangerous” Damon Reed.
“I was ‘Kidfire’ when I fought, hence the company name,” he said.
Danger-Fire has about 40 kids in the company. Luteran, or “The Existential Outlaw” as he is known in the ring, is the only fighter Cummings works with exclusively.
“I have high hopes for this kid,” Cummings said.
Cummings explained the ins and outs of training upcoming boxers like Luteran.
“If you’re good all the way around, that’s all you’re going to be, is just good. You have to have that one exceptional attribute and just make up for the rest,” Cummings said. “With Josh, it’s his hand speed. He’s got extremely quick punches, but he still has to be more elusive. He takes too many punches.
“He’s got the same assets and faults of Tommy Morrison,” Cummings added, referring to the former WBO world heavyweight champion.
Cummings coached Luteran all through high school. Luteran – who attended Blue Springs South High School but switched to William Chrisman his junior year and graduated from there in 2004 – loved boxing but his heart wasn’t in it.
“I’d just go out there and box on the weekends,” he said. “I was 18. I couldn’t really do much.”
Cummings saw it, too.
“He had a fight at Ameristar (Casino) that he just wasn’t into,” he said.
Luteran got a lot of pressure to box. That, combined with a semi-committed approach, almost never works out well.
“I felt like I was cheating myself,” he said. “I made the decision to take a hiatus.”
Luteran went to the University of Missouri in Columbia.
“I felt like I had to prove something to myself, that I was good enough,” he said.
He was a very dedicated student as a theater performance, English and history major and even received the George C. Scott Scholarship, one of the most prestigious at the university.
Luteran came to discover, however, that college life just wasn’t for him.
“I thought this was as good as it gets,” he said. “I had a couple of courses for my performance major, but I wasn’t concentrating on everything else. You don’t really need a degree to be an actor. A lot of actors in Hollywood don’t have a degree in theater performance.
“I felt like I was wasting my time.”
So Luteran dropped out and moved to Louisville, Ky., with his then girlfriend, trying, in vain, to get enrolled in college.
“It was too expensive. I thought about going to the (Lee) Strasburg Institute (in New York), but it was a lot of money, too,” he said, referring to the acting school.
Luteran still thought about boxing, though.
“I missed boxing. I missed the performance of it,” he said. “I didn’t know if I would have the chance to fight again.”
Luteran returned to the Kansas City area, still looking to get out of town. However, he would be staying longer than he thought.
“I got into some trouble and got put on probation, so I had to stay,” Luteran said. “Since I couldn’t leave, I figured I’d fight again.”
Cummings received a call from Luteran some time after.
“I told him, ‘Let’s make this happen.’ I made the choice to come back with a passion,” Luteran said. “I made the decision to be serious about it.”
Cummings made it happen.
“I was hoping he’d stay with it,” Cummings said. “And I was glad he found that renewed passion, but I didn’t want to push him. He’d come back when he was ready and I’d be there with open arms.
“But I told him it was almost becoming too late. I told him, ‘If you want to make something of your career, you’ve got to do it now.’ The hiatus was good for him. He’s better now.
“He’s grown up. He’s matured.”
Luteran is using that new maturity to make himself a better fighter.
“It’s all about awareness and knowing your faults and having that initiative to correct them,” Luteran said. “You’ve got to do something about it if you’re going to be successful.
“I’ve accepted my responsibility and handled things better. I have a past. I can’t deny that. Who better than to address it than yourself?”
And it’s his past that is giving Luteran motivation in the ring.
“I have all this pent-up aggression,” he said. “I’ve got to extinguish that. I’ve got crazy methods in the ring.”
So Luteran is pulling something out of his old theater performance textbook.
“It’s called ‘method acting.’ You take something from your personal life to bring out that emotion to fit the script,” he said. “The script in the ring is to beat the guy across from you. So my opponent is basically a manifestation of all that turmoil and frustration. So when I beat him, I’m beating my past. It’s a symbol.”
Luteran also uses his acting background in another aspect of boxing.
“I put on a performance in the ring,” he said. “I want to get the crowd behind me and win over the fans. You’ll see a guy with all the potential in the world and the best technique. But if no one wants to see you fight, then you’re not going to succeed, and you see that in these situations.”
Currently, Luteran is at 160 pounds, although Cummings said he’ll fight the big fights at 154. He’s 10-1, his most recent win coming June 19 against Keith Collins by unanimous decision, and is a pro with the North American Boxing Federation. Luteran also has a full-time job as a bartender at O’Brien’s in Lee’s Summit, working 40 hours a week. But his trainer is fine with that.
“I’m living proof you can have a full-time job and be ranked No. 3,” Cummings said, chuckling.
Cummings will get Luteran a few more bouts before joining a big-time boxing organization, possibly the WBO, World Boxing Championship (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA) or the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
“We’re going to pick a guy and say, ‘That’s who we’re going for,’ and work our way up through the rankings to get to him,” Cummings said. “Currently, we have our eye set in Europe on Arthur Abraham, from Germany, in the IBF.”
Until the Abraham-Luteran headliner is announced, Luteran is just training and fighting.
“I’ll fight whoever Craig puts in front of me.”
And although Cummings will be in his corner, it’s a different kind of corner Luteran is dealing with now. He’s not tending to his cuts. He’s not taking a breather. He’s moving on.
He’s quit drinking. He’s stayed out of trouble. He’s making the people close to him proud.
“I have certain people I’m representing in that ring,” Luteran said. “Boxing is an individual sport. I don’t have anyone to blame but myself for the mistakes I make.”
Luteran still has things to look forward to in his career.
“As far as fighting goes, I haven’t reached that accomplishment I want to get to, and that’s to be as good as I possibly can be,” he said. “And it’s a work in progress. I’m still working on things in my life. I always thought I’d come in and make drastic changes. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a slow and steady progression.
“There’s definitely going to be setbacks. That’s life. There’s always going to be uncertainty, just like there was 20 years ago. I’ve just learned to accept it.”