The boxing soldier

Houdine Moore, of Newark, is an amateur boxer. Each day, he rises before other soldiers or stays awake later, so he can run 3 to 5 miles and go through a set of boxing exercises.

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CAMP WESTBROOK, N.M. – Like many New Jersey National Guard soldiers training at this isolated base, Sgt. Houdine Moore misses home. But the piece of New Jersey that Moore yearns for most surprises even his fellow soldiers.

TYSON TRISH/STAFF

Sgt. Houdine Moore won the New Jersey Golden Gloves super heavyweight title in 2007.

He wants to throw a punch.

Moore, of Newark, is an amateur boxer. At 24-years-old and 245 pounds, he could be embarking on a professional career. Certainly, many expected that after he won the 2007 New Jersey Golden Gloves super heavyweight title.

But Moore, who waits tables at a Friendly’s Restaurant in Morris Plains, put on his uniform and picked up his rifle — for a second deployment to Iraq with Foxtrot Company, based at the Teaneck Armory.

“This is what I signed my National Guard contract for,” said Moore, who enlisted in 2002.

Each day, Moore rises before other soldiers or stays awake later, so he can run 3 to 5 miles and go through a set of boxing exercises. “It’s good. I’m away from all the distractions back home,” he said.

Is he a star of Foxtrot’s hand-to-hand combat training?

“I won’t throw a punch without my gloves on,” Moore says. “In boxing it’s not how strong you are. It’s how long you can be strong.”

Moore plans to contend for the Golden Glove title as soon as he gets home – in 2009.