“CHICAGO FIGHT CLUB” CONTRIBUTES SKILL, SPIRIT, TO BOXING COMMUNITY

By Johnny Bellino

When Golden Gloves boxing fans were introduced to the tournaments Newest sponsor, Wasfi Tolaymat, they probably were wondering, who is Wasfi Tolaymat for God’s sake? No one had ever heard of him and he had never been involved in the Golden Gloves, let alone professional boxing. And, if boxing fans can’t pronounce the name, “Wasfi Tolaymat”, they’re going to have plenty of chances of to learn, because the middle eastern born American, is the newest face in Chicago boxing, even though has never stepped into a ring. Look inside Wasfi Tolaymat and you will find a man winter the humility of former champion Floyd Patterson, the entrepreneurial spirit of Oscar de La Hoya and determination of Joltin Joe Frazier,(He once woke the King of Saudi Arabia in the middle of the night and talked him into increasing the food supply for the poor.) And that’s not to mention the cunning of Floyd Mayweather, wich Tolaymat developed to survive bombings and kidnappings in the Middle East. Like a flying saucer Tolaymat landed in the boxing world this year and took its citizens by surprise more occupied by the Secretary of State. Although he spent more than $50,000 in equipment in the less then a year since he opened his first “Chicago Fight Club. he plans to expand to three, four and maybe more gyms, including Bridgeport, and south Chicago, where he has even looking to take over a building currently occupied by the Secretary of State. It’s not that boxing is Wasfi’s first fit of generosity. The family tree goes back the daughter of the prophet Mohammed, so he is filled with compassion and spirit of giving. “What I am is here,” he says, pointing to a host of plaques on his wall, including one signed by every living president in the United States, given to him in appreciation for his devotion to charity. OLD WORLD EXPERIENCE MEANS NEW WORLD SUCCESS Wasfi’s working history began when the five year old walked the streets of Aman, Jordan from sunrise to sundown selling the produce from his family’s century old food business instinct, and sense of opportunism that he brought to America, even though he had no money to invest when he arrived. Not that the cowboy dressed Tolaymat was all work and no play. In fact, his passion for card games led him to one coffee and tea shop after another until he figured playing cards and watching Arab movies with all his friends wold be better in his own coffee shop than someone else’s’. So he opened one in Jefferson Park. but first thing first. For two years, the Arab American kept stuffing his pockets he earned as a kitchen cook. When a friend’s liquor store was destroy by fire, Wasfi ant two cab driving buddies put up the money for building materials and repaired it themselves. “The owner didn’t have enough money to fix the place so he just gave it to us,” Wasfi explained. “My friends and I did the rest,” he said. After a year, Tolaymat persuaded a few friends to invest in another liquor store. Two liquor stores became three, and three became four, before he opened a popular night club in the Middle Eastern ghetto of Chicago.

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