Becoming a professional athlete has its ups and downs, but perhaps no more than becoming a professional boxer.

Zach Walters, better known as “Jungle Boy”, has fought with tons of athletes in his life.

But years ago, when he sparred with one specific fighter, he didn’t know the fighters son would be his next prodigy.

“We got this cool historical thing for me and Andrew now,” said Walters.” So, when Andrew was, I think, nine or 10 years old, he came to the gym. We reconnected, and he started training at the gym. So, he had about two fights here in Minnesota, then moved away for a little while, came back, he moved to Vegas over there, and then came back when he was 17, started his amateur boxing career.”

Andrew Griggs has dedicated his time since meeting Jungle Boy to becoming a professional fighter.

“Going through a lot of ups and downs, you know, obviously that comes with it,” said Griggs. “Hard training in the gym, consistently like two, three workouts, as much as I can a day, as much as possible.”

A goal for Griggs was to get some eyes on Minnesota as a fighting state.

“The steps for me in the pros is just to become one of the best out of Minnesota, the best in the sport, you know? Really put Minnesota on the map,” said Griggs.

After years of dedication, Griggs threw the gloves on, and threw some punches this weekend, all resulting in his first professional win.

“It was an amazing experience, saw a lot of people next to the stage, it was nice, it was dope,” said Griggs after his win.

Even if Griggs hadn’t won this weekend though, the journey itself is a celebration.

“A lot of people in the classes still look up to me, so it’s like, I’m showing them how far they can go, they stick with and put in the hard work as well,” said Griggs.

“I get to be the face of the organization here, but there’s so many people that have supported me, supported our gym, supported Andrew along the way,” said Walters. “So, anytime one of the boxers succeeds and goes on to new levels, there’s a whole bunch of us that feel the impact of that win, the impact of that victory, it affects us all. So, it’s a big, big family. One person in the ring, but a whole family gets to celebrate together, it’s fun.”