Belle Brings Plenty was 10 years old the first time she entered the boxing ring competitively. She’d trained for her inaugural bout for more than a year, running, sparring, jumping rope, and hitting the heavy bag for 3-5 hours a day. And although Belle grew up in a boxing family and worked out at the Wolves Den Boxing Club founded by her father and coach Joseph Brings Plenty Sr., the reality she encountered in the ring surprised her. “I was doing pretty good,” says Belle. “My opponent was a year older and I guess I was winning. But after the first round I remember coming back to my dad and I just started crying from nerves and emotions. Dad said, ‘Why are you crying? You’re winning!’ I went out second round and got a TKO on the girl.”
Muhammad Ali famously referenced champion mindset: “I am the greatest. I said that before I even knew I was.” Belle, now 19 and a graduate of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School and Kimball Union Academy, has gone undefeated since that first TKO. “With boxing, I’ve learned how to control my emotions,” says Belle. “I still get nervous during that first round. It’s when you’re shaking off the ring rust and getting to know your fighter. But you have to learn how to contain your emotions, so you don’t end up going all out on your opponent and losing.”
Today Belle coaches alongside her father at the Wolves Den in Eagle Butte. “It’s really cool to see a lot of girls fighting nowadays, especially because there weren’t many when I was starting,” says Belle. “A lot of the guys respect the girl fighters now, just because of how tough the sport is. When I was 9 years old and training, one guy was telling me I didn’t know how to fight, that I was a girl and he was going to beat me up. So, my dad let me spar him. I ended up beating him and it felt pretty good.”
Wicahpi Luta Winona Win Pay Pay Frazier is 11 years old. Known as Nona, she has been boxing for three years. She trains with Belle and Joseph at Wolves Den. Nona’s mother, Ariel Pay Pay, also boxed and encouraged Nona into the sport after Nona was experiencing bullying. “She’s got a lot more confidence in herself,” says Ariel. “She’s really thankful for Coach Belle because she gives her encouragement, not just in the ring or on the practice floor, but also spiritually. She always talks about Belle.” Nona says boxing gives her exercise, company, and focus. “Boxing changed my whole life. One of my goals is to make my coaches proud of me, to push myself and stay with it, stay with boxing.”
The Wolves Den boxing program Joseph Brings Plenty Sr. established in an old ambulance garage in 2002 encompasses much more than physical athleticism. Joseph is lieutenant for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Police and has worked in law enforcement since 1993, as well as social services, school counseling, and as tribal chairman. In 2007, Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, conducted for Joseph a chief ceremony, a momentous bequeathal that entrusts Joseph with responsibility to the Lakota nation for his lifetime.
Today Joseph is talking from his cell phone in his truck, en route to the sundance ceremony grounds. “We started getting some of the buffalo skulls ready because a bunch of us from the boxing club are going to be sun dancing. We’re doing some cleanup for the grounds and getting ourselves ready. It rained last night, so it’s beautiful today.”
Joseph started boxing in Pine Ridge at 8 years old. His father Enoch, grandfather Phillip, and uncle Vincent Brings Plenty all boxed, as did older cousins. Joseph’s was a schooling of literal hard knocks. “I was a tiny guy and they put gloves on me and threw me in,” he laughs. “It was traumatizing and I didn’t want to go back the next day, but they took me anyway. But it really helped. Outside was my gym. There weren’t a lot of resources, so you put on shoes and ran out in the country in open spaces. What I’ve been able to put together now for the kids in the community is really awesome.”
Boxers at Wolves Den must prove their commitment before Joseph allows them to compete. Physical training is daily, with Friday through Sunday reserved for taking care of themselves spiritually and learning about Lakhól Wicoh’an, Lakota ways of life. Participants sign a contract and the use of alcohol, drugs or recreational tobacco is not permitted. “It’s a restorative justice youth diversion and it’s not easy at all,” says Joseph. “It’s really taxing on the body, but if they’re able to get past the first two or three weeks, they’re going to feel like things have really changed. I didn’t make it that way because I don’t want anybody in it, but it’s just the way it is, there’s no way around it. Because you can bull---- a
counselor, a priest, a judge, but you can’t bull---- a pushup and you can’t bull---- the lodge. If people are using, it really takes it out of them, especially if they’re sitting in a sweat lodge. If they’re using, their body will let them know.”
Nona’s mom Ariel, is appreciative of the program’s inclusion of Lakota traditions. “Nona had the privilege to start all that stuff. We’re semi-traditional people as a family in the home. But there’s also stuff that we don’t do as much, like inipis. We’re not able to do that stuff on a monthly or daily basis, just maybe once a year. But Joe offers that to the children and all his boxers and even the family. He reaches out to everybody.”
Joseph says Muhammad Ali was a childhood hero for his bravery in and out of the ring. “He was like Crazy Horse. For an Indian kid on a reservation, Crazy Horse was everything and Ali was like that. He couldn’t get beat and he outsmarted everyone. But what Ali did for social justice and his people, at a time when it wasn’t socially acceptable, showed what he had in his heart. He fought to show we were all created equal, and that actually has to mean something, not just be talk. He knew sitting back and doing nothing perpetuates issues and makes you a coward. He had to have gone to a spiritual level to be able to pull off all his fights.”
Belle has extended her boxing career to advocating for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and co-teaching self-defense seminars at Wolves Den with her aunt, Lory Molino, a black belt in mixed martial arts. “Indigenous women are targeted more,” says Belle. “Boxing definitely makes me feel more comfortable out there in the world. I think it makes my dad feel comfortable, too. It’s just a good feeling to know that I can protect myself if I have to.”
The Wolves Den facilities are provided by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Joseph personally purchased most of the equipment. “That’s where having a very supportive and understanding wife comes in,” he laughs. “We’ve had fundraisers, but it’s tough to fundraise on a reservation, especially when you have very high unemployment. It’s hard to ask anybody for money or resources on that level.” He’s thankful for the tribe’s support, but a gym with a permanent ring and classrooms is on his wish list. Because local clubs are scarce, competitions require travel and associated expenses, so his fighters may not experience as many bouts as other clubs. He’d like to see more clubs but says it’s precluded by a misconception of the sport as barbaric and fighters as bullies. “We need warriors. We need to help each other. I just want to empower the boxers to be able to live the best life that they can, to be not just physically strong, but mentally and spiritually strong as well. If they want to be champions of the world, I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen, but they don’t have to be pro boxers. These kids may not see themselves as having potential, but I see it, in every one of them, I see it. And I got to try. If I don’t try then I would feel like, ‘Hey, I let Ali down. I let Crazy Horse down.’ I would like to think, in the end, that I made a difference too, maybe not so much on a large scale but just within my community.”
A video posted on the Wolves Den Facebook page captures Sophie Brings Plenty, Joseph’s youngest daughter, punching the heavy bag at the gym, gloved hands expertly drawing up to protect her face. At six years old, she’s the youngest member. “Training the young girls is a lot of fun,” says Belle. “I get to tell them from experience and show them what they need to know before they get in the ring. Before I go in, I like to think of it more of like a battle, a war. I go into a mindset of how my relatives used to be back in the day before they went into war. I like to get into like a state-of-mind where I’m more focused and think of my partner as the enemy, basically take them down and win. That’s just my mentality going in.”
Muhammad Ali, a new 4-part documentary series, premieres Sunday, Sept. 19, at 7pm (6 MT) on SDPB1 and SDPB.org.
Sept. 1, 7pm (6 MT) Muhammad Ali Screening
Join SDPB and cultural developer, Vaney Hariri, live at the SDPB Black Hills & Sioux Falls Studios, or online at
SDPB.org/ALI for a screening of Muhammad Ali and discussion.
Conversations on Muhammad Ali with Ken Burns
Join live, online discussions with Ken Burns. Register at pbs.org/kenburns.
Sept. 9, 6pm (5 MT) “Ali, Race & Religion”
Join a live discussion with filmmaker Ken Burns, Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, and ESPN Senior Writer Justin Tinsley and explore the interwoven nature of race and religion in Muhammad Ali’s own life, and its impact today.
Sept. 14, 6pm (5 MT) “Ali, Activism & The Modern Athlete”
Join a live discussion with filmmaker Ken Burns, New Orleans Saints player and NFL Players Coalition founder Malcolm Jenkins, ESPN/The Undefeated Vice President and Editor-in-Chief Raina Kelley, and special guests. Examine the nature of the modern athlete and celebrity through the lens of Muhammad Ali and today’s biggest stars.