By: Austin Killeen – Ringside – April 1, 2016      Photos by Jerry G. Angelo

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On Friday the Mountain View Community Center hosted the first night of Golden Gloves action in the open divisions. Boxers from around the state traveled to the Duke City in what they hope is the first leg of a journey leading to a national championship. There were eight bouts alternating between Show bouts and Open competition. Adam Reyes and Adam Marquez gave dominating performances against tough competition in the 152 pound division. They will meet on Sunday to see who represents New Mexico in the regionals.

Bout #8, Open, 152 lbs. Adam Marquez (Duke City Brawlers) won by UD over Jason Bernard (Atrisco Boxing). Marquez smothered Bernard’s offense with a blistering attack on the inside. The thinner Bernard has some nice moves, but he needed space to operate and space was in short supply.

In the second round Bernard seemed to score a clean knockdown, landing a left hook to the jaw of Marquez. Marquez’s gloves touched the canvas but it appeared the referee felt it was a slip. This would be the Atrisco boxer’s only moment in an otherwise dominating round by Marquez. Marquez has fast hands and was landing punches in bunches on the inside. Round three was a repeat of the previous two rounds. Marquez has good balance and stuck to his rival like a refrigerator magnet.

              Bout #7, Open, 152 lbs. Adam Reyes (Martinez Boxing) won by UD over Josiah Zamora (Unattached). Like Marquez in the final bout, Reyes put on a display of body punching only he fought from the outside. Reyes would feint Zamora out of position and then land brutal left hooks and right crosses to the ribs. At times I didn’t think Zamora would survive the opening round, apparently Zamora has a cast iron body.

In the second Reyes continued his attack, but was becoming predictable and Zamora took advantage. Timing his rival, Zamora unloaded a nasty left hook to the head of his opponent, stopping him in his tracks. But Reyes takes a solid punch and dominated the remainder of the stanza. Reyes tried to finish Zamora off in the third, but the unattached fighter has no quit in his DNA and finished standing up.

Bout #6, Novice, 140 lbs. Jocelyn Shade (Unattached) won by TKO over Adah Frankovic (Warriors Boxing). In the only female bout of the evening, Shade proved too strong for her rival breaking through her defense. Both girls are tall and fought most of the first round on the inside. Consequently, they smothered each others offense. In the second round, Shade would take a step back which created space for her punches and this would prove to be a winning strategy. Shade was landing some powerful punches to the head with both hands.

In the final round Frankovic was clearly tired and was administered a standing 8-count by the referee. Shade then exploded an overhand right, dropping Frankovic. It worked once so Shade tried it again with the same outcome. The referee had seen enough and stopped the proceedings at 1:50 of the round. Girls are getting the same training as the boys and this bout proved it.

Bout #5, Age 14, 137 lbs. Josue Reyes (Torito Boxing) won by TKO over Kevin Vega (Henry’s Golden Gloves). The opening round was fought at a fast pace, with Vega possessing the ability to fight effectively backing up. Reyes pressed the action, but Vega was landing the cleaner punches. Reyes persistence paid off in the second and he had a big round. Vega continued to back up but appeared to be tiring. He tasted some big punches to the head and body.

Reyes was in complete charge in the final round, resulting in two standing 8-counts. The bout was stopped at 1:07 of the third. This was an entertaining bout.

Bout #4, Age 14, 155 lbs. Marcus Hernandez (Barron Boxing) won by UD over Latemian Patterson (King of Kings). Hernandez employed a bob-n-weave attack to dominate his taller opponent all three rounds. From the opening bell Hernandez would slip under Patterson’s punches and land clean shots to the body. What made it even more impressive was his ability to do it from either side. My only advice to Hernandez would be to lose another ten pounds. Patterson needs to develop the ability to land uppercuts to counter an opponent like Hernandez. I look forward to seeing Hernandez in action again.

Bout #3, Age 13, 118 lbs. Matthew Reyes (Martinez Boxing) won by UD over Maximus Moya (Power and Glory). Although the decision was unanimous the rounds were competitive. Reyes won the first round by scoring on the inside and then moving out of range. That was a good strategy because Moya has a decent offense of his own. In the second round Reyes seemed to abandon his strategy and started trading with Moya. This made for a very close round, which I gave to Reyes.

Although Reyes appeared to be physically stronger, Moya landed some nice left hooks and right crosses in the final stanza. I felt this round belonged to Moya. If you saw the second round for Moya and it was very close, you had a different winner than me.

Bout #2, Age 9, 62 lbs. Dominick Marquez (Warrior Boxing) won by UD over Victor Ordonez (Perez Boxing). This bout was all about offense, with neither boxer taking a backward step. You could see that both young men had been drilled in the basics and were not just throwing wild punches. Each round Marquez and Ordonez would go toe-to-toe, trying to overwhelm their rival. Did I mention that these guys were in excellent shape? I had Marquez winning a very close decision.

 

Bout #1, Novice, 119 lbs. Charles McGuiness (King of Kings) won by SD over Eulises Ordunez (House of Pain). McGuiness and Ordunez opened the evening by providing the fans with plenty of action. Both boxers like to work from the outside, but I felt McGuiness has a little more polish. Ordunez landed some nice punches but failed to follow up his advantages. All three rounds were competitive and the split decision shows how difficult it was to score. I felt McGuiness had the edge, but sitting on another side of the ring might have changed my final view.

This was an entertaining evening, but with only two golden glove bouts many of the ten divisions will be uncontested. I was six for six in the bouts that went to the score cards. I don’t remember that happening for me in a very long time. Tonight there should be an increase in golden glove action.

Many former golden glove champions were in attendance supporting the participants. This included Fidel Maldonado Jr., Brian Mendoza, Jose Osorio and Matthew Griego.