Michigan
Boxers Ready for National Golden Gloves
The latest installment of the National Golden Gloves Championships is just hours away and both Michigan-based teams have made the roughly 1,400 mile trip to Salt Lake City, Utah and their quest for national gold. Boxers from the Detroit team left from Romulus' Metro Airport at 7 a.m. this morning and those fighters from the Michigan team departed at 10 a.m. from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids. Boxers from Michigan compete in a total of four franchises. The majority of the state competes as part of the Michigan franchise while boxers from the Detroit area participate in the Metro Detroit team. Boxers from two gyms in Monroe County have fought as part of the Toledo (Ohio) franchise for half a decade (that ends next year, according to Detroit officials. click here for story) and those boxers in Michigan's upper peninsula fight as part of the Wisconsin franchise. Sportssummary has no information on any Michigan boxer in the Wisconsin franchise and there are no boxers from the state in the Toledo franchise this year (Jake Duffey won at 152-lbs at this years regional tournament, but decided not to go to nationals because of other opportunities he would have to miss).
The Michigan franchise has the second highest number of athletes returning to the nationals after being there last year - six out of eleven weightclasses - and Detroit is returning five. The Rocky Mountain franchise has eight fighters returning. Both franchises also have a defending champion among their ranks. Michigan has powerhouse Ernesto Garza III making his fourth National Golden Gloves appearance, this time defending his 119 pound title won at last years Tournament of Champions held in Grand Rapids. Metro Detroit has Craig Lewis who won gold at 201 pounds but has moved up one weightclass to super-heavy this year.
A brief look at the other franchises:
California
has filled all eleven of their slots, as they did last year. Whether
any of the men have been to Nationals before is not known, but they
did not compete in Grand Rapids in '08 making this the only franchise
to have no one returning for the second year. Cleveland, one of three franchises representing the state of Ohio, more than any other franchise in the country, has three boxers returning after competing last year. Anthony Nieves, at 119 pounds, and Eddie Alicea, at 152 pounds as well as Terrell Guasha who is fighting at the lighter weight of 165 instead of 178 pounds last year. Colorado-New Mexico has three fighters returning from last year including a defending champ. Louie Byrd won gold at 106 pounds in '08 but is moving up to 112 for this years championship bid. Byrd is joined by 125 pounder Robert Rodriguez and 132 pound Fidel Maldonado, recipient of last years sportsmanship award in the 132 class. Florida is returning two fighters from last year: Johnnie Rolon at 119 pounds and Kabir Rodriguez is moving up one weight class competing at 112 pounds this year. They have a full roster with the exception of no entry at 106. Texas has Eric Fowler and Errol Spence making a return appearance at 132- and 152-lbs, respectively. Texas is one of the seven franchises with fighters at all weights. Iowa is missing fighters in the three lowest weights but also returning three guys from last year. Jeff Leohr is moving up one weight from last year to fight at 132-lbs. He is joined by the two heavyweights Donovan Dennis and Toby Batie making returns at 201 and 201+ pounds. Indiana
is returning four fighters from 2008 while having three unfilled
positions this year. Kyle Moxley returns at 106 lbs and Dewayne
Wisdom moves up one weightclass to fight at 125 lbs. Christopher
Caffee is returning at 132 lbs and Raymond Lucies will compete at
178 pounds, up one from last year. The Cincinnati franchise has only one unfilled position, that being the 106 pound that went unfilled in the majority of teams. They have four fighters that also competed last year and their weights have not changed. Jon Cook at 119 pounds, Donte Strayhorn at 141 pound, Charles Howard at 165- and Danny Calhoun, Jr. at 201- pounds. Last year this franchise fielded a full team. Upper Midwest, like Cincinnati, is only missing a 106 pounder. Tony Lee, Jamel James and Javontae Starks are getting another bite of the apple at 132-, 141- and 152-lbs, respectively. Kansas City has two fighters returning who have moved up one weight each for this years tournament. Dillon Cook fought at 141-lbs last year and Ray Rivera fought at 152-lbs but they move to 152 and 165 pounds for this year. Knoxville has one unfilled spot, at 112-lbs, with two fighters returning. Avery Foley is fighting again at 125 pounds while Charles Watson moved up one class to fight at 152 this year. Omaha has Sergio Ramirez returning at 106 pounds and Johnny Determan at 112 pounds while Dylan Henry fought previously at 152 but has moved down to 141 pounds this year. Mid South has four fighters making a return with all eleven positions occupied. Henry Clay, 112 lbs; Deondre Malvin, 141 lbs; Anthony Campbell, 152 lbs; and a lighter Robert Alexander will fight at 178 lbs, down from 201 in 2008. Nevada is one of the seven teams with no vacancies and with two fighters that fought in Grand Rapids last year. Alexis Santiago has moved one weight up to 125 pounds and David Imoesiri returns at 201 pounds. New England has 119-lb Luis Rosa as their sole returning boxer this year. Pennsylvania has three fighters traveling west including defending 125-lb champ Keenan Smith and Paul Koon who lost at the hands of Kronk’s Craig Lewis in the finals last year. There will be no repeat of their match this year, though, as Lewis has moved up to the super-heavy for the tournament. They are joined by Jacque Lutz who will again be fighting at 178 pounds. Rocky Mountain has a full team and is returning the most fighters from last years tournament including a finalist. Alan Layba, 106; Isaac Aguilar, 112; Jose Haro, Jr, moving up one weightclass to 125; Duran Caffero is fighting again at 132 pounds after being last years runner-up; Manuel Mendez, 141; Logan Swallow, 152; Alejandro Canez, 178; and Adrian Farmer, 201+. St. Louis has Stephen Young moving up to 112 pounds while Derick Murray and Vincent Hadley will again compete at 132- and 201-lbs, respectively. Wisconsin
has three boxers returning at the same weights as last year plus
two former NMU fighters. Jemaine House, Adrian Martinez and Duarn
Vue return at 125, 132 and 141 pounds, respectively while Keola
McKee, at 106-lbs, and DeRae Crane, at 178-lbs, are representing
their home franchises after a several year stay at the Olympic Training
Center at Marquette’s Northern Michigan University. NYC Metro has three returning fighters including a defending champ on their team. Raul Lopez-112, Shemuel Pagan-132 and defending 152-lb champ Steven Martinez. Making his first national appearance in the senior division will be 2008 National Junior Olympic champ Pedro Sosa. New York State is missing entries at the two lowest weights as well as the super-heavyweight while returning Imar Iman who is moving up from 125 to 132 pounds this year and Will Madera in the 141 pound position. Tri-State/Ohio Valley is bringing Brientis Sanders at 119-lbs, moving down from 125, and 201-lb DeVon Henry and super-heavy John Smith. Toledo's team has the four lowest weightclasses unfilled, making it the smallest team of the tournament. Robert Easter, Jr. moves up from 132 to 141 pounds this year and is joined by Dequan Belcher at 201 pounds as repeaters. New
Jersey has half of its ten man team comprised of prior experience:
Brian Paiz, 119; Ricky Edwards, 125; Lisandro Tupete, 178; Tyrell
Wright, 201; and Junior Gelin, 201+. |
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