Associated Builders & Contractors sponsor latest USA Amateur Boxing Show
On Friday evening January 27, 2017, there was a lot going on at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel in San Diego. On that night ABC, the Associated Builders and Contractors celebrated their installation of the new Board of Directors with a steak dinner plus a boxing show featuring 22 of the area’s top Amateur boxers. Photos: J. Wyatt
On Friday evening, the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., San Diego Chapter in association with the National City Community Youth Athletic Center hosted the latest USA Amateur Boxing show at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel on Aero Drive. Unlike the upcoming Super Bowl Telecast with its monotony of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Taco Bell, Doritos, Bud Light and Geico Insurance commercials, there was not one distraction interrupting this extremely entertaining show. Hats off to the show’s coordinator, Clemente Casillas, the Director of the National City CYAC, who was able to assemble the qualified boxers at a time of the year when so many are just returning to their respective gyms after the long holiday season.
Without further ado, here are the results from Friday’s contests:
In Bout #1, it was 16-year-old Jonathan Mansour (114 lbs., red trunks) from the Bomber Squad Academy, El Cajon, Calif. going up against 15-year-old Steve Rios (117 lbs.) from Ivan Puente’s Backyard Gym in Vista, Calif.
(bottom, left) At the conclusion of Bout #1, we see Jonathan Mansour from the Bomber Squad Academy having his arm raised in victory by referee Will White. (bottom right) Mansour is joined by his proud father.
With his harder shots, mostly to the head, the taller Mansour netted an 8-count stoppage in round one and clearly dominated the punch stats in round two. It wasn’t until the final round that Mansour cut back on his production and got on his bicycle to circle the ring. End-result, Mansour won over the judges to secure a unanimous decision.
Bout #2 saw Alejandro Ulloa (blue trunks) winning the match and belt after smothering his opponent, Sammy Vences, with punch after punch to the face.
Immediately following his victory in Bout #2, Alejandro Ulloa was joined by his loving and supportive family. All photos: Jim Wyatt
In Bout #2, it was 11-year-old Sammy Vences (89 lbs.) from the Backyard Gym, Vista taking on 12-year-old Alejandro Ulloa (88.4 lbs.) from the National City CYAC. In this one, Ulloa did three things to ensure victory. One, he wasted little time and closed the distance, two, he delivered the straighter punches to his opponent’s head and three, Vences had Ulloa trying to deliver his wider punches off his back foot while backpedaling. With Ulloa maintaining this strategy, the decision was never in doubt.
After the southpaw, Chase Stanley (blue trunks) dominated his foe in round one, back came Michael Figueroa (r) with a vengeance in rounds two and three, landing the straight rights and right crosses to control the remaining rounds. At the conclusion of Bout #3, veteran referee Dana Kaplan raises the arm of the victorious Michael Figueroa (right). Photos: Jim Wyatt
Bout #3 featured 14-year-old Chase Stanley (104.8 lbs.) from the Bomber Squad Academy, El Cajon going up against 12-year-old Michael Figueroa (109 lbs.) from the Backyard Gym, Vista. In round one, Stanley was clearly in charge and his accuracy with the straight lefts and left hooks won him the round. In rounds two and three, that advantage disappeared. Between rounds, Figueroa must have received a tongue lashing from his coach because his punches, especially the straight rights to Stanley’s head started landing in bunches, plus they landed with far more power. Soon it was Stanley backing up.
With the speed of their punches, the majority rapid fire two and three punch combinations, both Carlos Villa (red trunks) and Jorge Chavez (blue trunks) must have felt their bout had become a complete blur.
At the conclusion of Bout #4, the winner, Jorge Chavez (blue trunks) became the recipient of the championship belt presented by one of the show’s sponsors from the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. plus Clemente Casillas, the Director of the National City CYAC, the organizer of the show.
In retrospect, Bout #4 had to be the most exciting bout of the night. It featured 16-year-old Carlos Villa (129 lbs.) from the Pacheco Boxing Club, San Felipe, B. C., Mexico, which if you’re tracking such things has to be at least 250 miles from the venue, the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel. His opponent was 17-year-old Jorge Chavez (123 lbs.) who trains at the National City CYAC gym which is just 11.4 miles from the Sheraton. We should also note that Villa’s gym, the Pacheco Boxing Club, has a history of producing top pugilists. The 21-year-old Carlos “El Tiburon” Sanchez (12-0, 11 KOs), a professional boxer, now training in Los Angeles, is from that gym. In 2016, Sanchez won all 11 of his contests by TKO or KO.
Early on in Friday’s contest, it appeared Villa was the stronger, more powerful and busier of the two boxers as he used his leverage to deliver his power punches with full extension. The hand speed of both boxers was crazy fast. Then, in round two, referee Dana Kaplan stopped the bout to issue Chavez a standing 8-count. This development lit the fire under Chavez who went full bore to return the favor. After clobbering his opponent for the remainder of round two, Chavez got what he needed the issuance of a standing 8-count for Villa. It appeared Chavez had leveled the playing field and the third round would decide the bout.
In the third round, Chavez continued his mastery to win over the judges and earn a unanimous decision. As it turns out, this was a great come-from-behind victory for Chavez but some people are now wondering – what if the tables had been turned and Chavez was the one who had to travel such a distance. Would we have had a different outcome? When questioned about the fight, Chavez admitted, “That guy (Carlos Villa) was really tough. Early on, he was even stepping on my front foot. Then, you saw how he switched his stance.”
(photo, top) In Bout #5, we see Trenell Norris (left, red gloves) clipping his opponent Marcus Armstrong (blue gloves) with a dandy left hook on the chin.
After defeating Marcus Armstrong in his USA Amateur Boxing debut, U. S. Marine Specialist E-4 Trenell Norris receives an assist with his championship belt from Hondo Fontane, who is our local LBC 44 president.
Bout #5 featured a 28-year-old U. S. Marine, now a Marine Reservist, Trenell Norris (180.6 lbs. of solid muscle) from the Bomber Squad Academy in his debut taking on 27-year-old Marcus Armstrong (178 lbs.) from City Boxing in San Diego’s Downtown. Early on Norris looked to be the more poised, more confident, more acclimated of the two. Every time Armstrong landed a punch, Norris made certain to land not only the same amount but two additional blows, the majority going to the midsection. In the second round, Norris, ahead on points, was given a second warning about bouncing off the ropes. In the final stanza, Norris did well at first but then appeared to be running low on petrol. So, in point of fact, the final decision, which ended up favoring Norris, was a lot closer than many thought.
(photo, top) At the conclusion of Bout #6, a nonstop battle, we see Ernesto Solano (l) from The Arena Gym showing good sportsmanship by clapping for the man who got the best of him, Savontes Scott of City Boxing.
The victorious Savontes Scott (c) poses for one last photo with the two coaches from City Boxing who helped him in his preparation, Austin Brooks (l) and Vernon Lee (r). All photos: Jim Wyatt
In Bout #6, they had 27-year-old Ernesto Solano (178.4 lbs.) from The Arena Gym, Point Loma going up against 33-year-old Savontes Scott (184 lbs.) from City Boxing in San Diego’s Downtown. In this one, Solano may have been the busier of the two, but at the same time, he was the less effective. When Scott threw a punch it hurt and Solano would often ignore his own safety by coming straight at Scott with a lack of head movement and the proper footwork. The unanimous decision went to the bigger, stronger Scott who packed a wallop in every punch he delivered.
Bout #7 featured 15-year-olds, the much taller Juan Fernando Rangel (113.2 lbs.) from the Pacheco Boxing Club, San Felipe, B. C., Mexico going up against Adan Palma (118 lbs) from The Arena, Point Loma. As expected this was a great match with the fearless Palma pressing forward to land his wide array of punches from every angle and Rangel landing his power shots that would normally have an opponent lying on their back. After one such combination, referee Rick Ley felt it was proper to issue Palma an 8-count. From the look on Palma’s face, he didn’t take kindly to this stoppage and soon after was back banging away with Rangel.
In the photo above (top left) referee Rick Ley is seen issuing Adan Palma (blue headgear) an 8-count. With Palma playing catch-up, he soon became as persistent as a house fly. The only way for Madvena to slow Palma down was to tie him up and he did just that until the final bell.
With neither boxer showing any sign of letting up, the second round continued at a furious pace and so did the tightness in the scoring. Feeling he needed a spectacular finish or possibly a knockout in the final round, Palma let the punches fly with reckless abandonment. Even though Madvena got hit hard several times, he knew how to cover up and last out the round. The close decision victory was awarded to Juan Rangel Madvena.
(photo, top) In the one-sided Bout #8, we witnessed Julius Ballo from the Bomber Squad Academy never taking his foot off the gas as he kept jettisoning in and out to land these quick combinations on his opponent Miguel Moreno from the Pacheco Boxing Club, San Felipe, B. C., Mexico. (middle photo) On hand to make several presentations was the suave, elegantly attired Adrian Morilla, the former Pro Boxer and Muay Thai fighter who is now a Kru/teacher in the various fighting sports. (photo bottom) Julius Ballo is joined by family members and good friend Chase Stanley.
Bout #8 featured 13-year-old Miguel Moreno (88.2 lbs.) from the Pacheco Boxing Club, San Felipe versus 13-year-old Julius Ballo (92.2 lbs.) from the El Cajon Bomber Squad Academy. Like the other bouts, this one went nonstop as Mr. Ballo gave his opponent a boxing lesson featuring one standing 8-count and a look at some great defense plus phenomenal hand speed. All told, Moreno may have landed four or maybe five solid punches and that’s not going to get you a win versus a champion boxer who is currently ranked #2 in the country.
After the final match of the night, Julius Ballo (r) had to return to center-ring to receive his recognition for being chosen “the Boxer of the Night.”
Bout #9 featured 17-year-old Daniel Remigio (135.6 lbs.) from the Alliance Training Center, Chula Vista, Calif. taking on 16-year-old Raymond Ramos (135.8 lbs.) from the Bound Boxing Academy, Chula Vista, Calif. Even though Remigio did much better in round two, there can be no doubt that he was getting the worst of it in rounds one and three.
(photo bottom) None too pleased with the decision going to his opponent, Raymond Ramos of the Bound Boxing Academy, we see Daniel Remigio (l) of the Alliance Training Center walking away with a scowl on his face. In terms of punch output, both boxers threw a ton of punches but the incredible force behind Ramos’ punches could not be denied.
After working his corner on Friday night, the young mystery lady (right) wanted not one ounce of credit for helping Raymond Ramos get his win.
Bout #10 featured 20-year-old Tyler Herberger (133.8 lbs.) from Old School Boxing, San Diego taking on 17-year-old Mario Ramos (132.2 lbs.) from the Bound Boxing Academy. In this one, the patrons saw two accomplished boxers throwing very scary, damaging blows at each other.
(photo bottom) Joined by their coaches, Paden Hooplii (l) and Juan Medina Jr. (r), the Ramos brothers, (l to r) Raymond and Mario, show off their new impressive Championship belts.
Round one went to Mario Ramos who finished the round strong and landed many hard shots to the body. It’s likely Herberger took round two after landing so many combinations to the head. Round three was another no let-up round as the boxers went non-stop right up until the final bell. You’d have to say the decision went to the guy who through from a wind-up and that’s what Ramos did. His punches were devastating and would normally have an opponent seeing stars but since Herberger has incredible toughness, it’s unlikely we’ll see that happen anytime soon.
For awhile there, Bout #11 was quite a scrap between the inevitable winner David Gates and the new kid on the block Maath Sulaiman Mashaleh who as they say was too legit to quit.
In Bout #11, you had the grizzled veteran, 21-year-old David Gates (159 lbs.) from the Alliance Training Center, a guy who has beaten almost everyone in his weight class. His opponent on Friday night was Maath Sulaiman Mashaleh (159 lbs.) from The Arena who at the age of 26 was making his Amateur debut. Considering how new Mashaleh is to the sport, he did an amazing job and surprised everyone with his performance against an upper echelon, well-respected boxer. Of course, nobody beats the formidable David Gates. Mashaleh’s biggest asset is his endurance which he takes pride in. It’s a rare occasion when he doesn’t run at least five miles each and every day.
