Like boxing in a sauna, the Alliance Training Center show of 9/2/17
The Boxing Club with the best showing at Saturday’s Alliance Training Center Show in San Diego was the Bomber Squad Boxing Academy of El Cajon, thanks to the gentlemen holding the trophies Eddie Chollet (l) and Adrian Garcia (c).
On Friday evening, the night before the USA Amateur Boxing Show was to be held at the Alliance Training Center in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood, it was likely the parents of the boxers competing were concerned about the weather. If they turned on the TV to NBC 7’s weather lady Liberty Zabala, they would have learned, “There’s a chance of scattered thunderstorms through Labor Day. This has been precipitated by our blistering heat which brings with it an increased fire danger plus temperatures in San Diego will be reaching record highs with matching high humidity.”
These same parents would have then looked across at each other and commented, “Oh well, better him than us. Look at it on the bright side, win or lose, our kid is in terrific shape and about to lose even more weight.”
They would be correct, because most everyone who competed on Saturday, left the ring, not only glistening in sweat but with this serene look on their face as if their bout had gotten them one step further along the learning curve, a step closer to their ultimate goal. That’s why you see so many young people completely enamored by the sport of boxing.
In Bout #1, they had 13-year-old Bianca Noriega (91.6 lbs.) from La Gente Boxing getting the win over 14-year-old Christa Aquino (90.8 lbs.) from the host gym, the Alliance Training Center.
Early on the punches were flying in every direction from the ultra competitive Bianca Noriega from La Gente Boxing (red gloves, left) and Christa Aquino (blue gloves) from the host gym, the Alliance Training Center.
After things finally settled down, it was Bianca Noriega (red gloves) landing the more telling blows, especially to the head, to win over the five judges.
At the conclusion of their hard fought battle, the victorious Bianca Noriega (l) and Christa Aquino (r) posed for one last photo with Aquino’s proud Mom.
In Bout #2, it was 12-year-old Adrian Garcia (70.8 lbs.) from the Bomber Squad Academy of El Cajon, Calif. stopping 11-year-old Gavin Mitchell (70.6 lbs.) from the Alliance Training Center. This bout didn’t get very far by virtue of Mitchell’s lack of defense. After the referee Andrew Moreno watched Garcia hit the fearless Mitchell three times, flush on the face and then issued three separate 8-counts, he finally called a halt to their match dreading that some serious harm might come to Mitchell. At this time, it appears he’s all offense and no defense. Will this latest loss inspire him to work harder on his defense?
On Saturday, referee Andrew Moreno issued three standing 8-counts to the beleaguered Gavin Mitchell, back to back to back, after witnessing the fact that Mitchell lacked the proper defensive skills to do battle against Adrian Garcia.
After the early stoppage, RSB, Referee Stops Bout, Adrian Garcia (r) has his arm raised in victory by referee Andrew Moreno after his defeat of Gavin Mitchell.
At the conclusion of Bout #2, the victorious Adrian Garcia was joined by his proud father pose for a photo.
Crazy idea: If Mitchell was to be hypnotized into believing the punches coming at him from Garcia’s soft gloves were instead from a hot poker, the extremely hot ones used in the Pennsylvania steel mills, the ones that can sear right through a person’s body, then perhaps Mitchell would be more concerned about his defense and especially use some head movement to follow the lead of the famous Willie Pep, James Toney, or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Just a thought.
In Bout #3, it was 17-year-old Leo Cruz from Backyard Boxing of Oceanside, Calif. (144.6 lbs.) battling 18-year-old Yonis Muya (3-0, 144.4 lbs., ) from Old School Boxing, San Diego. As far as being a competitive bout, this one was that and had everyone’s attention. The shorter, Muya, with his Mike Tyson-like style, never let the taller Cruz have an opportunity to exploit his height and reach advantage. After recognizing Cruz’s style, Muya got himself in close and completely negated any response from the taller Cruz. Without the legs working for him, Cruz was handcuffed and Muya stayed in Cruz’s grill to out-point the taller opponent. After round one went to Cruz, Muya was in charge for the remainder of the bout.
At the outset, Leo Cruz (red gloves) was thoughtfully measuring his opponent to set the ground rules and then all of his measurements went out the window as his opponent Yonis Muya began to maintain his position in close.
When it went to the scorecards, all five judges had the more explosive Yonis Muya (left) ahead two rounds to one.
Even though he lost, Leo Cruz (left) learned a lot and appreciated the tough contest that Yonis Muya (right) provided. As they say, “Till we meet again.”
In Bout #4, they had 16-year-old Isael Quirate (130.4 lbs.) from La Gente Boxing, Brawley, Calif. going up against 17-year-old Daniel Remigio (10-5, 129.6 lbs.) from the Alliance Training Center. After standing there toe to toe and bombing away with their heavy artillery, most times in the center of the ring, Remigio proved himself to be the tougher, more accurate puncher.
Bout #4 had two boxers with similar styles and both unafraid to go all at it in the center of the ring. It was Daniel Remigio (red gloves) from the Alliance Training Center in a battle royale with the tough Isael Quirate (blue gloves) from the La Gente Boxing Club of Brawley, Calif. (bottom photo) Before long, referee Rick Ley had to issue Quirate a standing 8-count after he had his arm injured.
In the end, Daniel Remigio had secured his 11th victory against only five defeats.
How can you lose possibly lose when you have a young lady like this leading the cheerleading squad.
In Bout #5, which many later claimed to be the “Bout of the Day”, they had 9-year-old Gil Herrera from the Alliance Training Center (59.6 lbs.) taking on 8-year-old Gabriel Bojorquez from the United Boxing & Fitness Gym of Chula Vista (59.2 lbs.) who was making his Amateur debut. Declaring a winner in this match is near impossible. A punch from Herrera drew an immediate response from Bojorquez and vice-versa. The punches never stopped. In the end, the five judges had a very difficult decision and somehow ruled that Herrera held the edge in this very close match.
In Bout #5, you had Gil Herrera (red gloves) going nonstop against Gabriel “The Savage” Bojorquez (blue gloves) who did likewise.
Both coaches Marcel Acevedo (in the blue corner) and Ulises Zumaya (in the red corner) tried their best to settle their boxers down after the all-action, 1st round.
After their match, it was Gil Herrera having his arm raised in victory. On hand for the presentation was Ambur Zajac (bottom, left) another United Boxing & Fitness standout. Once they were outside the ring, Gil Herrera put his arm around Gabriel Bojorquez’s shoulder as if to say, you put up quite a battle.
The proudest members of the Gil Herrera support group were his immediate family and if they had a blanket handy, no doubt they would have been tossing him high up in the air.
In Bout #6, they had 12-year-old Eddie Chollet (85.8 lbs.) from the Bomber Squad Academy of El Cajon, Calif., taking on the much shorter 11-year-old Sammy Vences (8-4, 89.6 lbs) from the Backyard Boxing Gym, Oceanside, Calif. It appears Mr. Chollet has finally come into his own and like an orchestra leader selecting the proper punch musician to fire off, he seemed well schooled on his selection of blows to throw. picked the right punches to slow down Vences who kept coming but could not break down Chollet’s defensive wall.
Two dedicated coaches working their separate corners. Jack Ballo from the Bomber Squad Academy of El Cajon with boxer Eddie Chollet and Ivan Puente from the Backyard Boxing Club of Oceanside, Calif. with Sammy Vences.
Sammy Vences appeared to be the ideal opponent for the slashing Eddie Chollet who made good use of both his height and reach advantage.
As far as teams went, the Bomber Squad Academy of El Cajon had the best showing with both Eddie Chollet (l) and Adrian Garcia (c) winning their bouts.
In Bout #7, it was 28-year-old Earl Henry Jr. from the ABC Mongoose Gym in San Diego (1 win-2 losses, 159 lbs., blue gloves) taking on the more experienced 18-year-old Erik Villanueva (4-3, 156.4 pounds, blue gloves) from Old School Boxing in the San Diego State University neighborhood.
Not to use this as an excuse but we did learn that Mr. Villanueva had only recently returned from one of those exhaustive, chance of a lifetime, three-week European vacations. Since boxing is one of those unforgiving sports, his rust was noticeable and Henry made him pay for his inactivity. Henry’s punches hit their target at a much higher clip and as a result, Villanueva soon began to tire.
On hand to make the presentation of the winning trophy to Earl Henry Jr. was Eric Puente (right) a current USA Amateur Boxing National Champion.
Like General MacArthur, our hero Eric Villanueva and his gal friend promised they will make their return.
