Ryan Bivins returns to Bad Left Hook this afternoon with a report on last week's Pennsylvania Regional Golden Gloves Show in Philadelphia.
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On April 7th, 2012 at Philadelphia's Front Street Gym on 2076 E. Clearfield St, the Pennsylvania Regional Golden Glove Championships were held. Weigh-ins started around 5 PM while the fights themselves took place between 7:30 and 11:30 PM.
The bouts mostly pitted Philadelphia's champions against what the more central cities of PA had to offer. Of the 15 Philly vs Central bouts, the city of brotherly love won 10 of them. Bouts consisted of both Novice and Open (over 10 fights) classes. All Novice bouts were scheduled for 3x2 minute rounds while the only Open female bout was 4x2 minutes and the Open male bouts were 3x3 minutes. From the 4th fight onward Philadelphia's fighters were exclusively announced out of the Red corner. Overall it was a quality show promoted by Brittany Rogers' "Bam Boxing". For information on upcoming Bam Boxing promotions follow Brittany on twitter: @bamonboxing or check out their official site.
If you take a look at the video of the packed crowd below, you can see former World Welterweight Champion Kermit Cintron in attendance:
Results and commentary of the event after the jump - Notation used is
<125lb Junior>
1) Raheem Pagan (Red) [Front St] L3 Hector Bayamvilla (Blue) [Allentown]
After starting the bout slowly in a sparring session manner, business picked up in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Both fighters landed good shots but the Blue corner triumphed by landing the cleaner and more damaging blows. The Blue corner had a more diverse offensive arsenal and was much slicker defensively.
<132lb Female Open>
2) Dasha Ragland (Red) [HBG] W4 Kelly Ryan (Blue) [Front St]
After arguably controlling 3 of the 4 rounds, the Blue corner was originally announced victorious under the Red corner's name. The crowd cheered and the Red corner did not protest. However moments later the announcer corrected himself and called the fight for the Red corner. Boos ensued. Blue, the shorter and stockier fighter, was the aggressor through most of the fight and often had Red pinned up against the ropes. Blue was clearly busier but Red punched with higher accuracy. As is often the case in amateur boxing, it seems Blue was not rewarded for the good body work she did. Nor was she rewarded for the more damaging blows, which lead to Red spitting out her mouth piece in the final round.
<123lb Female Novice>
3) Casey Kasisky (Red) [Swoyersville] L3 Jaclyne McTamney (Blue) [Joe Hand's]
The Blue corner controlled the bout utilizing better footwork while throwing straighter and sharper punches. Red was usually the aggressor but lacked snap on her shots and often found herself standing too square and leaning into Blue's counter shots.
<123lb Novice>
4) Leon Morancie (Red) [Rock Ministry] W3 Marquis Pierce (Blue) [Hanisk]
In a wild encounter filled with wide semi-slapping shots, the taller and longer Red corner was content to bang at close range with the stockier Blue. The strategy worked well through the first two rounds, and Red even managed to stun Blue a few times. But Blue never gave up and managed to get the upper hand midway through the 3rd. In Blue's eyes it was enough to win, evident after watching his knees buckle after the decision was announced. That hurt him more than any of the punches in the fight.
<141lb Novice>
5) Andrew Roebling (Red) [Strike Force] L3 Julian Cruz Jr (Blue) [East Reading]
Like the last fight, the Red corner had a height and reach advantage, but this time was unable to take advantage of it. The Blue corner rushed inside at will and banged to the body and the head in combination. When he finished a combination he either stepped outside of Red's range to regroup or waited for the referee to separate the two of them, which was generally a product of Red's clinching. Aside from preventing himself from sustaining major damage, Red was more or less helpless on the inside. From a distance he flicked an ineffective jab and occasionally caught Blue with weak check hooks on the way in. Blue outworked Red by a wide margin and landed the better shots. The decision was academic.
<141lb Open>
6) Damon Allen Jr (Red) [Mitch Allen] W3 Jerome Rodriguez (Blue) [Allentown]
Despite having the faster hands and better footwork, "Baby Dame" began the fight tentatively and allowed the more awkward southpaw Rodriguez to walk him down with lunging jabs and straight lefts. Allen was caught the most with his hands down without moving out of range of Rodriguez's punches. Going into round 3 Damon knew he needed to turn up and the heat. He landed several 2 and 3 punch combinations that either broke through his opponent's guard (uppercuts and straights) or went around it (hooks). Rodriguez still found limited success, but only 1 punch at a time. While the crowd booed the decision verdict for Allen, they were likely scoring the fight in their head by rounds. Even though Allen arguably dropped the first 2 rounds he won the 3rd by a huge margin, thus fairly winning the fight under the standard amateur point system. Allen admitted after the fight that he was anxious in the first few rounds. To keep in touch with his Golden Glove progression on the national level, follow him on twitter: @Damon_AllenJr.
<152lb Novice>
7) Tyree Crowler (Red) [Young Guns] W3 Terrance Crown (Blue) [Swoyersville]
After very competitive first round the tide turned against the Blue corner after Red landed a heavy left hook to the head after the bell. The punch was however legal because it was in the process of being thrown as the bell sounded. Blue continued to get stunned in the 2nd round and was on the verge of being taken out entirely in the 3rd. Red's lack of commitment to working the body late in the fight probably cost him what would have been the only stoppage of the night.
<165lb Novice>
8) Vance Nwakpuma (Red) [MLK] W3 Jordan Demko (Blue) [Joltin's]
After a feeling out process in the opening round, Red controlled the 2nd from the outside and landed hard 1-2 combinations. Blue lacked the footwork to trap him. By the 3rd round Blue finally closed the gap but it was too little too late. Red won the fight mostly off the jab and lateral movement.
<201lb Novice>
9) Andrew Peurifoy (Red) [Joe Hand's] W3 Steven Ortiz (Blue) [Reading Inner City]
The Red corner dominated his short, heavy set opponent from beginning to end. For the most part Blue just couldn't get past the jab. The few times he did he didn't have the skills or stamina to get any work done on the inside. Despite the gross mismatch Red seemed to lack a killer instinct or was overly frustrated by Blue's holding. So while it started as a real fight, it ended as a sparring session.
<201lb+ Novice>
10) Servino Coffey (Red) [Joe Hand's] W3 Juan Maymi (Blue) [Capital]
After getting a taste of Heavyweight "action" in the previous bout, expectations were not high seeing two massive Super Heavyweights make their way to the ring, neither of which was tall. However, once the bell rang fists flew and both fighters went to war. The action was back and forth from beginning to end. Blue worked harder on the inside while Red was the superior technician. Although Red pulled it out, the crowd reaction was mixed. But even those who disagreed with the verdict enjoyed what they saw, which was arguably the fight of the night.
<114lb Open>
11) Steven Fulton (Red) [Shuler's] W3 Daniel Sandoz (Blue) [Jessie Harris]
Blue started out like a raging bull but Red pushed his head down among other veteran tactics, timed him, and landed sharp hooks almost at will. Blue kept up his heavy pressure until about halfway through the round and was then reduced to lackluster shoe shining after that. Red dominated the 2nd half of the round. The domination continued into round 2 as Blue simply had no answer for the jab and couldn't even hang with his opponent on the inside. Blue was eventually given an 8 count but survived the round. Red continued to land bombs in the early going of round 3 but Blue rallied back and the two went toe to toe. Blue had the better gas tank down the stretch, but would have needed more rounds to make use of it.
<125lb Open >
12) Antonio DuBoise (Red) [Shuler's] W3 Josue Alfaro (Blue) [Lincolnway Sports Center]
In the opening round the Red corner controlled the fight from ring center but Blue got in quality body work when his opponent was pressed against the ropes. Every single round of the fight was close, especially the last one. Blue was more crude but Red remained stationary for prolonged periods of time allowing the workmanlike Blue to do his thing. If any bout could have been declared a draw this night, this would have been it.
<152lb Open>
13) Anthony Miller (Red) [WHACC] L3 James Kelleher (Blue) [Allentown]
The bout began with a large contrast of styles. Red was swinging for the fences with single shots while Blue was smooth and picking him off. Eventually Blue was able to time his opponent's wild offense and dropped him with a short punch that was easy for spectator's to miss if they weren't paying close attention. However, after scoring a knockdown in the opening round Blue lost his composure and traded with Red for the remainder of the round and most of the 2nd round. Nonetheless Blue kept the upper hand, but ultimately made the fight harder for himself than it had to be. But the audience couldn't complain; they got their monies worth. By the 3rd round Blue returned to fighting intelligently and set many traps that Red willingly fell into. The decision was clear cut.
<165lb Open>
14) Kyron Davis (Red) [WHACC] W3 Max Stine (Blue) [Phoenixville PAL]
Blue came out doubling, tripling, and sometimes even quadrupling the jab but Red was a sharp counter puncher with a tight defense. Red's skill and composure made him look like a seasoned professional. Unfortunately more than half the crowd had already left by this point. Blue started strong again in the 2nd round but was inevitably out classed. The double left hooks from Red were beautiful. The final round was the closest of the fight. Red fatigued and threw less with decreased accuracy. Yet he still won the round. The decision was never in doubt.
<201lb+ Open>
15) Dominique Walton (Red) [Attack Mode] L3 Bill Marks (Blue) [Unattached]
The final bout of the evening was yet another meeting of Super Heavyweights. However this one didn't hold the same kind of drama and excitement. Blue was far larger and squared his shoulders but still managed to throw and land more punches in the first round. Red stopped letting his hands go after being stunned in the early going. However Red found his way back into the fight by sticking the jab and moving away through round 2. But ultimately Red ran out of gas and Blue took the fight over with multiple 1-2 combinations to close out the 3rd round. After the fight Red said his opponent was the largest he's ever faced. He complained Blue's leaning zapped him of his energy.
Fighters that accepted their regional championships by default included Capital Boxing's Nelson Ortiz (novice @ 114lb), Upper Darby's Siheed Carter (novice @ 132lb), Boyz's Dungeon's Seifaid Jihad (open @ 132lb), Capital Boxing's Nigel Rogers (open @ 178lb), among others.
Ryan Bivins can be contacted via email at rgbivins@gmail.com and on twitter via @sweetboxing