2009 East Texas Golden Gloves Highlights
Highlights from the 69th East Texas Golden Gloves 2009 USA Amatuer Boxing Competition.
By Aaron Todd
Sweet Science Boxing Academy
For the 69th straight year, boxing teams from around East Texas converged in a web of conditioning, sweat, determination, thrilling victory, and agonizing defeat that defines one of the pinnacles of amateur boxing: The Golden Gloves. On Friday, the opening night of competition, cheering crowds responded to exciting competition, including a host of future champions ranging in age from 8 to 16 years. Justice Taylor of L.A. Boxing in Tyler earned a hard-fought victory in a close match against Jessie Deleon from Troup B.C. This was the third time that these two Jr. Novice 75 pounders have squared off against each other in competition, with each bout being a close and exciting match. Justin Krantz, from D-Rocks Gym in Marshall, emerged victorious in what was the debut of the newest East Texas team in the competition, while William Jones, from Duffy’s B.C. was narrowly defeated by a more experienced Hansel Blas of Scorpions B.C. Many other young boxers impressed and entertained the crowd on Friday, leading up to Markesha Mills’ victory over Sara Pruitt in the only female bout of the night. Marco Rubio of Tyler B.G. beat out Hector Barajas of Troup B.C. in one of the closest and most exciting bouts of the night. Friday’s competition ended with a bang as Bernardo Rivas from Scorpions Gym defeated Benzix Brown from “Luv 2 Ball” B.C. in Longview in a hard-hitting slug fest for the open-class 132 lb. title and an advancement to the Texas State Golden Gloves in Ft. Worth in March.
Saturday night was even more exciting as some of the same young champions from Friday once again proved themselves in fast-paced finals action. Justin Krantz and Justice Taylor both gained their second victories of the tournament in exciting fashion, as several other Bantam and Jr. Novice boxers followed suit to win championships of their own. Marco Rubio earned back-to-back victories with another exciting win over Elbert Rentería from Scorpions B.C. to claim the Sr. Novice 152 lb. title just after his teammate, Calvin Sheffield, defeated Pedro Ramirez of Unidos B.C. to capture the Novice Super Heavyweight title. Bernardo Rivas squared off against Shade Bruffett in an open-division matched bout. Rivas (132 lbs.) took a close decision in the bout thanks to a very busy 2nd round, and the two will be teammates at State, with Shade (Tyler B.G.) going as the unopposed 125 lb. champ. Several other exciting matches ensued, including another female bout featuring Anita Rodriguez of Southeast Asian Academy (Dallas) in a rematch against Friday’s female winner Markesha Mills at 132 lbs. Rodriguez won a unanimous decision in a display of gritty power and went home with the title belt that she had put on the line for the rematch.
Best Bout of the Tournament
The final bout of the competition was worth the wait, featuring Teddy Walters of East Texas B.C. versus Jerrion Campbell of Tyler B.G. in the open-class 141 lb. division. This was an all-out war from start to finish!! Both fighters opened the bout with combinations, Jerrion gaining an early lead with good movement and fast punches. At the the beginning of the second round, Teddy came out swinging, backing Jerrion into the ropes and forcing the issue. But Jerrion’s speed and movement proved too much as he landed many good punches and out-scored Teddy. The third and final round saw both boxers stretching their conditioning to the limit in a test of wills to see who would muster the strength to finish on top. In the end, with the crowd on their feet and screaming, Jerrion’s speed, movement, and refusal to stop throwing punches won him a unanimous decision and with it a trip to State.
Every single boxer who fought in this tournament showed tremendous heart and athleticism and is to be commended for his or her courage in and out of the ring. It is this kind of spectacle that fills one with optimism for the future and reveals boxing for what it truly is: the greatest sport in the world! Congratulations to all the champions and their coaches and may the ones who fell short this year come back and try again. And a thousand thanks goes out to all of the officials and doctors who made this tournament possible, fair, and safe.