Hollister boxer falls one match short of state Gloves finals
Hollister boxer Tony Corrales fell one bout short of a state
finals bid at the Golden Gloves regional last Saturday at the
Westside Boxing Club in San Mateo, where the 18-year-old fighter
lost by decision to Watsonville’s Jonathan Garcia.
Hollister boxer falls one match short of state Gloves finals
Hollister boxer Tony Corrales fell one bout short of a state finals bid at the Golden Gloves regional last Saturday at the Westside Boxing Club in San Mateo, where the 18-year-old fighter lost by decision to Watsonville’s Jonathan Garcia.
Corrales’ trainer, Zeke Lopez of the Bull Dog Boxing Gym in Hollister, called the light welterweight bout (141 pounds) both a “weird experience” and a “reality check.”
“The other kid beat [Corrales] by points, but he did beat him,” Lopez said. “Tony had the kid dead to rights in the first round; he was hurt. But with 15 seconds left in the first round, [Corrales] stopped.”
Garcia managed to take over from there, connecting on several punches before scoring two standing 8-counts in the second round.
“By then it was too late,” said Lopez, referring to Garcia’s commanding lead in points after the two standing 8-counts.
Lopez felt Corrales’ only chance was to knock Garcia out in the third round, and although Corrales landed a few punches in the early stages, Garcia managed to stay away in the end and win the fight by decision.
Garcia, a southpaw who had previously sparred with Corrales and had trained at Bull Dog before, advances to the state finals on April 4 in Sacramento.
Corrales qualified to both the state finals and eventually nationals last year at 17 years old, the age minimum for Golden Gloves, which allows fighters up to 34 years of age.
At the national championships in Grand Rapids, Mich., last year, Corrales lost his first-round bout by decision to New England’s Daniel O’Connor.
O’Connor, then 22, had won the U.S Future Stars National Boxing Championship in Colorado that year and was also listed as an Olympic alternate for the Beijing Games.
“We’ve got to move on and keep going,” Lopez said.
Lopez and his boxers won’t be able to do too much except train after the California State Athletic Commission suspended USA Boxing, the sport’s governing body, earlier this week.
The suspension came on Monday after allegations concerning underage boxers, some as young as 10 years old, who were fighting in private clubs that offered both gambling and drinking.
The suspension, however, affects all amateur boxers in the state.
“It’s been shut down until further notice,” Lopez said. “We’re gonna keep on training … Hopefully it will straighten out.”
