Erick Delgado, who entered the State Police Activity League
(PAL) Boxing Tournament as a novice, became a state champion on
Sunday at 132 pounds for the first time, and punched his ticket to
nationals in October.
Staff Reports
Oxnard – Erick Delgado, who entered the State Police Activity League (PAL) Boxing Tournament as a novice, became a state champion on Sunday at 132 pounds for the first time, and punched his ticket to nationals in October.
Delgado defeated Daniel Serrano of Oxnard by a 3-0 unanimous decision, and Zeke Lopez, owner of the Bull Dog Boxing Gym in Hollister where Delgado trains, said it wasn’t even close.
“He gave him a lesson in boxing,” Lopez said. “He was hitting and moving, hitting and moving. The kid couldn’t catch him.”
Delgado, 22, was a novice entering the state tourney, which is defined by 10 fights or fewer, and has been training on and off with Lopez for three years.
“He did very good against some kids who had a lot more experience,” Lopez said. “They told him he shouldn’t be in the novice class. They didn’t believe him.”
Delgado was one of four local boxers from Bull Dog who competed at the state PAL tournament. Matt Bribiescas, Jorge Hernandez and Mike Conley also competed, and all three of them made it to at least the semifinals in their respective weight classes.
Conley, the 275-pound heavyweight, made it to the men’s novice championship on sheer size.
Lopez said during the weigh-in, Conley’s opponents were about 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds. Conley weighed in at 6-feet 286 pounds.
“He was like a monster compared to these guys,” Lopez said. As a result, Conley made it to the championship bout after his opponents forfeited. “They all backed out.”
In the championship, Conley fought Rufus Broomfield of Los Angeles, but lost in a 3-0 decision.
“The reason why Mike lost was Mike got tired in the second round and he stopped punching,” Lopez said. “But he did better than I expected. (Broomfield) must have out-played (Conley) by about four or five points.”
Nonetheless, Conley’s top-two finish qualified him for nationals with Delgado.
Bull Dog Matt Bribiescas, 12, also made it to the semifinals in the 85-pound division, but lost to Alexis Garcia of Merced by a 3-0 decision.
“He fought a kid who had a lot more experience than him, and (Garcia) ended up winning the championship,” Lopez said. “Matt did a very good job.”
In what may have been the most controversial fight came in the semifinals at 154 pounds between Bull Dog’s Jorge Hernandez and Manuel Fernandez of San Diego.
Lopez said the 14-year-old Hernandez gave Fernandez two standing eight-counts in the first round, and one more eight-count in the second round.
Hernandez, though, who never went down in the match, lost by a 2-1 split decision.
Fernandez advanced to the championship bout and won easily, Lopez said.
“After the fight, (Fernandez) told Jorge that it should have been him with the belt,” Lopez said. “It was disgusting … It was terrible … It was outrageous.”
Lopez thought of appealing the decision, but doing that costs $150, and he said that officials usually do not overturn the original decision.
“It usually comes out the same, because they don’t want to undermine the judges,” Lopez said. “So that’s why I didn’t do it.
“The kids know when they won and they know when they lost … Jorge deserved to go to nationals.”
The 33rd Annual National PAL Boxing Championship will take place in Oxnard on Oct. 1-6. Last year, the tournament hosted 515 boxers, and officials are expecting much of the same again this year.
Delgado and Conley, both at the novice level, will make their first appearance at nationals in October.
