Some may say they weren’t even given a fighting chance. Three
fighters from the Bull Dog Boxing Gym in Hollister competed at the
33rd Annual
Some may say they weren’t even given a fighting chance.
Three fighters from the Bull Dog Boxing Gym in Hollister competed at the 33rd Annual Police Activity League (PAL) Boxing Championships in Oxnard last weekend. They traveled south with hopes and dreams of bringing a championship belt back to San Benito.
Instead, according to Bull Dog owner and trainer Zeke Lopez who accompanied the fighters, they experienced a showing of “blunt favoritism.”
“I will not go back to that tournament again,” Lopez said. “I don’t care how they rank my boys. I’d rather take my kids to another tournament. A lot of the kids in this tournament feel the same way. It’s not worth it.”
Eric Delgado, Jorge Hernandez and Tony Corrales traveled south for the PAL championships after qualifying for the event earlier this year. However, it appears they may not return.
What bothered Lopez so much were the officials decisions in two of the fights. And it started with Delgado, 23, who went up against Carlos Arce of Los Angeles at 132 pounds.
In the first round, Delgado gave Arce a standing eight-count, which is considered a knockdown, but somehow trailed Arce 6-0 in points after one round.
“How the heck can you score a standing eight-count and not get a point for it?” Lopez asked. “Unreal.”
“It’s ridiculous. It’s frustrating,” Delgado said. “I was thinking that I was winning. To go back to your corner and see that you score zero points, it’s frustrating.”
Needing to mount a comeback on Arce, Delgado went to work on the L.A. fighter, and cut the deficit to 6-4 after two full rounds.
It was a similar case in the third and final round, where Delgado knew he’d have to convince the judges of his ability. In the end, though, Delgado lost by decision.
“I didn’t see the score, I just went berserk,” Lopez added. “What did we come down here for? This was terrible.”
Being single elimination, Delgado was done, while Arce eventually lost his following match.
“I don’t think it’s right what they’re doing down there,” Delgado said. “It seems like everyone was getting robbed.
“The sacrifice I made, how hard I trained, and to get robbed. It’s not worth it.”
In another bout, Jorge Hernandez, 14, was one of two fighters at the 145-pound weight division, so his one and only fight against Ludrious Miller of Memphis, Tenn., was the championship.
But according to both Lopez and Hernandez, Miller tend to run around the ring, and only landed punches when Hernandez chased him.
“If I hadn’t chased him, he probably would not have thrown any punches,” said Hernandez, who trailed Miller 7-1 after one round. “He hit me with some good ones, but I don’t know why they gave him seven points.”
Hernandez lost by decision 23-11.
“I think it was kind of unfair,” Hernandez added. “Now, I really don’t feel like going (next year). I went to state last time, and it was the same thing.”
At the State PAL Boxing Tournament in Oxnard in September, Hernandez gave his opponent Manual Fernandez of San Diego a pair of standing eight-counts in the first round and one more in the second round.
Hernandez, who never went down in that match, ended up losing by a 2-1 split decision.
At nationals, Lopez thought of appealing the decisions, which costs $100, for both Delgado’s and Hernandez’ fights. But after another trainer appealed and failed, Lopez thought it was a lost cause.
The third bout, which pitted Tony Corrales, 16, against Carlos Sosa of New York at 138 pounds was a fairer fight, but Corrales entered the contest battling a previous hand injury.
Corrales would lose by decision, while Sosa would win the 138-pound weight class.
“Tony’s fight was a good fight, but I think he could have done better,” Lopez said. “I think maybe he was pulling back on his injury. He didn’t seem like Tony in the ring.
“It looked kind of close, but he wasn’t hitting as hard as he usually hits.”
But the story of the week was the judging, and Lopez said there were other cases from other parties as well.
“If my boys lost because they lost, that’s no big deal. We’d keep going,” Lopez said. “I’m not trying to be a poor sport, but my kids are better than that. I expect everything to be fair. I can’t do this to my kids. I won’t.”
Lopez will be taking his boxers to Tulare this weekend for the Manuel Torrez International boxing tournament, and expects his fighters to be given a fighting chance this time.
“It’s a good tournament,” Lopez said. “It brings it back to our yard where there’s fairer judging.”
