Ten-year old Jorge Hernandez has earned a trip to the Silver
Glove Nationals in Kansas with his no-nonsense attitude in the
boxing ring.
Hernandez, who just started fighting last year, has been perfect
in his young career with an 8-0 record.
Ten-year old Jorge Hernandez has earned a trip to the Silver Glove Nationals in Kansas with his no-nonsense attitude in the boxing ring.
Hernandez, who just started fighting last year, has been perfect in his young career with an 8-0 record.
“He’s ready for the Nationals,” said Bulldog Boxing owner and trainer Zeke Lopez. “He has had the chance to spar with some of the older kids here. He should be able to come back with a belt because he is tough. He walks through most kids his size and weight.”
Hernandez doesn’t waste any time in the ring. He consistently backs his opponents into corners and then lets them have it.
“If he gets you against the ropes, you better watch out,” Lopez said. “He works the body beautifully. That is rare in a 10-year-old. He takes your legs out from you. Then he starts tearing you up.”
Lopez is trying to work with his young boxer to teach him to be more patient and move around in the ring to throw his opponent off balance.
“We call him a little tank,” Lopez said. “Once he comes in, there is no going backwards. If he gets hit, he just wants to keep going. I got to get him to be able to move more on his feet and bob away from punches.”
But his reputation as a hard-nosed fighter has preceded him. Now, no one wants to face him.
The rookie fighter recently went to the Regional Silver Glove Championship in Norwalk. Hernandez, his coach and dad made the five-hour trip. After he weighed in and made weight, he found out there wasn’t anyone for him to fight.
His opponent’s coach refused to let his boxer from Colorado box with Hernandez because of the reputation that Lopez has of training his kids to be tough, fundamentally sound boxers.
“He told me that his kid was not that good,” Lopez said. “He told me that anytime I bring a kid, he is a tough kid. So he said he was going to pull his kid out because he didn’t want him to get beat up. I can understand that, but he hadn’t even seen the kid fight.”
Bulldog Boxers are trained to go all out and give everything they have in the ring while respecting their opponent, Lopez said.
“When I bring kids to box, I am going to bring them to box and not slouch over,” said Lopez, who has been coaching young boxers in tournaments for 11 years. “My kids always give it a 100 percent, and that is all I ask. It is all about the kids.”
But last weekend’s meet wasn’t the only instance Lopez and his fighters have been left high and dry.
About five years ago, Vince Munoz was scheduled to fight a couple of boxers in a meet, but their coached decided not to have the box.
Lopez, working as one of the officials during weigh-ins, talked to the opposing coach, who didn’t want his wrestler to fight when he found out that Lopez was coaching. The second coach also withdrew his boxer when he found out.
“I was so pissed off,” Lopez said. “They worked so hard and trained so hard. To be told that they couldn’t fight after coming all this way was not right. It was degrading to the other kid. The kid is probably going to go back home and telling his parents he was going to get beat up. If he knew there could be someone tougher than him, the coach should have never brought him.”
As a result, Hernandez was named the unopposed winner and earned a chance to compete in the Nationals Feb. 4-8 in Olaf, Kan. held at the Great Mall. He will go for three one-minute rounds.
“I was a little mad that I couldn’t fight,” Hernandez said. “It was a long trip. I am trying to train hard and work hard in practice (to get ready for Nationals).”
Coming into the match, he had to drop about five pounds to make weight in the 120-pound weight class of the 10-11 age group.
“I was concentrating on losing weight,” Hernandez said. “It was hard because I got hungary.”
Hernandez said he was a little scared about taking just his second ride in a plane.
Lopez estimates the trip will cost about $3,000 based on last year’s cost.
Anyone interested in helping to offset some of the costs should call Lopez at 636-1349 or stop by Bulldog Boxing during the evenings from 5:30-8 p.m.
