Hollister boxer Tony Corrales feels he won his fight at national
Golden Gloves; Jorge Hernandez advances to national Junior
Olympics
Hollister
Plain and simple, Hollister boxer Tony Corrales feels he got robbed in his fight with New England’s Daniel O’Connor at the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on May 5.
After moving up the ranks through the regional and state competitions at Golden Gloves, Corrales, 17, entered the national tournament in Grand Rapids, Mich., earlier this month at the 141-pound light welterweight division.
He was unfortunately dealt a first-round bout with O’Connor, 22, who recently won the U.S Future Stars National Boxing Championship in Colorado and is also listed as an Olympic alternate for the upcoming Beijing Games.
O’Connor defeated Corrales by decision.
But although Corrales was lacking in terms of accolades, he doesn’t feel that he lacked in the ring. In fact, Corrales said he out-boxed O’Connor.
“When I win a fight, I know that I won the fight. When I lose a fight, I know that I lost the fight, and I thought that I won the fight,” said Corrales, who returned from Michigan just last week. “The first round he kind of sat there waiting on me to come after him … I kind of thought that I won because I hit him a lot more than he hit me.
“I made him fight my fight.”
Corrales felt that O’Connor, who eventually went on to claim the light welterweight title at the tournament, had a distinct advantage over his opponent due to his impressive background as a fighter.
“He caught me with a couple of punches, but he didn’t hit that hard, to tell you the truth,” Corrales said. “In the Golden Gloves, if you have a name, you’re gonna go somewhere. I think he had an advantage.”
Corrales complained of O’Connor’s pushing during the bout. In a YouTube video created by The Grand Rapids Press, O’Connor is clearly seen pushing Corrales in two different instances. Said Corrales, “When he pushed, they never warned him. When I was inside and gave him a little nudge, they warned me for it.”
Corrales was nevertheless pleased with the experience, and was already back in the ring last weekend at a fight in King City.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” said Corrales, who was competing at the age minimum for Golden Gloves. “This is my first year.
“I was fighting people who had way more years than I have. I felt pretty proud of myself.”
Meanwhile, Hollister boxer Jorge Hernandez qualified for the 2008 Junior Olympic National Championships in Marquette, Mich., which will take place from June 17-21.
Hernandez, 15, went unopposed at 145 pounds at the state Junior Olympics last week in Avenal, qualifying him for June’s national tournament.
The national Junior Olympics will be the most prestigious tournament Hernandez has qualified for.
“I hope that I win so I can keep going,” Hernandez said. “But I think it’s gonna be hard because it’s not easy to get up there. You’ve got to be pretty good.”
