It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. Dancing around the
ring, arms raised in defense, head gear tight and mouthguards
firmly in place (almost), Eric Delgado delivers a pair of explosive
jabs on his sparring partner, who he’s giving up at least four
inches in height to.
Hollister – It’s not the size of the dog in the fight.
Dancing around the ring, arms raised in defense, head gear tight and mouthguards firmly in place (almost), Eric Delgado delivers a pair of explosive jabs on his sparring partner, who he’s giving up at least four inches in height to.
The opponent, in defense, is left with no other option but to counterattack with a series of punches that Delgado does his best to avoid, bobbing and weaving around the throws.
After the state champion Delgado backpedals and darts his head to the left and to the right, narrowly avoiding any landed punches, he dances around the ring once again, and like lion on a gazelle, plans his next point of attack.
For a 132-pound fighter who has a total of four fights under his belt, Delgado certainly has the presence and know-how of a more experienced boxer.
And with any luck, he’ll be heading southbound on U.S. 101 this weekend with Tony Corrales and Jorge Hernandez to compete in the 33rd Annual Police Activity League Boxing Championship in Oxnard from Sept. 29 through Oct. 8.
“There are a lot of tough kids out there, but I think they’ll be all right,” said Zeke Lopez, owner and trainer of the Bull Dog Boxing Gym. “The main thing is just getting there.”
Currently, a lack of funds is preventing the trio from going to Oxnard, but the fighters remain hopeful that come this weekend, they’ll be on pace to bring home a championship belt back to San Benito.
“If anyone can help out, we’d appreciate it a lot,” Delgado said. “We’ve been training for the last three months for this. That’s all we’ve been thinking about. Hopefully, we bring back some belts for Hollister.”
Delgado, 23, is the eldest of the three boxers, but whose four fights total pale in comparison to both Corrales and Hernandez.
For instance, Corrales, 16, ranked ninth at 138 pounds, will be heading to nationals for the third time with a 30-9 record. The 145-pound Hernandez, 14, will be a rookie at the PAL nationals this year, but enters with an 18-4 record.
All three of them, though, will likely have less ring experience than the competition they’ll see at nationals, as some of the fighters in Southern California will enter with three times as many fights.
But the three Bull Dog boxers have been hitting the bag, the mitts, sparring, running and doing aerobic drills for three hours a day, five days a week all year.
They’ve been there before. They’ve even fought there before as the state championships were held in Oxnard. Said Delgado, “I’ve been in it for a while, so it’s nothing new to me.”
“I get a little nervous, but no too much,” Corrales said. “It’s like a job to me. I just do it. It’s instinct. I get nervous, but that’s just because I want to win it.”
Added Lopez, “For Tony to lose, there’s got to be a very tough kid out there. We’ve seen most of the competition around, so hopefully, that’ll give him an edge.”
Hernandez isn’t anxious either, because as he sees it, there’s no difference from what he does at Bull Dog to what he’ll do at nationals.
He does admit, however, that even though the rounds are shorter at nationals than the sparring rounds they do at Bull Dog, Hernandez gets a little fatigued when the third round starts.
“It’s more emotion,” he said. “Here, I’m calm. There, I throw them everything with all my power.”
Hernandez said he’ll try to monitor his attack in the first two rounds, and “just go all out” in the third.
As for Corrales, his previous trips to nationals will likely ease the emotion and anxiety for this weekend’s title run.
“I don’t know how many kids are in my weight class, but I’m gonna fight my hardest and try to win my weight,” he said. “I can handle it.”
While the fighting triumvirate will enter the unknown in terms of who’ll they’ll be fighting, the fact that they may be short of ring experience doesn’t bother them at all. As Corrales said, “The number of fights doesn’t matter at all. It’s about how hard you’re training and how hard you’ve been boxing.”
Delgado has been training off and on at Bull Dog for three years, but training for the last year straight. He entered the state competition last month as a novice at 132 pounds, and ended up winning the whole thing.
At nationals, there is no novice level.
“I’m going to nationals and fighting people with as many as 100 fights,” said Delgado, who defeated two boxers from Southern California at the state competition. “As long as you think you can fight in the open (division), you fight in the open. There’s no novice at nationals. You go open or you don’t enter it at all.
“It doesn’t really mean anything if you have a lot of fights. It depends on the fighter.”
At the end of three, three-minute rounds at the Bull Dog Boxing Gym, Delgado’s sparring partner tells him that he hit him so hard, he jarred his mouthpiece loose and knocked it into the back of his mouth.
In the end, it’s the size of the fight in the dog that matters.
Fighting for a Shot at the Title
Three local boxers from the Bull Dog Boxing Gym qualified for this weekend’s 33rd Annual Police Activity League Boxing Championship, but currently a lack of funds is preventing the three from attending.
The national boxing event, which will run from Sept. 29 through Oct. 8, will be held in Oxnard.
Jorge Hernandez at 145 pounds, Eric Delgado at 132 pounds and Tony Corrales at 138 pounds qualified for the PAL tournament.
“We’d be really happy,” Hernandez said. “If we got some help, we’ll come back winners.”
Added Corrales, “A lot of us work hard to do this. We’d be very thankful if we came through with the money.”
If you are interested in donating, contact Bull Dog Boxing Gym owner and trainer Zeke Lopez at 636-1349.
