Event: Kansas-Oklahoma Regional Golden Gloves Tournament Tonight (March 26 & 27)

(Image by GoldenGloves.com)

This is a busy weekend for the Kansas/Oklahoma boxing community as the Regional Golden Gloves kicks off tonight at the Memorial Hall in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Boxers from the state of Oklahoma and Kansas will compete for a spot in their respective weight classes on the Kansas/Oklahoma team for the National Golden Gloves.

The National Golden Gloves tournament is a 5-day tournament that will take place in Little Rock, Arkansas this year. However, the event tonight will determine who will represent our state in Little Rock.

The Golden Gloves tournament is divided into the senior division open class and novice class. The senior level is for the 17-34 year old age group. The open class is for boxers who had competed on more than 10 sanctioned USA Boxing matches and the novice class is for boxers who had competed in a sanctioned USA Boxing match but with 10 or less matches. Only the open class boxers are allowed to advance to the national tournament. However, the novice Golden Glove winner will be recognized as the champion for their region.

The tournament will also showcase some young Junior Olympic boxers (16-under) as well as some female boxers. The Women's National Golden Gloves tournament takes place in June of this year.

Wichita will have boxers competing from 316 Boxing Club headed by Lewis Hernandez, Backyard Boys headed by Johnny Papin, and Bad Dog Boxing Club headed by Steve Morse. Villa Boxing's lone open boxer, Markell Armstrong, will not be able to compete due to an injury he sustained.

"We're disappointed with his injury but with 8 amateur bouts, he has time to gain more ring experience and prepare himself for the open championship tournament next year," said coach Israel Villa of Villa Boxing Club.

Tony Losey (141 lbs), JR Rodriguez (112 lbs) and George Alacron (106 lbs) will represent 316 Boxing Club. Tony is the current light welterweight Regional champion. Fans will be treated to seeing him display his skills as quality opponents are hard to come by. JR and George are upcoming boxers from Wichita and you can expect them to put on a great showing for their weight classes.

The Backyard boys will have Jeff Page (201 lbs), Noel Esqueda (152 lbs) and Manny Brown (141 lbs) competing in the open class. Jeff Page is the current heavyweight Regional champion and hopefully he'll have an opponent for the event as many of his challengers are known to drop out of the bout at the last minute. Noel Esqueda is the current welterweight Regional champion.

The welterweight class will be pretty competitive so he'll keep his hands busy. Manny Brown has had some impressive bouts lately and he will be the biggest threat to Tony Losey's title as the Regional champ. This will be a highly anticipated bout with exceptional display of boxing skills.

The Bad Dog Boxing club is looking to make an impact this year with Aaron Young (178 lbs), John Bullock (165 lbs), DJ Devoe (165 lbs) and Ricardo Gonzales (152 lbs). Aaron Young is an upcoming local boxer who is looking to take the light heavyweight title this year. Aaron has the talent and skills to take this title if he wants it.

John Bullock and DJ Devoe will compete for the middleweight class. John lacks the experience but he has the heart and power to make a good run for the title. DJ is great height and arm reach for the weight class. He may be the surprise of the event. Ricardo is an upcoming boxer who has progressed tremendously. His weight class is very competitive and this will be a great experience for him to gain from. He poses a great chance to face off Noel Esqueda in the finals.

Team Punisher of Winfield headed by Trace Nuckles has two open boxers, Tito Telez (141 lbs) and Manny Green (132 lbs). Coach Trace could not be reached to confirm their weight classes. Tito had recently fought at 140 lbs so he may drop down to 132 lbs. Manny Green may drop down to 125 lbs as a result of not challenging a fellow member of his club. Both boxers are matured in their skills and either one of them may be this years Regional champion.

Garden City's Bad Boy Boxing club headed by Robert Gonzales has two open boxers; Steven Garcia (132 lbs) and Ralph Gramajo (125 lbs). Steve Garcia shows great potential in his aggression, with a little fine tuning in his techniques; he'll do well in this event for the junior lightweight class.

The club has a lot of female boxers but only three will make a showing this evening; Itzel Alvidrez (125 lbs), Melissa Macias (95 lbs) and Fatima (last name unavailable). Itzel and Melissa boxed in the March Thunder VI event in Kansas City earlier this month. Hopefully they'll have a match in this event as women boxers are still new to the sport.

Oklahoma City's boxers have traditionally done very well at the tournament but Kansas has been the dominating state as of recent. However, Oklahoma boxers are never overlooked in the Golden Gloves tournament.

Lidell Rhodes (152 lbs) and Tom Schoaff (178 lbs) from Rat Pack Boxing gym headed by Greg Brewer will add to the competition in their respective classes. Lidell Rhodes is an OKC boxer to keep an eye out for as he or Ricardo Gonzales will pose the greatest challenge to Noel Esqueda for the welterweight title. Tom is a MMA fighter who has had boxed on the side. He'll compete for the light heavyweight title in a possible match against Aaron Young.

Sim's Boxing Soldiers headed by Lavell Sims will have two open and a JO (junior olympic) boxers present at the event. Unfortunately, nationally ranked boxer James Barber is currently deployed for the US Air Force and Jose Robles will not be able to compete due to a hand injury. Daniel Logan (152 lbs) of the US Air Force will add greater interests into the already competitive welterweight class. Sergeant Charlie Floyd (165 lbs) also of the military may possibly meet John Bullock for the middleweight class.

There are boxers from other boxing clubs not mentioned in this article but stay connected for tonight's coverage.