|
New Jersey Coaches Shawn Darling (Team Gladiator), Dan Doyle (Middletown PAL), Rob Griffin (JR Chair, Elite Boxing), and Albert Knight (Plainfield BC) all did a great job keeping the Junior and Adult Boxers on weight and ready to go at the Lake Placid Region meet. Overall NJ boxers won 11 of 15 matches finishing 1st in the Men's competition, and tied for 3rd in the Juniors. New Jersey wins six championships at USA Boxing Region #1 tournament...During the competition held at the US Olympic Center in Lake Placid, NY the team from New Jersey did very well against opponents from Adirondack (Northern upstate New York), Connecticut, Metro NYC (all five boros, Long Island, Orange, Rockland, and Westchester Counties), New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) and Niagra (Western New York State). In the Men's Open competition New Jersey took first place with seven victories (including semi-finals). New England was second with six wins, followed by Metro NYC, Adirondack, Connecticut, and Niagra. One female contest was won by New England. In the Junior's competition there were two categories = Intermediate - ages 13/14, and Senior - ages 15/16. Both New England and Metro NYC had the most wins (nine) combined in the Junior groups, but NE had the most Senior champions (three) and were awarded the team trophy. Connecticut, New Jersey, and Niagra each had four total wins, but Niagara's two Senior Champions gave them third place in the Juniors overall. Adirondack also had one champion. New Jersey Men's Open boxers took home the 2009 USA Boxing Region #1 title with four Championships (seven total wins) at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, NY. Leroy Davilla (112) of New Brunswick BC started things off Saturday by stopping Luis Reynosa from New England RSC-2. Davilla bloodied Reynosa and forced two standing-8 counts before the bout was stopped by the referee in the 2nd round. After a set back by Brian Paiz (119) of Bayonne PAL who lost a decision to Luis Rosa of Connecticut, Paterson's Rickey Edwards (125) got the NJ team back on track with a win by decision over Dominic James of Metro NYC. In the Final, Edwards took on Niagra's Lavius Williams who was an accurate, hard puncher, and a southpaw. Edwards moved to evade William's straight forward attacks, and then outworked him in the last round for the decisive championship win. Joseliz Cepeda (132) of First Class BC Newark had a tough time with Adirondack's Amir Iman. The contest with stopped by the referee RSC-3 as Cepeda was being outscored by a large majority. Middletown PAL's Tyrone Luckey (141) scored the most surprising victory of the tournament during his semi-final match against Adirondack's Will Madera. Luckey was behind on all scorecards, and began to press his opponent late in the 3rd round, when he unleashed a left hook that floored Madera with 12 seconds left in the bout. Tyrone's luck did not hold up in the final when he was outscored by New England's Tom Duquette. Juan Rodriguez (152) of Union City BC had just returned home after a tough week at the National Golden Gloves Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah where he had three wins before losing to a Midwest opponent in the semi-finals. Juan joined his NJLBC teammates and made the trip to Lake Placid where he decisioned Martez Potter of Niagra to advance to the finals. His opponent the next day was Metro NYC's Chris Ventura, a hard puncher who dominated his opponent to reach the finals as well. Rodriguez pushed himself to counter Ventura's strength and win to advance to the USA Boxing Championships in Denver, CO June 15-20. Anthony Gangemi (165) of Dover BC had also returned from Utah, but lost a decision to New England's Russell Lamour. Newark's Ibn Akbar Richardson (178) from Gladiator's Gym followed Gangemi, and looked flat in the first round of his bout against Metro NYC's David Thompson. During the second round the NJ team got behind Richardson and shouted encouragement to motivate him to even things up. In the 3rd round, the team continued to urge Richardson to excel, and their efforts paid off as he won the 178 title. Junior Gellin (201+) of First Class BC Newark boxing in the Super Heavyweight category was stopped by Julian Pollard of New England RSC-1. This was the first year where Junior boxers ages 15/16 also qualified to compete at the Nationals. For the next two years, USA Boxing will have the Juniors along with Adults to help give the younger competitors get a look at more experienced competitors. Johnny Muniz (Sr/Jr 125) from Bergen PAL won decisions over Adirondack's Abraham Nova, and Metro NYC's Marcos Suarez to also advance to the Nationals in Denver next month. Julian Rodriguez (Int/Jr 119) scored a RSC-1 over New England's Luis Navarro with vicious body shots and punches to the head that made the referee stop the contest. The Intermediate divisions (13/14 y/olds) compete for experience at the Region level, but do not qualify for the Nationals. Rodriguez has almost 90 bouts will have to wait until he's 15 next year to have a chance to make it to the National Championships. Shakor Jackson (Sr/Jr 145) of Elite BC Newark advanced to the finals by stopping Micheal Rycraft of Adirondack RSC-3. Jackson lost by decision in the finals to Connecticut's Joe Goss. Other NJ Junior boxers who competed were Isais Lucrecio (Sr/Jr 114) of New Brunswick, and Rocco Salimbene (Sr/Jr 119) of Team Gladiator/Forked River. Robert McCarthy (Sr/Jr 176+) the Super Heavyweight also from Forked River's Team Gladiator defeated Joshua Nubia from Metro's Gleason's Gym for the championship. |
