Bryant, Alvarez among Golden Gloves champs

This week's Utah Fight Game blog was late because we wanted to get a lot of the info from FitCon reported after it happened. There was an MMA card and the Rocky Mountain Golden Gloves championships, with open winners moving on to nationals.

Those moving on to nationals include Jon Bryant, (top photo left) a repeat winner, from Lights Out gym in Clearfield, in the 152-pound division. Also, Diego Alvarez, (bottom photo left), a repeat winner from Los Gallitos gym in Ogden, is champ at 132 pounds. Alvarez was the national Golden Gloves champ in 2016. Ismael Milo Guttierez, of Herriman, is the 141-pound champ; Billy Wagner, of Montana, is the 165-pound Rocky Mountain champ after defeating Utah's Heneli Paea; Utah's Marquise Bowman is the 201-pound champ; Kendra Reeves, of Idaho, is the women's 152-pound champ; and Stephanie Mendoza, of SLC, is also moving on after winning Saturday. Boxers who moved through via walk overs to nationals include Northern Utah's Michele Maya.

Most of the boxers, including Bryant, Alvarez and Gutierrez, had to win on Friday and Saturday to move to the national Golden Gloves championships, held in May in Omaha, Neb.

There were a lot of "show" bouts on both days, that were not part of the Golden Gloves semifinals and finals. Some results: On Saturday, Dylan Bahena of Lights Out defeated Daren Cafero (Montana), 65 pounds, and James Cox, Lights Out, defeated Donel Velorde, Montana, 75 pounds. At 95 pounds, Colin Tuilevuka, Northern Utah, defeated Elijah Willet, Ogden. Both are talented amateurs who have fought three times recently with Tuilevuka getting the nod in competitive bouts. Also, Saul Gamino, Brigham City, defeated Ozmanny Sanchez, at 70 pounds. Both Willett and Sanchez are trained by Victor Palafox.

In Friday "show" bouts, results include: Cox defeated Cafero at 70 pounds; Bahena defeated Velorde at 65 pounds; and Tanner Gurule (Fullmer Bros gym) defeated Andrew Lopez, (Louie's gym). Some amateur boxers received $2,000 Golden Gloves scholarships. Santana DeCarlo, who fights out of All Heart Boxing Gym, was among the recipients.

MMA card:

There was an MMA card at FitCon as well. In the main event, professional 205-pound fighter Jarome Hatch defeated Ben Robinson via third round stoppage. In another fight, Northern Utah fighter Destiny McCubbin, who trains and lives in Las Vegas, won the promotion's 115-pound belt with a 5-round decision over Lauren Chidester, of Hidden Valley gym in Sandy. Jeffrey Dutcher, of Fighting Out of Utah MMA News, said "These girls were bloody and left it all in there; a great fight."

In a pro bout, 160 pounds, Bobby King defeated Andy Perez via unanimous decision. To get all the results, including other amateur promotional title fights, go to Fighting Out of Utah MMA's Facebook page.

We'll have more news next week, including some upcoming fights scheduled and a look athe April 13 SteelFist card, headed by a match between Clay Collard and Carson Gregory. 

Aguirre takes close nod over Estrada in boxing match

The Complex in Salt Lake City hosted a pro/am boxing card on March 16, and the main event matched undefeateds Christian Aguirre and Bladimir Estrada in a promotional six-round title fight at 168 pounds. It was a fantastic bout (I had the opportunity to view it via Facebook Live (thanks Julian Stevens). It matched the Jake LaMotta-like aggression of Aguirre against the strong boxing and counterpunching skills of Estrada. Aguirre was the winner via a split decision, which was fair, but if Estrada had gotten the nod it would have also been fair. What likely earned Aguirre a win was a knockdown he scored in round 5. I'd love to see these two good prospects fight a rematch, this time over eight rounds.

Here is the undercard: You can see the results at the bottom of this webpage:

Debuting featherweight Brandon Douglas, who Utah Speaker of the House Greg Hughes believes is a great prospect, won his pro debut with a KO in 35 seconds over Andre Kennedy.

Undefeated heavyweight Frank Sanchez Faure defeated Eric Salazar

Heavyweight Eric Wahlin, also an MMA pro, is 2-0 as a boxer after defeating Uchendan Alete.

INVICTA

On Saturday, March 17, the Union Event Center in SLC hosted an Invicta card that was also streamed on UFC Fight Pass. In the semi main, Orem-based DeAnna Bennett won a split decision over Karina Rodriguez, of Mexico. In a preliminary bout, Spanish Fork's Kaytlin Neil lost a unanimous decision to Tracy Cortez of Phoenix, Ariz. The entire card is here. Thanks to Eric Tillotson for keeping us informed of the results via Facebook.

MORE: FitCon MMA card is April 6 at the Salt Palace. In the main event veteran MMA pro Jarome Hatch meets Ben Robinson. A series of amateur state title belts include Destiny McCubbin versus Lauren Chidester, Nathan Owens versus Daniel Arelleno (a rematch of a bout won by Arellano) and Hector Lopez versus Julian Ruiz. The scheduled card is here. ... The regional Golden Gloves are also at FitCon on April 6-7. ... Finally, Northern Utah professional MMA fighter Miles Welk will fight May 18 for SteelFist. He meets another undefeated fighter, Nick Clem, for the promotion's 125-pound belt. The pair were scheduled to meet in Logan earlier this month but Welk was injured.

SteelFist MMA card takes shape, amateur boxing, FitCon in SLC

(YET ANOTHER UPDATE!!! LIGHTS OUT'S JON BRYANT HEADING TO NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES, ALONG WITH GABRIEL CHAIREZ AND OTHERS) (UPDATED WITH THE REST OF THE PHOTOS FROM FOLEYS' AMATEUR BOXING CARD)(UPDATED WITH RESULTS FROM FITCON MMA CARD) (UPDATED WITH FOLEYS' FIGHT NIGHT PHOTOS) The next SteelFist MMA card is starting to take shape. As mentioned, the main event is LJ Schulz (One Hit MMA) versus Anthony Miller (Garage MMA)

Co-main is Steve Chan (Victory MMA) versus Miles Welk (Garage MMA). Other announced bouts include Ben Guymon (seen above) (Foleys/The Pack MMA) against Kaden Weston (One Hit MMA), Ahmed "AK" (Absolute MMA) versus Cory Rose (One Hit MMA) and Shayne Bonner (Heber Boys) versus Gavin Weston (One Hit MMA). The card, the promotion's 50th, is set for June 23 at Riverbend Sports Complex in SLC. We'll update as more bouts are announced.

This Friday night is the FitCon MMA card. It starts at 7 at the Salt Place in SLC. Here is the card: And we have results

Josh Tyler vs Daniel Ruiz, pros -- TYLER WINS ROUND 1 VIA REAR NAKED CHOKE
Nick Burgos vs Gabe Pelayo, pros -- BURGOS TAKES UNANIMOUS DECISION
Hunter Azure vs David Maggio, amateur -- AZURE WINS VIA TKO, ROUND 2
Justus Minardi vs Angelo Trujillo, amateur -- MINARDI WINS VIA RNC, ROUND 3
Jessica Kruger vs Xasha Lopez, amateur -- KRUGER WINS VIA DECISION
Scott Foster vs Eric Munoz, amateur -- FOSTER WINS VIA FIRST ROUND AMERICANA
Nino Genao vs Spencer Olson, amateur -- GENEO WINS, 1ST ROUND TKO
Jacob Lamb vs AJ Pallante -- APPARENTLY SCRATCHED
Eli Christiansen vs Mark Chavez, amateur -- CHAVEZ WINS VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION
Ping Moli vs Brent Peterson, amateur -- PETERSON SCORES UNANIMOUS DECISION WIN

Results are courtesy of Fighting Out of Utah MMA News. Thanks Dutch, Jeffrey Dutcher Jr.

One more thing: West Haven amateur MMA female Destiny "My Time" McCubbin has signed with Fight Path Consulting, a combat sports consulting firm based in Idaho.

BOXING

Here are the results of the amateur boxing card (as much as we have) at Foleys gym in Ogden last Saturday. We have dozens of photos taken and hope to publish them soon but are working through some techie-type glitches to get them on the site. Here's results:

100 pounds -- Jesus Rodriguez (Train Station) decisioned Carson Mathews (Foleys)
92 pounds: Leo Sanchez (PAL) decision over Elijah Willett (Foleys)
127 pounds - Santana DeCarlo (All Heart) decisioned Jonathan Monte Longo-Reyez
90 pounds -- Jesus Rodrigues (Louie's) decisioned Vinnie Apodaca (Foleys)
85 pounds -- Collin Tuilevuka (Independent) defeated Aaron Garcia (Unbreakable)
90 pounds - Kayden Robbinette (Fractured) decisioned Jaiuard me Sanchez (Spartan Boxing 970)
135 pounds - Luis Cornejo (Foleys) decisoned Christian Zavala (Unbreakable)
130 pounds - Eduard Andrade (Louie's) decisioned Jesse Brown (All Heart)
122 pounds - Kathy Grant (Louie's) defeated Macy White (Foleys)
170 pounds - Andy Jensen (Foleys) decisioned Chris Nanney (Mane Event Boxing) 
125 pounds - Michelle Maya (Louie's) decisioned Monica Lazalde (Fullmer's) "They went to war ... and received fight of the night," said gym owner and trainer Dave Foley.

JUST A REMINDER ... Rocky Mountain regional Golden Gloves is this weekend at the Salt Palace. Good luck to all the local boxers hoping to move on to nationals. More information. Also, the next weekend is the amateur Junior Olympics regional tournament at the Sorenson Center.

UPDATE!!! The regional Golden Gloves have finished and we have Utah boxers advancing to the open National Golden Gloves. Jon Bryant, of Clearfield gym Lights Out, defeated Idaho's Austyn Broncho to move through in the 152-pound division. In the 132-pound division, Gabriel Chairez, brother of undefeated pro Ignacio Chairez, defeated Wyoming's Jalen Gibson to move to nationals. Other Utahns going to nationals include Halatoa Piutau and Milo Guitierrez. Here's a link to an excellent Deseret News recap. Also moving to nationals from Lights Out gym is heavyweight Jose Torres.

I chatted with Jon via Faceback Messenger last night who offered us some comments: 

It went pretty well! I used my jab very effectively! I waited a little bit too much which I need to pick it up at nationals! My jab was landing every time! I just need to let my hands go! I felt very comfortable and confident going against a nationally ranked fighter! What comes next is Louisiana for Nationals! My goal Is to win the whole tournament! I know I can do it if I fight my fight!

After that, is USA Qualifiers in October. I want yo put Utah On the map For boxing like Diego (Alvarez) did.

I Would Love To Have a shout out to my great-grandmother who raised me that passed away the day before my 13th birthday. Her name was Harriet P. Wilken.

UPDATE! We have photos from Foley's amateur card, courtesy of Katie Aurich, freelancing for us. I'll put about six up now, and dozens more through weekend. Unfortunately, no captions. Email doug1963@gmail.com if you have a caption for a photo. (Sunday, April 23, rest of photos, 40-plus more, also added)