Remembering Michelle Maya, national Golden Gloves champ

We note the very sad news that Utah's Michelle Maya, 2018 National Golden Gloves champion, died early Sunday morning, Nov. 11, in a automobile accident near Salt Lake City. Our prayers are with Michelle, only 19, and her friends and family. Her death at such a young age is a tragedy, and there is additional sadness at the loss of a potentially great future for the young woman. Nevertheless, she accomplished a lot in her brief life. She was an aggressive boxer who used pressure, cardio and ring generalship to win the national title. She was scheduled to compete in next month's USA Boxing's amateur boxing championships in Salt Lake City. The photo above of Michelle was posted on Facebook by Louie's Boxing Gym. Below is a post we published on June 1, 2018, noting Michelle Golden Gloves triumph.

A GoFundMe page to help her family with Michelle's funeral expenses is here.

MICHELLE MAYA, NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES CHAMP

A big shout out for Northern Utah amateur boxer Michelle Maya, who captured the National open Golden Gloves championship recently. She's the 119 pound champ. In fact, three women boxers from the Rocky Mountain region made it to the finals. Idaho's Kendra Reeves won the 152-pound title. Maryguenn Vellinga took runner up at 112 pounds. The Deseret News' Amy Donaldson covered the recent Golden Gloves well. Here's a story on Maya and others. Top of Utah men at the nationals included Lights Out's Jon Bryant, who lost a split decision in the opening bout, and Los Gallitos' Diego Alvarez, who won in the first round but was decisioned in bout two. Utahns Matt Searle and Milo Gomez also lost decisions.

Boxing at The Complex; Michelle Maya, GG champ

There's boxing tonight at The Complex In Salt Lake City. One of the pros fighting is undefeated prospect Gabriel Chairez (seen above in his amateur days). He will fight Felipe Medina Jr., of Oregon, at 130 pounds. Also, Bladimir Estrada,  a super-middleweight who just lost a tough, narrow decision to Christian Aguirre, fights Jerhed Fenderson of Las Vegas.

Gabriel's brother, Ignacio Chairez, also undefeated, was scheduled to fight but his opponent fell out late. That's a tough break; we hope to see Ignacio back soon. The Complex is at 536 W 100 South in SLC. Doors open at 7, fights start at 8 p.m.

MICHELLE MAYA, NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES CHAMP

A big shout out for Northern Utah amateur boxer Michelle Maya, who captured the National open Golden Gloves championship recently. She's the 119 pound champ. In fact, three women boxers from the Rocky Mountain region made it to the finals. Idaho's Kendra Reeves won the 152-pound title. Maryguenn Vellinga took runner up at 112 pounds. The Deseret News' Amy Donaldson covered the recent Golden Gloves well. Here's a story on Maya and others. Top of Utah men at the nationals included Lights Out's Jon Bryant, who lost a split decision in the opening bout, and Los Gallitos' Diego Alvarez, who won in the first round but was decisioned in bout two. Utahns Matt Searle and Milo Gomez also lost decisions.

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THE PACK TALK ABOUT PAT REEVES

Later this month, we will preview a SteelFist MMA card and a Mountain Force MMA card. The latter card is dedicated to the late pro fighter Pat Reeves, with a portion of proceeds being donated to his family. Recently, Matt Oyler's Undefeated by Choice video podcast sat with several of Reeves' The Pack fighters, who will be on the card, and they talked about Pat and MMA. It's a great watch.

FINALLY, STEELFIST RESULTS

There was a recent SteelFist MMA card. In the main bout, Eric Iman, heavyweight, defeated Samuel Sprauer via unanimous decision. All results are here at Jeffrey "Dutch" Dutcher's Fighting Out of Utah MMA News Facebook page.

Jose Haro to defend boxing title on May 12

Some big news in Utah boxing this week. West Jordan's Jose Haro, the USBA professional featherweight champ, will defend his title on May 12 -- against an opponent to be named -- in Wichita, Kansas. Jose's bout, a co-main event, will be televised live via CBS, probably on the CBSSports Network (Xfinity 269).

Also Friday night this week there's a pro/am boxing card at The Complex in Salt Lake City. I'm having a tough time getting info on the overall card, but there's a great main event matching two undefeated Northern Utah prospects, Bladimar Estrada and Christian Aguirre, for the state middleweight pro title. A promo for the bout is at Estrella TV's Facebook page.

In amateur Golden Gloves competition this past weekend Jon Bryant defeated Ramon Lopez and Felipe Nino, and will fight Nikolas Stidham of UCTC on April 5. Michelle Maya defeated Lisa Carroll, and Diego Alvarez, of Ogden, a former national champ, defeated Jay Wright of Foley's gym via decision. Another amateur boxing winner was Anthony Charlie of Lights Out gym. I'd love to have more results, pro and amateur, just message your blogger, Doug Gibson, via Facebook Messenger.

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Lots of MMA action next month and on, here's a schedule from the state athletic commission website. Remember that Saturday night at Union Event Center in Salt Lake City is Invicta 28 MMA card. More about the card in last week's blog.

Also in last week's blog, we mentioned that a little boy battling cancer was to be presented with a belt at Saturday's Mountain Force MMA card. It happened, and it was wonderful. The Logan (Utah) Herald Journal covered it here. ... Card results from last Saturday's Mountain Force MMA card are at Jeffrey "Dutch" Dutcher's Fighting Out of Utah MMA News Facebook page. In the pro main event Allen Silva decisioned Anthony Miller (135 pounds) and the pro co-main had Nick Clem winning via decision over Justus Mi-Gnarly (125 pounds). ... Finally, some pros of note, Fabio Serrao, Kerry Lattimore, and Gabe Pelayo, will be fighting April 28 in Idaho Falls. Serrao will be meeting Andrew Cruz, a good regional pro also, in the main bout.