Sweet Home Wolf Pack boxer Jeff Leonard, at 165 pounds, won the regional Golden Gloves championship during a tournament in Las Vegas March 24 and March 25.
Oregon Golden Gloves champion Marco Ash won his first bout but lost his second in the heavyweight division.
“First fight, I knew he (Jose Alejo of Washington) was going to be tough,” Leonard said. “He’s a good fighter, (but) I hit him with a left and dropped him like a rock.”
Leonard dominated his first bout, giving his opponent a standing eight count in the second round and two standing eight counts each in the third and fourth before Leonard nearly knocked him out.
“I just kept defending the first round to see what he had,” Leonard said. He kept his hands close and didn’t let anything through before opening up on his opponent in the second round.
Leonard ended up repeating his championship bout last year against Jesus Siqueiros of Arizona. Leonard’s nose was bloodied in a fight the first time ever, but Leonard broke his opponent’s nose.
“He just started going backward,” Leonard said. “I just kept with him.”
Leonard won the championship with a unanimous decision.
The win makes Leonard an undisputed three-time middleweight champion for the Northwest Region. Leonard also recently placed 11th at the USA Nationals in Colorado.
He moves on to the national Golden Gloves championship from April 29 to May 6.
Leonard lost at nationals last year.
“The nationals, when you get up so far, it’s a really thin line between going home and a title,” Leonard said. “You have to be a grade above. You can’t just get in and be tough.”
A fighter at the national level must dominate and out-think his opponent, Leonard said. “You’ve got to beat them to the game.”
Ash, who also recently place 14th at the USA Nationals, faced the same opponent, Joseph Gusman of Washington, as he did to get to the USA Nationals.
Gusman was a lot stronger than the last time they fought, Ash said. First round, “I was just going to take it easy.”
Ash got shot down there with an eight-count, but he came back with left jab and a series of combos over the rest of the match to win the decision.
Ash lost his next fight to Alvaro Moralas of Nevada.
“I was just off that day,” Ash said. “He just moved a lot, and I couldn’t hit him.”
Among Ash’s accomplishments this year were the Oregon State Golden Gloves title, the Golden Boy of the Year award and the Best Fight award.
Ash is planning to cut weight and fight between 160 and 165 pounds next year.
“Hat’s off to Jesie Ramos,” Coach Bob Ash said of the head coach. “He must be training these guys the right way, and a special thanks to Cascade Hardware store for letting the Wolf Pack Boxing Club use the upstairs for their training facility.”
At the National Golden Gloves, Leonard will compete with 374 young men from all over the United States in six days of boxing.
While Ash and Leonard were busy in Las Vegas, Scott Stockman, 185, and Rafael Ortiz, 139, were taking care of business with Coach Ramos at Salem’s Sugar Company Boxing Club evet, winning their bouts.
Ortiz defeated James Ramos of Portland. Stockman defeated Robert Marthaller of Corvallis.