Mondyk is Golden
A close semifinal bout between Kristina Mondyk (NYAC) and Iman James (Gleason’s Gym) in the 119 lb. weight class highlighted Week 4 action of the 90th Annual Daily News Golden Gloves tournament at the Harlem PAL-Joe Louis Center on Thursday night. It was one of eight fights among the 119-lbs. and 165 lbs. weight classes for women and the 152 lbs. novice weight class for men.
The night of fights was sponsored by the Sebastian Mountain Trust.
In the first round of Mondyk’s win over James, both boxers tried to establish their jabs early. Mondyk showed good movement, as she boxed with her hands down but kept her distance. James missed the target, but never stopped throwing.
In the second round, James continued to be busy with her jab, but Mondyk closed in, landing the bigger shots and snapping James’ head back with a hard right hook at the end of the round.
In the final round, James was busy but didn’t land many effective punches. Halfway through, Mondyk got inside, slipping and landing combos up and down en route to a 3-2 decision and a spot in the finals.
“She was prepared,” Mondyk said, “physically ready, and I had to work, work, work.”
The other female bouts were all quarterfinals in the 165 lbs. class.
In bout two, Marine Beauchamp (Worldwide BC) unanimously defeated Nancy Marji (Unat- tached). Beauchamp outworked Marji the entire bout and showed some pop, landing a straight right that caused the referee to give Marji a standing 8 in the final round.
Bout five featured returning Golden Gloves winner Krystal Dixon (Champs BC), who defeated Jessica Taphouse (Impact BC), 5-0. Dixon boxed from the outside and didn’t waste any punches, landing effectively throughout the bout.
In the sixth bout, Leah Cooper (Gold Folks BC) defeated Katsiaryna Buslo (Mendez BC), 3-2.
Rachele Beckley received a bye last night, so the 165 lb. female semifinals are set.
The Colony Pest Bout of the Night went to David Moore Jr. (Atl/Vets Memorial) and Thomas Assenzio (Unattached), in which Assenzio was overmatched but fought off of pure guts to the end, when Moore walked away with a 5-0 victory.
The Empire Casino Punch of the Night was thrown by Aaron Bautista (Woodside BC), a straight right that stopped Joshua Christian (Work, Train, Fight BC) in his tracks and caused the referee to stop the contest at 1:14 of the 3rd round of their 152 lbs. bout.
The next Golden Gloves event will be 7:30 Friday night, sponsored by Atlas Foundation, at St. John’s University’s Staten Island campus.