Opportunity knocks for Davila with trip to state Golden Gloves
After his runner-up finish in the men's senior novice, 139-pound finale at the San Antonio Regional Golden Gloves tournament, Orlando Tiger Davila set his sights on expanding his resume.
In order to gain muchneeded experience, he decided to participate in Corpus Christi's Golden Gloves and an amateur show in the Alamo City.
But then came the phone call that changed everything.
A Texas State Golden Gloves coach was on the line with an invitation to try out for the team.
With fewer than 10 bouts under his belt, Davila ordinarily would not have been considered to compete in the state tournament. But this was no ordinary year.
Three weight classes had no entries, including the 147-pound division. So local officials decided to look to the novice category to fill the vacancy.
“I was surprised when I got the call,” Davila said. “But I figured, why not? A lot of people thought I did well at regionals. I guess they liked what they saw.”
Davila is one of nine San Antonio boxers — seven male and two female — scheduled to make the trip to Fort Worth for the Texas State Golden Gloves tournament that runs Wednesday-saturday at Will Rogers Coliseum.
Despite having just nine total bouts under his belt — and being asked to jump to 147 pounds — Davila leaped at the chance to enter the state Golden Gloves tournament.
The nephew of Omar Davila, a popular San Antonio welterweight in the early 2000s, Orlando Tiger Davila, 25, played college baseball before switching to boxing about a year ago.
At the time the goal was to lose weight. He tipped the scales at 205 and lost more than 70 pounds.
Now, Davila is focused not on dropping pounds but on winning. He doesn't anticipate a problem moving up to 147 for the state tournament.
“I've fought at that weight before,” said Davila, whose brothers, Orlando Dragon and Orlando Bam Bam, share nearly identical names. “(My opponents) likely will be bigger than me, but that just means I'll have to get on the inside and take the fight to them.”
A southpaw, Davila impressed the coaches during state Golden Gloves workouts after the regionals.
Adrian Rodriguez, in his second year as head coach of the state team, likes the overall aggressiveness of the squad despite its inexperience at the state level. That includes Davila.
“He comes from a fighting family. He's aggressive and tries to win. I like that,” Rodriguez said.
San Antonio Regional Golden Gloves tournament director Ellis Johnson blamed dwindling overall numbers and more boxers turning pro early as the main reasons so many weight divisions — 112, 147 and 156 pounds
— saw no entries.
In three other weight classes, the lone representative won unopposed.
Johnson attributed the lower numbers to the fact that Austin had its own Golden Gloves event this year after several years of traveling to San Antonio. Six members of the state team a year ago were from Austin.
Officials wound up filling 7 of the 10 male
slots — with no entries at 112, 156 and 203 — for the state tournament and had to scramble at the last minute to fill several of those. More than one qualifier could not make the trip because of job commitments. Another, at age 17, did not meet minimum age requirements.
Both Rodriguez and Johnson noted San Antonio should be well represented by its female participants
at state.
Amanda Sendejo, of Pure Technik Boxing, who won the regional title at 110, is a three-time state qualifier, as is Bianca Ortega, of Pure Technik Boxing, who won unopposed at regionals at 119 pounds.
Male and female champions in Fort Worth qualify for the 2024 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions, May 12-18, in Detroit.