Brennan teen reaches Golden Glove finals
It was only the first round but things couldn’t have looked bleaker for Jose Gonzalez. The Brennan High School senior had just gotten tagged with a swift combination to the head that did little damage but looked good enough to the trained eye of the referee for him to halt the action and order a standing eight count.
That’s when Gonzalez swallowed hard, dug in his heels and made up his mind to change the direction of the bout.
“He swarmed me with punches, but I wasn’t hurt,” Gonzalez said. “I just didn’t want to lose.”
For Gonzalez, the punches began coming in bunches and the tide began to turn. By fight’s end, Gonzalez was the one forcing standing eight counts and dominating the men’s senior novice, 156-pound bout.
His victory over Joshua Simmons by technical knockout Saturday afternoon was among the highlights of the second day of action in the San Antonio Regional Golden Gloves tournament, held for the third consecutive year at the Second Baptist Church Community Center on the East Side.
All 23 bouts Saturday came in the men’s senior novice or youth divisions.
Gonzalez’s comeback came after his early strategy of sitting back and relying on his defense nearly proved disastrous.
“I thought it would allow me time to figure him out,” Gonzalez, 18, said. “That was my game plan.”
But after Simmons forced a standing eight and wobbled Gonzalez later in the opening round with a looping left hook, the game plan went out the window.
By the final round, Gonzalez began to take advantage of a tired opponent and forced two standing eight counts, the second of which knocked out Simmons’ mouthpiece.
Moments later a hard right hand rocked Simmons and prompted the referee to halt the bout.
“He was fighting with his mouth open, which was an indication to me that he was tired,” Gonzalez said. “I was tired too but he was more tired than me. So I capitalized on it.”
Ellis Johnson, who trains Gonzalez at Ferocious Fitness, said the coaches there have been working with the teen on using his height and reach to his advantage.
Gonzalez stands nearly 6-feet tall with long arms.
“We’ve been trying to get him to take advantage of that, and to increase his punch count,” Johnson said.
In other bouts Saturday, Orlando Tiger Davila advanced to the finals of the men’s senior novice, 139-pound division with a third-round TKO of David Francis of San Antonio College Boxing.
The southpaw Davila, 25, forced numerous standing eight counts and dominated from the opening bell.
Just 5-foot-6, Davila was encouraged by his team at Chato’s Gym to work on controlling the distance and fighting on the inside.
“After the first round, (Francis) started getting a little tired,” Davila said. “I started seeing his punches better and applied more pressure.”
In a men’s senior novice, 176-pound bout, Antonio Arredondo III pf Boxers and Brawlers was impressive in stopping Carson Cowan of Submission Concepts at 0:29 of the third round.