Lowell’s Giroux goes distance in loss
Local boxer defeated at Lowell Memorial Auditorium
LOWELL >> Melissa Giroux went the distance on ladies night at the 76th New England Golden Gloves at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
Presented by Lowell Sun Charities, the nine-week battle royal rumbled into week four with 11 bouts, including five finals in the female novice bracket.
A 5-foot-4 construction worker, Giroux went the distance in losing a unanimous decision to Belmont’s Seraphina Brown in the 154-poind female novice division final.
“It’s great,” said Giroux. “Lowell is boxing, so to represent Lowell is awesome. The crowd was intense. It was a good time, and against a great opponent.”
Brown held her ground for much of the bout, keeping Giroux on the defensive. The Lowell fighter managed to sustain some heavy rights from Brown, keeping her on her toes.
“I just didn’t execute my game plan that I wanted to in the beginning,” said Giroux, 33. “I got to the end though.”
A Golden Gloves veteran, Giroux last stepped into the ring in 2019, but couldn’t stay away from the sport for long.
“I just love it,” said Giroux. “I used to fight a lot lighter (weight class), but I missed it, I love the people and the energy. It’s a good time.”
Giroux wasn’t the only local making a dramatic ring return.
Westford resident and Lowell native Jasmine Gonzalez (132) also showed plenty of heart, losing to Brighton’s
Emily Chua in a first-round TKO.
Chua was a buzzsaw, working the head and the body with relentless precision, scoring a pair of standing eight’s against Gonzalez before the bout was eventually called 1:47 into the match.
“This was my first fight,” said Gonzalez, 29, who started boxing in 2010, before being battling cancer. “I had a pair of brain tumors. It took me 13 years to get to this point.”
The 5-foot-4 boxer never lost her competitive edge.
“I’ve done this for so long, I just never got to compete,” she said. “I’ve been coming to the Golden Gloves the last 13 years, but going from spectator to fighter is completely different.”
In the opening bout, Waltham’s Paige Eggebrecht (125) went the dis
tance in beating Walpole’s Katie Donohue by unanimous decision.
The Nolan Brother’s boxer stopped the charging Donohue with a quick flurry in the second round, before unloading several left-right combinations in the third to take the match.
Waltham’s Lauren Migliacci (178+) scored the first TKO of the night, dropping Methuen’s Christina Goynor in the first round. Migliacci came out swinging scoring a pair of standing eight counts, including her second and decisive flooring at 1:51 of the stanza.
West Roxbury’s Noelle Boran (119) wrapped up the female fisticuffs, beating Waltham’s Danielle Millian by unanimous decision.
In the men’s bracket, Saugus southpaw Shawn Gilman (139) earned a split decision win over Dorchester’s Kevin Dang.
Gilman peppered his opponent for three solid rounds. The only thing clouding Dang’s view were his long locks, forcing the ref to require him to wear a hairnet under his headgear to start the third and final round.
Shyne Fernandez Conce (125) also scored a unanimous decision against Anthony Schurko. A Medford native, Schurko wasted little time sprinting to his opponent in the opening seconds. His overenthusiasm appeared to cost him, however, as
Conce curbed his aggressive nature with some sharp rights throughout the bout, earning him a standing eight in the second round.
Methuen’s Giovanni Daley closed the show by beating Medford’s Berny Obas by split decision, in the 165-pound men’s open final.