After stewing just a little about it, I still can’t believe I watched 14 competitive fights all in one night. I remember walking in with an expectation that there’ll be much bravado for any type of boxing event, but I came out very humbled of the hometown feel of watching young, hungry, fighters, with their families, put out their all over 3-4 rounds. 28 fighters were all fighting for the opportunity to move on to the National Golden Gloves at Las Vegas, March 21-22, 2015. My big takeaway was that although this was strictly an amateur sport, governed by the rules of USA Boxing, these athletes carried themselves professionally, even in defeat.

I would like to highlight a few fighters that I saw had tremendous potential and style in the brief time I saw them fighting. The first is Nick Vasquez from the Squared Circle Gym. This guy was going up against a very slick moving boxer, Terrence Oddie from West Portland, but just did not give him any ground. I felt like the way he moved was like a Pernell Whitaker with a Thomas Hearns, an offensive minded matador, moving only to get a better angle to throw a murderous right hand deep towards vulnerable areas. He really walked down Terrence with no respect, and like in the shot above (in red), landed deep, deep body blows that buckled Terrence twice before the ref let Nick have the TKO. I spent maybe 30 minutes in an internet hole trying to learn more about this guy but alas, maybe something will come up later.

The next fighter I’d like to introduce is big Matthew Mollet from the (practically) hosts, the Tacoma Boxing Club, above in red. This amateur heavyweight (-201 lbs) has so much to look forward to and is proudly standing on strong foundations, from what I read of this young man and from what I saw in his fight last night.

From what I saw last night, I would be damned if he wasn’t what was really supposed to save American Heavyweight Boxing. With a huge frame, great reach, great instincts, and non-stop attack, he was just a lot to get excited about from the first second of the first round of his demolition of Edgar Cortez from the UW. Poor, poor Edgar. I felt the mascara tears of the UW booster club haplessly cheering him from upstairs, but Matthew’s onslaught was divine. Matthew was using all his god-given gifts to lay waste to that guy and it made me immensely happy.

That’s all for now, but you’ll definitely be seeing more from BMB covering Pacific Northwest Amateurs. We’ll stay tuned on news of the upcoming National Golden Gloves tournament, and how these guys will perform.