Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Isabel Garcia of Portales practices Wednesday afternoon at Roy Walker Recreation Center.
CLOVIS — Veteran local boxing coach Tony Romero typically promotes local fight slates by noting that, "Any boy can ... box/be helped/be a champion."
Add a few girls to the slogan, and everything is ready to go for this weekend's Chuck Haas Memorial Boxing Tournament.
The 2 p.m. tournament is scheduled for 20 to 25 bouts of various age and weight levels at Roy Walker Recreation Center. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and military, $5 for kids ages 5-17 and free for kids under 5.
Three Clovis boxers will be featured — four-time Silver Gloves state champion Luis Sandoval, 14; Angel Sandoval, 12; and Portales' Isabel Garcia, 18.
Romero said the tournament is part of an effort to bring boxing back to the forefront in Clovis, in honor of all Haas did locally for the sport.
"I started when I was 12," Romero said. "Chuck Haas was in the gym, Bill Stevens was the coach. I knew him until the day he died."
Haas always tried to teach boxers to be smart, dedicated and disciplined and always remembering your next opponent was working just as hard as you, if not more.
The work started quickly on a Wednesday practice when the Sandovals came in. A quick handshake with everybody in the Roy Walker back practice gym, and it was then to the ring for shadow boxing work.
Garcia and the elder Sandoval worked first as partners, alternating between throwing the punches and holding the pads in the ring.
"My dad got me into it," said Garcia, who will be fighting at 135 points. "He's been working with me on those pads since I was 9."
Romero said he and two others are handling coaching duties, and could use three more volunteers. If somebody with boxing knowledge can volunteer time, Romero said he'd find sponsors to pay the $128 all coaches have to put up for licensing and criminal background checks.
More coaches, more kids boxing is the goal.
"If a kid's willing to learn and works his butt off," Romero said, "I'll get him fights. We'll go to sponsors for gasoline money and hamburger money. Hopefully, we'll see more fights here as well."
