Boxing tournament set for Saturday

CLOVIS — Roy Walker Gym will hold a boxing exhibition this weekend, with hopes those words will be said much more frequently in 2018.

Four eastern New Mexico youth boxers plan to take part in the event, scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday. Local boxing coach Tony Romero said clubs are coming from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and west Texas.

“We’re thinking we’ll have about 22 to 25 fights,” Romero said, “depending on who shows up.”

Local fighters will be Luis Sandoval and Angel Sandoval, Isabella Garcia and Jonathan Sanchez.

Sanchez will be in his first boxing match. The 12-year-old Yucca Middle School student is fighting in the 100-pound class. Sanchez said he’s been looking forward to the fight, and started practicing because he liked that he got to hit people without getting in trouble.

Sanchez said the most difficult part of the learning has been blocking. “I’m not too fast moving my head,” he said.

Romero said he and other volunteers are working with about seven kids right now.

“We’re rebuilding right now, and having the fights helps,” Romero said. “Normally, a new kid gets interested after he sees one of the fights.”

The hope is to have a fight about every six weeks to both generate interest and generate money for the April Golden Gloves tournament scheduled for Clovis. The tournament has been in Albuquerque recently, Romero said, but organizers have found attendance has been better in New Mexico’s smaller cities.

Admission to Saturday’s fights is $10 for adults, $5 for kids 12 and under and $7 for military or first responders. All of that money goes toward the Golden Gloves, while Romero is looking at some kind of raffle for other expenses.

“When we go to other tournaments, we need gas money, we need hamburger money,” Romero said. “We should be able to sell some posters, maybe do other things.”