2008 Ringside World Championship Final Results

Out of the nine boxers that the Circle took to compete in the tournament, we brought home three champions. Anthony Thoen had to compete twice in the Junior Novice division and he came out throwing jabs constantly and mixing it up with a few combinations. He brought home the championship belt after only having two amateur boxing bouts. What a huge accomplishment. Javontae Starks competed for four days. The championship bout was the toughest for Javontae. It was a rematch against Sammy Vasquez Jr. Javontae competed against Sammy at the 2008 National Golden Gloves tournament in Grand Rapids, MI and lost to him by decision. It was a four round bout that went the distance. Both of these boxers were giving it their all exchanging combinations to the bitter end. Javontae won the bout with a 2/1 split bringing home the 2008 Championship belt. Jamal James also had to compete for four days. His best boxing match was the semi-finals against Scott Bradley from Pittsburgh, PA. Jamal’s style was perfect. His punches were strong, sharp and on point. He utilized his reach the entire time keeping Scott at a distance. His movement was fast, which made it hard for Scott to land any punches. Jamal was suppose to compete against a young man from Canada for the championship belt but the boxer never showed up and Jamal won the championship bout by walk over bringing home the 141 lbs belt for a second year in a row.

The rest of the boxers all did extremely well. Francisco Solis-Noyola, Jr. had a tough bout in the semi-finals. He competed against Ray Ximeniz from Dallas, TX. This young man just would not stop coming and no matter what Francisco threw Ray would walk right through it. Ray was able to smuther Francisco’s punches by staying in close to Francisco, which worked and cost Francisco the bout. Gene boxed for the first time at the Ringside tournament. He had a tough bout but he handle his own threw out the entire bout. He lost the bout by decision but was excited that he finally had the opportunity to compete and can’t wait until his next boxing match. Jonathon Perez boxed at a different weight class. He competed at 125 lbs, which is much heavier then he is use to. He also had to compete against a boxer that had a very different style, which threw Jonathon off of his game plan. He lost his bout by decision also. Jonathon is now concentrating on the 2008 National Police Athletic League tournament in October. Baca Hill had his first amateur bout at the Ringside tournament. His opponent was much taller and had a longer reach. It didn’t stop Baca from moving forward and being the aggressor of the bout. He did his best landing as many scoring blows as possible but it wasn’t enough to win the bout and he lost on decision. Victor also had a tough opponent. The young man was fast and slick, which was making it hard for Victor to catch him and land any scoring blows. Victor also lost his bout by decision.

The entire team did extremely well. They all trained hard for the tournament and gave it their all in their bouts. The team will be back in training for the upcoming 2008 National PAL tournament in Oxnard, CA the first week in October as well as the State Silver Gloves tournament.

2008 Best Ringside World Tournament Bout

Well I apologize to everyone. I thought I would be able to keep everyone updated on a daily basis on the progress of our amateur boxers but unfortunately I was extremely busy throughout the entire tournament and didn’t get a chance to even open my laptop.

We all made it back home safely yesterday, Sunday Aug. 10th. The Circle team did great again this year. We took 9 amateur boxers to compete in the 2008 Ringside World tournament: Jamal James, Javontae Starks, Jonathon Perez, Francisco Solis-Noyola, Jr., Victor Solis-Noyola, Gene Lawson, Anthony Thoen, Baca Hill and Asa “Uncle Skeets” Grigsby. The coaches were Sankara Frazier and Adonis Frazier. The team managers were Sierra Leone Samuels and Elba Aorroyo. Sierra Leone was also assigned as a Ring Captain for the tournament and was an official in the tournament.

The best boxing match out of the team was Uncle Skeets. He competed at the age of 66 in the 178 lbs Master Division against John Disterdick who was well over 6′ tall. Uncle Skeets boxed 3 – 1 minute rounds against John. The entire place was gathered around the ring to watch these two Master Boxers compete. The bell rang to begin the first round and Uncle Skeets came out looking like he has been boxing forever. He was popping his jab, throwing combinations and slipping those long punches that John was throwing at him. John was aggressive coming at Uncle Skeets with strong hard jabs but Uncle Skeets was too fast for him, slipping and moving out of the way. The first round ended and the entire place was on their feet cheering and clapping for Uncle Skeets. The second round began and Uncle Skeets was a little tired but was still able to keep moving. He landed some strong jabs and rights to John’s body and head, while moving and slipping John’s punches. The second round ended and again the cheers and applaud became a roar for Uncle Skeets. The third and final round began. Uncle Skeets comes out moving a little slower and a little out of breath. He got caught with a strong, hard jab, which put him on the mat. But Uncle Skeets jumped right back up and began moving and slipping the rest of those punches coming at him. Uncle Skeets lost the bout and won second place in the tournament but you could never tell that from the crowd. The cheers and applaud became thunderous as everyone in the entire place jumped to their feet to give Uncle Skeets a standing ovation. Ron Lyle (5th rated heavy weight contender who fought Muhammad Ali and George Foreman) rushed over to the corner to congratulate Uncle Skeets on such a beautiful performance and accomplishment. Mr. Lyle was so excited he asked Uncle Skeets to take a picture with him. What a boxing match to see and what an accomplishment for Uncle Skeets.