DC & Maryland Dominate 2012 Golden Gloves Regionals
Coach Patrick, David Grayton & Head Trainer Barry Hunter of Headbangers Gym
by Gautham Nagesh
WALDORF, Md.–The Washington and Maryland team in the red corner dominated the blue team representing Virginia, North Carolina and the Armed Services at the Washington Golden Gloves regional championships Friday at Waldorf Jaycees Community Center. The red team won every bout in the open division, where winners advance to Nationals, highlighted by convincing wins from Gervonta Davis, D'Mitrius Ballard, and Michael Reed.
The 17-year-old Davis hails from Baltimore but has been a familiar face on the local fight scene for years. He impressed in the 123-lb finals against the rugged Steven Zaiden, who gave Gary Antonio Russell a tough fight last year. As always, Zaiden brought pressure from the onset and looked to make it a brawl. But the southpaw Davis is a slick counterpuncher with extremely fast hands, and he kept his composure admirably against the older fighter.
Davis scored a count early with a body shot that looked like it hurt Zaiden, who still kept coming. By the second round Gervonta had figured out his opponent and was landing the straight left at will, bloodying Steven’s nose. Zaiden responded by getting rough on the inside, but after three rounds it was clear Davis was the better man.[[MORE]]
Russell moved up to 132 lbs. this year and followed his highlight-reel knockout of Joel Young in the DC/Maryland finals with another stoppage on Friday, this time against Kevin Harris of Richmond, Va. Harris came out aggressively and held his ground well, but the speedy southpaw Russell scored two counts in the second round with hard left hands. The ref waved off the fight soon afterward, even though Harris looked able to continue.
Gregory Outlaw of Sugar Ray Leonard’s won the 114-lb open division title against Michael Daniels of Newport News, Va. by using his greater reach to stay on the outside. The game Daniels made a fight of it in the third, but was unable to subdue the taller Outlaw. Jonathan Howard of Hamstead, N.C. won the 108-lb division in a walkover.
The reigning national champion at 141 lbs. and Stiff Jab’s amateur boxer of the year, Reed was clearly the hometown favorite in Waldorf. The skilled southpaw is 19 years-old and has been fighting for a decade under the guidance of his father Buck, who owns Dream Team Boxing Gym. Reed put on another impressive performance on Friday, putting the Marines’ Joseph Canale down with a hard left and stopping him with another to the body. The plan is for Reed to try and defend his title at Nationals, but he said he will likely turn professional after six months to a year.
Another Stiff Jab favorite, David “Day Day” Grayton was all smiles before the 152-lb finals, posing for pictures and showing off his moves. That’s not surprising, since he’d already won the division two years in a row. There are a number of amateur stars in the DMV, but something about Day Day really gets the crowd going. A selection of the taunts directed at Jonathan Steele of Camp LeJeune from the crowd before the fight:
“Oh, this boy gonna get killed.”
“Someone throw the towel in now.”
To his credit, Steele refused to lay down, and it even looked like the Marine scored an early knockdown that was ignored by the ref. After one round, it was clear Day Day had more competition than he had bargained for. The second round saw both fighters trade heavy shots and the crowd roar in appreciation. But Day Day was too strong and he began imposing his will in the third. A late knockdown brought the crowd to its feet and put the verdict beyond doubt.
Grayton won the National Golden Gloves in 2010, so he’s not even certain that he will attempt to defend his title. His trainer Barry Hunter says the plan is for Day Day to turn professional soon; there are any number of cards coming up in the Washington area soon that would seem like perfect opportunities for his debut. But the best possible shot remains a spot on the undercard of Khan-Peterson 2 in Las Vegas on May 19. Grayton has a fan-friendly, professional style that should make him an attractive prospect at welterweight.
Ballard won the evening’s final fight against Daniel Silva of the U.S. Navy with a second-round stoppage in the 165-lb division. A favorite of this blog, Ballard is an imposing young man and a hellacious body puncher. He scored a count in the first round with a left hook and looked to have the advantage early, but Silva responded in the second by tossing Ballard to the mat.
D'Mitrius rose, clearly incensed, and took out his frustration by punishing Silva with his gloves. Another count, followed by more pressure, and the ref was force to end the fight. Silva showed good sportsmanship afterward by raising his opponent’s arm in victory. Ballard’s No Xcuse teammate Jerry Odom took the 178-lb title in a walkover; he made it to the finals of the National tourney last year.
Darnell Price of the Marines took the 201-lb title by walkover and will join Jonathan Howard as the only representatives from the Blue team at Nationals. Headbangers’ Danny Kelly won the super-heavy crown unopposed and will head to Nationals, where his power could turn some heads. Michael Reed was named Fighter of the Year.
In the novice division, I arrived in time to see Yurii Polishchuk win the 141-lb title. His LA Boxing teammate Zarifbek Nishanbaev won a great fight against the game Luis Valentin of the Marines in the 152-lb novice division. Davonte Harris of Roanoke scored the lone win of the night for Virginia in the 165-lb division over Steven Bucci, while Joe Jones dominated at 178 against James Morrow of the Marines. Curtis Iverson won the heavyweight final by bullying LA Boxing’s Albi Sadikas around the ring.
But the most entertaining bout of the night came between Kenneth Campbell of Gaithersburg against the ample Thomas Harper Jr. of Virginia Beach in the novice super-heavyweight finals. Harper made up for his lack of sophistication with spirit and a willingness to throw his weight around, literally. He shoved Campbell to the ropes and dove on top of him, lying there for a moment as he squeezed the life out of his foe. Campbell eventually rallied to win both the fight and the crowd’s appreciation, proof again that everyone loves the big guys.