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Amateur star Marco Romero wastes no time, turns professional for a month after winning the National Golden Gloves

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Marco Romero punches during one of his amateur competitions. Photo: Sergio Segura

Marco Romero didn’t have much time to celebrate after crossing off the last item on his amateur boxing bucket list. Two days after winning the 2024 National Golden Gloves title on May 18 at 165 pounds, Romero returned to training for his professional debut.

Returning to the gym after a grueling tournament in which the 18-year-old fought five times in six days, during which he missed his high school graduation and had to receive his diploma in a special ceremony, is no compact feat. . But with his professional debut scheduled for Saturday, June 15 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine, there was no time to waste.

Romero will face veteran MMA boxer-turned-boxer Jonathan Gary (2-1) in a four-round super middleweight bout. It’s a relatively modest debut for a decorated national champion, but Romero says his father, Salvador Romero, helped him put it all into perspective.

“We came home and, as my dad says, you just have to look back at everything. From where I got to the amateurs, now I’m starting in the pros,” said Romero, who is from Olathe, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb of about 140,000 people.

“I just want to be as successful as I was in amateur competitions. That’s why we immediately started working quickly.”

Romero will probably find it easier to list the amateur tournaments he didn’t win than the ones he did win. In a career that began at the age of seven, Romero won the Junior Olympics three times, the National Silver Gloves six times, the U.S. National Qualifier five times and the U.S. Championship four times, the last of which was his first at the elite level

He has fought approximately 135 bouts, losing just five times, with his last defeat coming via split decision in the final of the 2019 National Junior Olympic Games. An amateur of his caliber would normally play for the U.S. national boxing team, travel the world and pursue a spot in the Olympics, but circumstances were up to him independent conditions prevented him from participating in international competitions.

Romero made the U.S. national team in March 2020 and was scheduled to travel to Bulgaria for the Emil Jechev Tournament, but the tournament was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, his competing weight of 165 pounds was eliminated from Olympic competition. At 5-foot-7, Romero said he was too substantial for the 156-pound weight class and too compact for the 176-pound weight class.

In addition, the minimum age for Olympic boxers was raised from 18 to 19, meaning Romero was simply not destined to compete in Paris.

“My first dream was to go to the Olympics and bring home a gold medal, but unfortunately 165 was not a qualifying weight class. When I found out about it, my dream was to become a professional. I’ve always said my biggest dream was to bring the World Series back to Kansas. Kansas isn’t really a boxing state, so my thing is to bring the world championships back to Kansas and inspire all the other kids in Kansas to keep boxing and put boxing on the map. So that one day Kansas can be seen as one of the boxing states,” said Romero, a Mexican-American whose father is from the Mexican state of Michoacán and whose mother Sendy is from Guanajuato.

Boxing, however, was not Romero’s first passion. At the age of six, he started playing soccer in recreational leagues, while his two-year-old brother pestered his father to take him to a boxing gym. Shortly thereafter, the two switched roles, and the brother now plays high school football.

For the past eight years, Romero has trained under John Brown, a nearly 60-year veteran of the boxing industry who is also his manager. Brown also trained former heavyweight contender Tommy Morrison at the peak of his career from 1988 to 1993 and guided Cam F. Awesome to international amateur success. Finding a sparring match is hard, considering Kansas is not a boxing hotbed and few boxers are willing to pay the expense of traveling there to spar.

Romero with his National Golden Gloves title belt and Golden Boy award as player of the tournament. Photo: Sendy Romero

Romero did get a good job at the gym before the National Golden Gloves when he joined up with Eric Priest, a middleweight prospect from Golden Boy Promotions who came from his Kansas gym during training camp in Los Angeles. Romero admits he will have to travel more to be able to work more sparring sessions.

Priest (13-0, 8 knockouts) says he has known Romero since Romero was nine years ancient and says what makes him a special fighter is his work ethic and grounded, humble mindset.

“He comes from a great family, has great morals and values. I can vouch for him both as a person and as a boxer. He really is a combination of a demanding puncher and a good boxer,” Priest said.

“Marco is swift, has great head movement and is very mature in his overall movement in the ring. Solid combinations. Marco fights to win, he understands that this is a hurting business.

Romero compares his style to that of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, although he also cites fellow Kansas natives-turned-boxing stars Victor Ortiz and Brandon Rios as role models growing up.

“I would describe myself as a pressure fighter who steps forward but is knowledgeable. I like to break people down, put forward pressure, hit the body, hit demanding punches, but I’m also good with my head movement and footwork,” Romero said.

Romero already has his second fight scheduled for July 26 in Atlantic City and says he plans to drop down to 154 pounds. He believes he will be able to boost his record to 5-0 before the end of the year and then test the substantial boxing markets.

“It’s all becoming surreal to me. “Hopefully next year I’ll sign with a good promotion like Top Rank, Golden Boy, Matchroom or something like that,” Romero said.

***

Saturday’s gala is promoted by Banner Promotions Arta Pelullo and Bobby Russo, owner of the Portland Boxing Club and national president of the Golden Gloves of America. The main hero of the gala will be bantamweight contender Dylan Price (18-0, 12 KO) in a ten-round fight with Ernesto Irias (15-9-1, 9 KO) and Kendrick Ball Jr. (22-1-) lightweight heavyweight 3, 13 KO) against Britton Norwood (13-5-1, 10 KO) in a ten-round fight and the professional debut of local favorite and last year’s Fresh England Golden Gloves champion Wade Faria in a four-round fight in the middleweight division.

The event will be the first boxing show at the Cross Insurance Arena since 1994, when Joey Gamache defended his WBA lightweight title against Orzubek Nazarov, when the facility was known as the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Tickets range from $35 to $153 and the event starts at 6:30 p.m

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Boxing

Tsotne Rogova wins The Heartbeat of LA Boxing series and wins the WBC title

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Toro Promotions, Inc. launched its up-to-date boxing competition series, “The Heartbeat of LA Boxing,” last night at Pacific Palms Resort, which has been a huge success. The undefeated Tsotne “Mr. T” Rogova (10-0, 7 KO) won the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) United States heavyweight title, headlining an event that featured six professional debutants, including the renowned Walnut (California) High School student. Paolo “Pow” Barredo.

“This was definitely Southern California boxing at its best,” Toro promoter Azat Torosyan said after the fights. “You have to see a lot of shows to find a good one like tonight.”

In the co-main event, Rogova faced a tough challenge from Alexander “The Great” Flores (19-5-1, 17 KOs) before winning a 10-round unanimous decision in an action-packed bout. Rogova, a 2020 Ukrainian Olympian, dominated early after a second-round knockdown of Flores, who rebounded in the middle round before Rogova regained control.

Barredo, who celebrated his 18th birthday last week, faced featherweight Mychaquell “Myche” Shields (2-6), defeating him in the third round and earning a fourth-round stoppage. Barredo, the 2021 Junior Olympic champion, impressed in his professional debut.

Another great debut was made by Alexandro “El Capitan” Alvarado (1-0, 1 KO) of La Puente, who defeated Eduardo Mondragon “El Azteca” Lopez in the lightweight category. Alvarado, the 2021 California State Silver Gloves silver medalist, showed his potential after a third-round stoppage.

Other results included junior welterweight Sonny “The Bear” Robledo (10-0, 3 KO) maintaining his undefeated record with a six-round unanimous decision victory over Matt Gaver (3-10-2, 1 KO) and Hector Oros ( 1-0) rebounded from an early knockdown to defeat Alexander Robles (0-1) in a nearly four-round unanimous decision in the junior bantamweight division.

Riverside’s Oscar Trujillo Enriquez (1-0, 1 KO) made a memorable professional debut, defeating Jesse “Suavecito” Zuniga (0-1) in the second round with a devastating body shot. The action-packed evening ended with Santa Ana’s Michael “Chamuco” Bracamontes (10-2-1, 5 KO) narrowly defeating Los Angeles’ Arsen Poghosyan (3-3-1, 2 KO) by majority decision in a competitive junior weight bout featherlight .

The gala began with Mongolian flyweight champion Enkhmandakh “Machine Gun Magi” Khurkuu (4-0, 1 KO) defeating Richard Morales (1-8, 0 KO) from Westminster, Colorado, in the first round.

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Boxing

“Eddie Hearn is a counterfeit” – Ryan Garcia

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Image: "Eddie Hearn Is a Fake" - Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia has blasted promoter Eddie Hearn, saying he’s a “counterfeit” because he “turned his back” on Devin Haney after losing to him on April 20. Garcia believes Matchroom promoter Hearn is “counterfeit” for abandoning Haney (31-0, 15 KO) after he was defeated. He thinks this is low.

Ryan didn’t like how Hearn said he was seeded and was looking for a fight with Haney in the ring. He doesn’t understand how he would have managed not to look like he was “crazy” if he had been able to dominate Haney the way he did at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Modern York.

“Eddie Hearn said, ‘Ryan Garcia looked crazy in the ring before the fight.’ You can watch the fight, stupid,” Ryan Garcia said social mediatalking about his fight with Devin Haney on April 20. “I was literally normal.”

To be sincere, Ryan looked a little nervous in the lead-up to the Haney fight, but in the ring during the fight. He was 100% committed during the fight itself, which we saw clearly from the way he rocked Haney with a left hook to the jaw in the first round. Haney never recovered from Ryan’s lightning-quick shot.

“If I had been spaced out like that in the ring, how would I have managed to land a perfect counter left hook in front of his jaw? You stupid Eddie Hearn. You stupid idiot. “Oh, Ryan was pissed in the ring.” I’m fed up with Eddie Hearn. This guy is a fraud,” Garcis said.

Ryan shouldn’t take Hearn seriously as he could just be flapping his gums to have something to talk about as his former player Haney was really overworked. All the demanding work Hearn put into him was wasted.

After this loss, you could understand why Hearn wanted to leave the sinking ship Haney before it sank. It is useless now. Haney’s career has hit rock bottom and won’t be resurfaced with Hearn’s facilitate.

He won’t want to sign a contract with Haney and then make a costly and time-consuming transaction rebuild work on him, which could take two years and involve four or five confidence builders. Haney isn’t a huge enough attraction.

“You have to question what Eddie Hearn said. He said: “I looked at Ryan and he was really in bad shape.” I had a six pack and was ready to go. I came demanding. I drank a lot of fluids and ate a lot. I don’t usually do this.

“I don’t know how he gains so much weight. His weight went from 140 to 158. I was 156. Eddie Hearn said: “He was shaking and looking everywhere.” No, I wasn’t. Watch the fight. I wasn’t broken. How can I fight so broken?” Garcia said.

Many fans wonder how Haney gains so much weight after rehydrating after fights, but weight manipulation in sports requires policies to prevent this from happening. On fight night, weights should be additionally checked to ensure that fighters do not hydrate more than 5 pounds, as it is risky to have someone hydrate more than 20 pounds and employ their size to win. This is not only unfair, but can endanger the lives of opponents.

“If you’re really drugged, how can you fight in front of millions of people and fight for 12 rounds? These people are stupid. I’d like to see Eddie Hearn and say, “Are you stupid?” Your fighter wasn’t fighting well and wasn’t even your fighter at the time. And when he was beaten, you turned your back on him. You are a counterfeit cheater. Fuck you, Eddie Hearn,” Garcia said.

All that acting that Ryan did to make Haney think he was crazy may have also fooled Hearn into thinking he was out of his mind. Many people believed that Garcia was either showing signs of early schizophrenia or was under the influence of drugs.

“Forget you, Eddie Hearn, for trying to create the narrative I had in mind before the fight. You’re just an idiot. It’s a curse for him because you tried to lie to me so many times. Now look at your promotion,” Ryan said.

Again, we don’t know what Hearn’s purpose in the conversation was, as he may have been trying to generate interest in the fight by telling some elevated tales.

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Boxing

Daniyar Yeleussinov submits Joe Noynay twice and scores in round five in Kazakhstan

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Daniyar Yeleussinov celebrates his victory over Zoltan Szabo during their super welterweight fight at York Hall in London. (Image: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

by Francisco Salazar |

Daniyar Yeleussinov returned to fighting after a long break and hopes to be successful in a modern weight class.

Yeleussinov stopped Joe Noynay twice, winning by fifth-round knockout on Saturday night at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Yeleussinov improved his record to 12-0, 7 by knockout.

Southern midfielder Yeleussinov was acute from the opening bell. About 30 seconds before the end of the first round, a left to the body sent Noynay to one knee. Noynay managed to defeat the enumerator and get out of the round.

Less than a minute into the fourth round, a series of punches, including left hands to the head and body, knocked Noynay to the canvas. Noynay got down on both knees but beat the count given by referee Martin Pawlak.

Noynay continued to play, but Yeleussinov’s accuracy and striking speed surpassed him. Yeleussinov was the aggressor and took Noynay down, beating him up for most of the fight. As round five ended, Noynay’s corner made a clever move to keep Noynay from taking more punishment and preventing him from answering the bell in round six.

Saturday’s victory over Noynay was Yeleussinov’s first fight since a one-sided win over Juan Hernan Leal in December 2021 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Yeleussinov won a minor welterweight world title belt.

The 33-year-old is from Kayinda, Kazakhstan and currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Chris Glover, who has worked with Jeleussinov and his team, stated that Jeleussinov will likely return to action and fight at 154 pounds.

Yeleussinov was an outstanding amateur, winning an Olympic gold medal in 2016. Yeleussinov signed with Matchroom Boxing and made his professional debut in April 2018, fighting a total of 10 times under the Matchroom banner. Yeleussinov defeated the likes of Reshard Hicks, Alan Sanchez and former lightweight titleholder Julius Indongo by knockout.

Noynay, who lives in Paranaque City, Philippines, has a record of 23-5-2, 11 KOs. Noynay previously fought on May 16, losing by knockout to once-defeated Jin Sasaki.

The 29-year-old split two fights with junior lightweight title challenger Liam Wilson and former junior lightweight world champion Kenichi Ogawa.

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