Eugene Garcia (red) lost a tough decision at 156 pounds to Arlen Janis of Rapid City (in blue). Photo by James Giago Davies
Janis scores impressive boxing victory
Jalin Cordell, Trini Brown Eyes and Arlen Janis get impressive wins
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Today Correspondent
nativesunnews.today RAPID CITY –– Saturday night, March 4, at the Martinez Boxing Gym, South Dakota State Golden Gloves held a 13-bout boxing event in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The card was split into seven bouts, an intermission, and six bouts and an exhibition bout. Several match-ups stood out, and the first hotly contested bout came at 132 lbs. between Auburn Drury of Spearfish’s Champion’s Choice Boxing, and Christopher Russell of Gillette. This bout was scheduled for three two-minute rounds. Russell appeared the stronger, more dangerous fighter, but Drury weathered his initial onslaught and rallied with the busier hands. He wasn’t crisp with his punches, and both fighters got seriously gassed and pawed a great deal, but Drury put more leather on Russell in the final two rounds and won the decision. The last bout before intermission was at 135 lbs. and scheduled for three two-minute rounds. Nevada Janis of Rapid City out-pointed a game Bradley Dodd of Belle Fourche. Dodd put out a huge effort, his face reddened from blows, and he had his moments against Janis, but Janis gave a steady, capable performance, had a nice, short counter-hook that caught the hard-pressing Dodd with regularity, knocking his mouthpiece out at one point, and proved the deciding factor in the contest. The last five bouts were three round three-minute contests. The first came at Heavyweight, and pitted Virgil Janis of Rapid City, against Cody Kerr of Belle Fourche. Kerr’s chief asset was a determined attack, no particular strategy other than to stay busy and keep his punches sharp. Janis displayed an excellent hook in the first round, backing Kerr into a corner with it, and Kerr carried his right hand below his clavicle, so the chin was there for that hook to test. But Janis stopped throwing the hook, and Kerr revved up his aggression even more in the final two rounds, and came away with a hard-earned, well-deserved decision. At 152 lbs., solid, accurate punching from Rapid City’s well-schooled Jalin Cordell proved too much for a tough Carlos Romero of Manderson, and Cordell won the decision. Romero is a well-muscled prospect with a lot of upside, and should do well in the future if he puts in the gym work. In the best bout of the night, Rapid City’s Trini Brown Eyes rallied from behind at 178 lbs. to out-point a tough and determined Jeremy Peters of Belle Fourche. Brown Eyes appeared gassed a few times and Peters cornered him and controlled the action, but the hard slugging, in-fighting Brown Eyes caught a huge second wind in the final round, ripping hard blows to the body and head over and over again, the hook to the body opening Peters up for a jarring right to the head. The arms and face of Peters were visibly reddened from blows by the end of the third round. In the smartest bout of the night, Rapid City’s Arlen Janis used a withering body attack to turn back Eugene Garcia of Bears Den Boxing. Garcia was giving Janis all he could handle and then some, but Janis, a flexible-minded, classic boxer-puncher, figured out the long, lean-muscled Garcia was vulnerable to a body attack and used it to take control of the bout and open up shots to the head. Upcoming amateur boxing cards in March are the Wyoming State Junior Olympics on March 11, in Wheatland. On March 18, the District Golden Gloves will be held in Grand Island, Nebraska. The next area card will be the Stoney Kilmer Junior Olympic Benefit on April 22 in Spearfish.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Janis scores impressive boxing victory (Contact James Giago Davies at skindiesel@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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