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Lafayette, La. • The sweet science — a term often used to describe boxing — turned bitter on Wednesday night for the five Utahns and one Idaho resident competing in the Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions at the Cajundome Convention Center.
Most notably, South Ogden's Diego Alvarez lost a 4-1 decision to Felix Parrilla of New England and was eliminated from the competition. Alvarez, 17, won the national championship at 114 pounds last May in Salt Lake City.
It was his first bout in Louisiana, having drawn a first-round bye the night before.
The only member of the Rocky Mountain franchise to win a bout at nationals, Salt Lake City's Gabriel Chairez, fell 5-0 to Adrian Benton of Cincinnati on Wednesday. Chairez had defeated Michigan's Joshua Pagan 4-1 on Tuesday in the 132-pound division.
Also Wednesday, Herriman's Milo Gutierrez fell 5-0 to Ahkmed Aliyev of Buffalo, N.Y., in his nationals debut.
Jon Bryant, the 6-foot-3 boxer from Syracuse who trains at Clearfield's Lights Out gym, lost 5-0 to Michael Calvin of New York City.
High school football star Bryant Kimbrough of Pocatello, Idaho, lost 4-1 to Erick Gainous of the Colorado-New Mexico team.
The Rocky Mountain Region team was entirely eliminated from the tournament when Herriman's Halatoa Piutau lost 4-1 to Rafael Gaitan of Texas in the 178-pound division and Siala Siliga of Salt Lake City lost 5-0 to California's Richard Torrez at 201-plus pounds.