You could say that South Ogden's 114-pound Diego Alvarez has become quite the big deal at the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions this week at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
How big? When one of the wealthiest guys in the state, philanthropist and businessman Spence Eccles, starts showing up at your bouts and reminds reporters that he's from the same hometown as you are, you're pretty big.
With Eccles and about 50 of Alvarez's friends and family members cheering his every punch, the 17-year-old dynamo defeated Detroit's Tommy Robinson by a 4-1 decision on Friday night in a national semifinal bout. Alvarez, a quiet, soft-spoken junior at Two Rivers High, an alternate school in the Weber School District, will try to become just the second Utahn to ever win a national Golden Gloves title on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Salt Lake City's Sampson Pouha won the super heavyweight title in 1991.
"He's an Ogden Tiger," Eccles crowed Friday night after hugging and congratulating Alvarez, who trains with the "Los Gallitos" club (Little Roosters) in Ogden under the direction of Lalo Lopez, a New York Yankees cap-wearing coach who doesn't charge youngsters a dime for the work he's been doing out of a garage the past 11 years.
Alvarez has been one of his prized pupils for eight years, and on Friday that showed as Alvarez weathered an early surge by Robinson and gradually took over the bout.
"I just had to adjust to the fight," said Alvarez.
Still, the teenager said he's not surprised by his success in his first foray into nationals.
"I thought I could do this because I am really passionate about my career," he said.
Officials at his school have exempted him from attending this week, allowing him to do his schoolwork at home, so he has no idea whether his classmates are following his deep run. Friday's win was his fourth this week.
Alvarez will meet Victor Morales of Nevada in the second of 10 championship bouts on Saturday at the Salt Palace. Morales took a 3-2 decision over Chicago's Cristian Williams at the same time Alvarez was outlasting Robinson.
The Detroit fighter came out throwing a lot of leather, but ran out of gas in the second round and took to grabbing and clutching and occasionally throwing wild punches as the technician Alvarez started to dominate with flurries and jabs.
"I'm not surprised," said his father, Marco Alvarez, who works for Wells Cargo Trailers of Ogden. "Diego puts everything out there, his whole heart, to get what he wants."
In Friday's other bouts, Texas once again established its dominance after having wrapped up the team title on Thursday night. Lone Star State boxers won five of their six semifinal bouts, as Pablo Ramirez (108), Michael Dutchover (132), Vergil Ortiz (141), Rafael Medina (152) and Gregory Dismukes (201+) all advanced to the finals.
drew@sltrib.com
Twitter: @drewjay