Chattanooga, Tenn. • Diego Alvarez thrilled Utah boxing fans three years ago when he won a national Golden Gloves championship at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
But the teenager from Ogden hasn’t duplicated that feat since, and won’t this year either. Alvarez lost 5-0 to Jordan Jenkins of Texas in a first-round bout Wednesday night in the 132-pound division at the National Tournament of Champions at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Overall, it was a rough night for the Utah-based Rocky Mountain franchise, which won two bouts and lost five.
Clearfield’s Jon Bryant defeated Charles Garner of Buffalo 5-0 at 152 pounds and Salt Lake City’s Juan Higuera defeated Pennsylvania’s Earl Veney 4-1 at 201 pounds to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Bryant, 24, will face Jaydon Vigil of Colorado/New Mexico Thursday night while Higuera will meet Charles Smith of Cleveland.
Wednesday, Matthew Searle of St. George lost 5-0 to Cincinnati’s Peter Frakes. Ogden’s Jason Wright lost by TKO to Japhethlee Llamido of California when the referee stopped the contest in the third round.
Salt Lake City’s Danny Galloway lost 4-1 to Christian DeLarosa of Colorado/New Mexico at 165 pounds.
In a female division bout at 125, South Jordan’s Stephanie Mendoza lost 5-0 to Alexis Martin of the Mid-South region franchise.
Three Rocky Mountain franchise female fighters will make their tournament debuts Thursday: Park City’s Maryguenn Vellinga will go against Kansas City’s Madelyn Bollin, Salt Lake City’s Jackie Barco will square off against Pennsylvania’s Rebecca Maine and Kendra Reeves of Twin Falls, Idaho, will fight Leah Cooper of New York Metro.
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