By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio boxing fans will have to wait just a few more hours before they get to see one of their own compete for his 15th national championship.
Del Rio’s Jesus “Panterita” Martinez is scheduled to fight Cornellio Phipps of Oxford, Pa., for the championship of the youth male 125-pound weight division at the 2021 USA Boxing National Championships today as part of the 6 p.m. set of fights.
The duo will trade leather as the fourth bout of the evening in ring one at the Shreveport Convention Center in Shreveport, La. The fight can be viewed online at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Boxing/Ring-1-Updated .
This could be Martinez’s toughest fight in years. Phipps is the number one ranked fighter in the division, but Martinez isn’t far behind. He entered this year’s national championships ranked third and then defeated Troy Nash, the number two-ranked fighter, by unanimous decision Friday.
Phipps began his boxing career in 2015 and two years later began making his mark in USA Boxing National Tournaments. He took first in the National Junior Olympics in 2017, was second in the National Junior Golden Gloves in 2018, and won the National Junior Olympics again in 2018 and 2019. He also took first in the 2019 Junior Open and Eastern Regional Open.
Phipps won his first fight at this year’s national championships Tuesday by unanimous decision, defeating Ethan Gonzalez of Levittown, Pa. He followed that with another unanimous decision win on Thursday over Jonathan Treviño of San Diego, Ca.
Phipps defeated Tyshawn Denson of Akron, Ohio, the number five-ranked fighter in the division, by unanimous decision Friday to reach Saturday’s championship fight. Four judges felt Phipps took all three rounds easily, but a fifth judge gave Phipps the win 29-28.
Like Phipps, Martinez’s semifinal bout against Nash was his toughest of the tournament. He won by unanimous decision, but two of the judges scored it 29-28 in favor of Martinez, showing just how close the two boxed one another.
Martinez won his first fight of the tournament on Tuesday, defeating Michael Gaudreau of Fall River, Ma., by unanimous decision.
Martinez’s second fight made him a sensation when he defeated Wilkins Candelario of Newark, N.J., by stoppage about 30 seconds into the first round. He floored Candelario with a right hook and the young fighter was unable to get back on his feet resulting in the referee bringing an early end to the bout.
Like Phipps, Martinez has found boxing success throughout much of his career. By the time he was 12, Martinez already had three National Silver Gloves championships, three National Junior Olympic championships, the 2017 USA Boxing Eastern Elite Qualifier and Regional Open Championship, and a 2015 Ringside World Championship.
In all, Martinez has 14 national championships and one international championship to his credit. A win tonight would make it 15.
This is Martinez’s first tournament since July when he won the Junior Male 125-pound weight class championship at the 2021 USA Boxing National Junior Olympics in Lubbock for his 14th national championship. At that event, Martinez won four fights in four days, three via unanimous decision and one by technical knockout.
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