By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Local boxers and clubs from outside of town traveled to compete and showcase their fighting skills at the Match of Champions Saturday night.
The event, a boxing tournament representing athletes from Del Rio and cities across the state, was composed of 15 matches over about a three-hour period. The Box Scene Academy (BSA) hosted the event, which was postponed early in March. Eddie Hernandez, event coordinator, said it has been a growing process to get these events running.
“(The boxing community) is still growing,” Hernandez said. “The purpose of these shows is to say that our boxers have a match here in town and that we don’t always have to be on the road.”
BSA is a nonprofit gym run by Eddie’s brother George Hernandez, who trains eight-to-ten kids a week ranging in ages from 10 to 20. The gym was created in 2012 so local kids and young adults could have a place to practice competitive boxing. George said he enjoys coaching kids and showing his love for the sport. He said the most important lesson kids should learn from boxing is to have discipline.
“We wanted to bring something different to the community of Del Rio,” George said. “I wanted (the event) to show a display of different kinds of skills from BSA and all the clubs.”
Teams from Corpus Christi, Laredo, San Antonio, San Angelo and New Mexico traveled to compete at Saturday’s event. Jarek Guzman, boxer, traveled from Corpus Christi to represent the LV Boxing Fitness Club, and won the first fight of the night in the Pee Wee Division. Guzman said he was excited for the tournament and wants to do more boxing in the future.
The event’s 15 matches were based on weight classes. The tournament started with match-ups in the smaller weight classes, and ended with fights in the Junior and Intermediate Male divisions.
Rick Nuñez represented South Park Boxing Academy in San Antonio during the Junior Male Division. Nuñez said he trains every day for competitions such as the ones held on Saturday.
“My dad had got me into boxing because he has been doing it his whole life,” Nuñez said. “I started when I was four and been doing it ever since.”
Eddie Hernandez said it was exciting to see the kids showcase all the skills they’d trained with and developed. He said a lot of the kids who competed have been training for more than five years and have been showing their progress in the ring.
