Tavares Memorial card a good show with local fighters doing well

The Ray Tavares Memorial Invitational amateur boxing card took place over the weekend at the Boys & Girls Club in Reno and Carson City boxers held their own during the two-day tournament.

Bruno's Boxing Club of Carson City entered two fighters on the card and both won.

"We're pleased with the results, hopefully this will build on that for future events," BBC Director Vic Bruno said. "We did good. I'm happy."

On Saturday, BBC fighter Joe Goss won by decision over Rigo Sanchez of the Atwater (Calif.) Boxing Club in the 165-pound class. Then on Sunday, Chuey Elizondo scored a first-round stoppage of Reno Jets fighter Juan Ramos in the 100-pound class.

The Carson City Boxing Club had fighters on the card both days also. On Saturday, Sergio Orantes lost by decision to Salvador Regaldo of the Medford (Ore.) Bulldogs in the 139-pound class. That fight was voted "Best Bout" on the card.

CCBC fighter Mike Peralta won his fight in the 132-pound class by decision over Evarado Avalos and Duane Pope lost in the first round to Homero Gonzalez of the Medford team in the 147-pound class.

Pope's CCBC teammate Luis Loe lost on Sunday by decision to Gonzalez - who was voted "Best Boxer" on the card - and CCBC fighters Fabien Castellanos and Sergio Orantes fought a three-round exhibition fight.

The Meford team took home the team trophy from an event that drew boxers from McDermitt, Reno, Elko, Atwater and Red Bluff, Calif.

"We had a wonderful show," tournament coordinator Thelma Tavares said. "The fights were good, so was the crowd and the proceeds from the (non-profit) card will go to the Ray Tavares Memorial Fund to help local boxers."

The Reno Jets hosted the two-day card, which was sanctioned by USA Boxing of Nevada. Carson City's Norm Budden was the chief of officials and refereed both days. Carson City boxing judges Jack Howell and Mike Downey worked the Saturday card and Gardnerville's Warren Bottino judged both days and also refereed on Sunday's card.

The next amateur card for this area takes place Oct. 14 at the Boys & Girls Club in Reno.

- Check your TV schedule for more amateur boxing on NBC as the Olympics are here and the top amateur boxers in the world are competing for medals. The Olympic fights are also being shown on CNBC.

- Last Fridays ESPN2 card came from the Pepsi center in Denver. The main event saw hometown favorite Stevie Johnston try to regain his WBC lightweight title from the man who took it from him, Jose Luis Castillo.

After 12 good rounds, the fight went to the scorecards and two of the three judges ruled it a draw - the third judge gave it to Johnston by one point - so the fight was called a draw and Castillo retained his title.

Also on the card was "The Butterbean," who knocked out someone only his mother knows by name in round three of their heavyweight fight. A good card for the 2-hour live telecast.

- Saturday in Las Vegas on Showtime, WBA middleweight champ William Joppy kept his title by winning a unanimous 12-round decision over challenger Hacine Cherifi in a fight that, to me, showcased how little skills you need these days to become as champion. Joppy was not impressive and the almost-unknown champion did little to boost his name recognition or ticket-sales potential.

Also on the telecast, Sharmba Mitchell won by unanimous decision over Felix Flores to retain his WBA junior middleweight title and WBA junior lightweight champ Joel Casamayor stopped Bradford Beasley in round six to keep his title.

- Sunday's main event fight shown live on Univision lasted about as long as it will take you to read this. Antonio Margarito stopped Jose Benitez just 66 seconds into round one of their scheduled 10-rounder to improve his record to 23-3 with 15 KOs. Benitez fell to 20-8, 17 KOs. The card came from Phoenix.

- A good show Sunday night on FOX Sports from Detroit. The main event had Las Vegan Steve Forbes win a unanimous 12-round decision over David Santos for the USBA junior lightweight title and the semi-main saw undefeated Lawrence Clay-Bey improve to 12-0 when he stopped Mike Williams in round six of their heavyweight fight.

Also on the telecast, George Foreman's daughter Freeda improved to 2-0 when she won a four-rounder from Aicheria Bell, who is now 0-4.

Alan Rogers is the Nevada Appeal boxing writer.