Every weekday West Texas Knock Out Boxing Club members show up to the gym at 5:30 p.m. to condition for their fights.
They run for 45 minutes around the 1500 block of Grant Avenue and afterwards wrap their hands as they spar and hit the bags.
Coach Augie Tapia is sure to instill in them that the key to success is conditioning and effort.
Like all boxing clubs in West Texas, long out of town trips are required for fighters to gain experience. Recently WTKO traveled to San Angelo for a series of fights in a dim lit event center.
The fight card for the night featured 14 fights. WTKO brought six fighters.
for 45 minutes around the 1500 block of Grant Avenue and afterwards wrap their hands as they spar and hit the bags.
First up was 10-year-old Jorian “Conejo” Portillo. Portillo was WTKO’s least experienced fighter but he brought a lot of ambition. Portillo went the full three rounds with opponent Jacob Trevino from Gloves of Glory Boxing Academy in Lubbock.
“Man it’s exciting, I grew up boxing,” Portillo’s stepfather Enrique Portillo said about watching him win his boxing debut. “It’s something he likes to do, and I am really, really proud of him,” Portillo said. “With experience everything else will come, he did amazing.”
Next up on the fight card for WTKO was one of their most experienced fighters 14-year-old Rosendo “Superman” Martinez against 3 Cities Boxing Club’s 15-year-old Paul Hernandez. Martinez came into the fight confident with a mission on his mind. One round and done. That is exactly what he accomplished when the referee ended the fight before the first bell.
“I felt good,” Rosendo Martinez said. “I’ve been training for this for quite awhile, I already expected what was going to happen in that ring. By the stance he was doing I already knew I had him … he didn’t land many punches on me.”
Martinez said he has been working on his speed and that showing up daily is what makes him successful.
“I think he did wonderful, it was a little different, but he kept the pace and took the fight under control,” Martinez’s dad, Rosendo Ray Martinez, said. “With the practice they have been doing, the running, the motivation, yeah.”
Undefeated boxer Ismael “El Flaco” Ramirez III, 14, kept an unblemished record after defeating 3 Cities Boxing’s Tony Hernandez, 14.
“I felt like I did pretty good, every time I fight I always do good,” Ramirez III said. “It’s determination not to stop in the middle of the ring. Even if I get tired I keep going and going until the last minute.”
Superman’s younger sister Neveah “Supergirl” Martinez was in their fourth fight up against Concho Boxing Club’s Mia Berrera fighting out of San Angelo. Neveah received the eight count because of a hit she took while her feet were crossed which caused her to stumble near the end of the first round.
During the second round, Neveah came out with a fury. She pressured Barrera onto the ropes multiple times with a continuous attack of punches, which ultimately led to the referee stopping the fight.
“I feel good about it; it was kind of tough. The second round I knew I had to stop her then, so I just gave it my all in the second round,” Neveah said.
WTKO’s Salvador Lopez, 16, made his debut against a more experienced fighter, Riginald Diggs of Littlefield Boxing Club.
All three rounds were gritty. Lopez managed to keep the pressure on though, forcing his opponent on his heels. Lopez threw a series of head shots eventually putting Diggs onto the ropes.
At the end of three rounds, judges’ cards were in, and Lopez took the win by unanimous decision.
“I feel good really, before I started I really was anxious because, you know you have that emotion inside. For example, I love this sport, I really appreciate this sport. I’m going to put all of me and my heart into it, when I go to fight,” Lopez said after his fight. “I really was nervous, like everybody who starts their first fight. I said (to myself) you’re not going to give up. It doesn’t matter how much he throws me.”
The final fight, which was the heavyweight fight of the night, was between WTKO’s Sebastian “Chubby Boy” Juarez, 20, and Del Rio Boxing Academy’s Austin Beason, 28. Juarez went down fairly early in the first round but managed to get back to his feet. It wasn’t long, however, before Juarez was down again and the fight was determined a knock out for Beason.
“Boxing is 90 percent conditioning; the rest is heart, skills, and how tough you fight. Some of them need more conditioning to be where I want to bring them, where they don’t stop throwing punches,” Tapia said after the fight.
“Portillo impressed me, for his first match, and then Salvador and Flaco. Flaco is now 5-0, Supergirl is 3-0 now, but the one I take my hat off too is Superman. He hit him hard in the first round, beautiful boxing skills, hard power punches. He’s still growing, and he fights like a man, he’s a 15-year-old.” Tapia said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the Junior Olympics. Him and his sister and Flaco. Those are next three kids I’m going to take to the Junior Olympics.”
WTKO competed this weekend in Fort Worth, and will go to El Paso for a tournament on March 24-25. Then it’s back to the gym for the next four weeks so they can be ready for the Junior Olympics in Lubbock on April 28-29.
“I’m very grateful for my work for Mike Castillo and Alice Navarette at Silverback Transport to give me the time to be free to let me go where I need to go for this sport and for these kids, because they appreciate the work we do for the kids. So we can keep helping out the West Texas boxing community, especially here in Odessa.”