Regional Golden Gloves Contests Announced!

The 2018 Regional Golden Gloves Championships will take place on Friday, May 4th at Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, MD.  First bout begins at 7:30 PM.  The event matches the winners from the DC region (DC, Maryland and Delaware) against the best from Virginia and North Carolina.s

Let's start with the Open Division where the winners will advance to the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Omaha, Nebraska May 13-20. However, we already know that four boxers from the DC region will already advance to the nationals because they are unopposed champions.  Those boxers are:

108 Pounds:  Kevon Cooke, Washington, DC

123 Pounds: Dwayne Holmes, Jr., Upper Marlboro, MD

201 Pounds:  Thomas Mottinger, Salisbury, MD

201+ Pounds:  Malik Titus, Baltimore, MD  (Titus has won two straight regional titles at 201+ pounds and was the regional champ at 201 Pounds in 2014 and 2015)

There are a few marquee matchups in the Open Division.  The 141-Pound championship will be a battle of past Golden Gloves Regional champions.  Defending 141-pound champion Wilfredo Avelar of Germantown, MD will take on the 132-pound titleholder in 2016, Nick Sullivan of Portsmouth, VA.

The Avelar Brothers will try to win three regional titles.  Tommy Avelar battles Andrew Duke of Fredericksburg, VA at 132 pounds while Brian Avelar will face Kelvin Davis of Norfolk, VA at 152 pounds.

Also in the Open Division, Keon Burroughs, who boxes out of Andrews Air Force Base, will be in the 165-Pound championship against Christian Salinas of Hampton, VA.  Burroughs has dropped down in weight from 2017, where he competed in the 178-Pound division.  In the 178-Pound class, Ezri Turner of Dover, DE will take on Ter'ryan Rogers of Richmond, VA.

The Novice Division bouts look like this:

114 Pounds:  Oscar Morales of Germantown, MD is the regional champion.

123 Pounds:  Brient Rodriguez of Kensington, MD vs. Ishmael Bennett of Richmond, VA

132 Pounds:  Isaiah Harris of Upper Marlboro, MD vs. Jeffrey Yu of Oakton, VA

141 Pounds:  Dominic Fantauzzo of Washington, DC vs. Keishawn Horne of Raleigh, NC

152 Pounds:  Quenten Stephens of Accokeek, MD vs. Joan' Planas of Manassas, VA

165 Pounds:  Moses Salem of Dover, DE vs. Steven Tyson of Arlington, VA

178 Pounds:  Joel Tchantchuinj of Silver Spring, MD vs. Rashid Bynum of Portsmouth, VA

201 Pounds:  Jermaine Harbert of Waldorf, MD vs. Giovanni Suderi of Ashburn, VA

201+ Pounds:  Zackary Chick of Galena, MD vs. Jimmy Speros of Great Falls, VA

Like the Washington Golden Gloves Championships were dedicated to legendary trainer Dave Jacobs,  the Regionals will be held in memory of another legendary trainer, Bernard Roach, Jr.