Norcalboxing.net
The Air Force Academy dominated Saturday's NCBA Western Regionals action in front of a near-sellout crowd at the El Dorado Hotel in Reno, with 10 Falcons emerging victorious out of the 12 divisional final bouts.
However, Northern California schools were not shut out, as Cal 165-pounder Juan Ramos took home the middleweight title, edging Air Force's Casey Habluetzel in a close 3-2 decision.
In the 156-pound final, Ramos' junior middleweight teammate, Jose "Jay" Jimenez, dropped his first bout of the year, a points loss to Air Force's Tyrus Korecki.
A third Golden Bear fighter, 175-pound Mike Cardona, was forced into an early corner retirement minutes into the light heavyweight final after injuring his knee against Air Force's Mike McLain.
A few Cal alums were in attendance, including 1965 national middleweight champion Paul Rein, who weighed in on the three fighters' performances.
"Ramos beat a very good fighter," Rein said. "It was a close fight that could have gone either way but I'm glad he pulled it out. Even though Jimenez lost, I liked what I saw out of him. He likes to come forward and will be a threat to win it all at Nationals. It was unfortunate to see Mike [Cardona] get hurt early on because I thought he had a chance to win, too."
By virtue of making the Regional finals, Ramos, Jimenez, and Cardona will join the USF pair of middleweight Sebastian Doerner and bantamweight Jaren Hayashi (119 lbs.) in the NCBA National Championships, which take place Apr. 5-7 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
As stated Friday, Doerner will be replacing San Jose State's Andrew Cabatic, and Hayashi earned a wild-card spot when his division had a dearth of contestants.
San Jose State welterweight Oscar Gomez (147 lbs.) won a third-place bout against UCLA's Christian Cruz, but Norcalboxing.net has not confirmed if it will net him a spot at Nationals as well.
Despite two women's weight classes holding finals Saturday, the lack of contestants in each division precluded the NCBA from proclaiming the bouts "Regional Finals" even though the men's bracket saw two fighters proclaimed Regional champions despite similarly having only one bout like Air Force flyweight Andrew Pineda (112 lbs.) and Nevada featherweight Andrew Morales (125 lbs.)
Junior welterweight Nargis Shaghasi of USF (139 lbs.) lost a decision to Washington's Taylor Williams in a "Women's Invitational" clash, and in a "matched bout," San Jose State heavyweight Dalton Osuka defeated USF's Andrew Caceres by corner retirement. Osuka will also head to Nationals because his loss to the Air Force's Olawale Lawal on Friday was the de facto 195-pound final.
According to Dons' head coach Angelo Merino, USF will host next year's Western Regionals.
Here are your Regional champions. Again, special thanks to Lydia Martinez Razo of USA Boxing for helping Norcalboxing.net get the information out to the fans!
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
WOMEN'S INVITATIONAL (DE FACTO REGIONAL CHAMPS)
WOMEN'S JR. FLYWEIGHT (108 LBS.)
Jennifer Morales (Texas Southern) dec. Rachel Nakanishi (Washington) 4-1
WOMEN'S JR. WELTERWEIGHT (139 LBS.)
Taylor Williams (Washington) dec. Nargis Shaghasi (USF), 3-2
MATCHED BOUT
MEN'S HEAVYWEIGHT (195 LBS.)
Dalton Osuka (San Jose St.) ret. Andrew Caceres (USF)
THIRD-PLACE BOUT
MEN'S WELTERWEIGHT (147 LBS.)
Oscar Gomez (San Jose St.) dec. Christian Cruz (UCLA), 5-0
MEN'S REGIONAL FINAL BOUTS
Both fighters advance to NCBA Nationals
Both fighters advance to NCBA Nationals
MEN'S FLYWEIGHT (112 LBS.)
Andrew Pineda (Air Force) dec. Cas Pang (UNLV), 5-0
MEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT (119 LBS.)
Roy Taylor (Air Force) RSC Vinh Thai (UNLV)
MEN'S FEATHERWEIGHT (125 LBS.)
Andrew Morales (Nevada) dec. Stephen Bittner (Air Force), 3-2
MEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT (132 LBS.)
Andrew Munoz (Air Force) RSC Taylor Yancey (Nevada)
MEN'S JR. WELTERWEIGHT (139 LBS.)
Daniel Starr (Air Force) ret. Jared Santos (Nevada)
MEN'S WELTERWEIGHT (147 LBS.)
Glenn Miltenberg (Air Force) dec. Sam Frankel (Washington), 5-0
MEN'S JR. MIDDLEWEIGHT (156 LBS.)
Tyrus Korecki (Air Force) dec. Jose Jimenez (Cal), 5-0
MEN'S MIDDLEWEIGHT (165 LBS.)
Juan Ramos (Cal) dec. Casey Habluetzel (Air Force), 3-2
MEN'S LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (175 LBS.)
Michael McLain (Air Force) ret. Michael Cardona (Cal)
MEN'S CRUISERWEIGHT (185 LBS.)
Zachary Spranger (Air Force) def. Josue Gaytan (Nevada) by medical walkover
MEN'S HEAVYWEIGHT (195 LBS.)
Logan Brandt (Air Force) dec. Shadain Akhaven (Washington), 4-1
MEN'S SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT (195+ LBS.)
Olawale Lawal (Air Force) Unopposed
KEY
dec. = won by decision
ret. = won by corner retirement
RSC = won by referee stopping contest
Boxing correspondent Ryan Maquiñana is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine’s Ratings Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.
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*This is a legal waiver. By copying and using the material from this article, you agree to give full credit to Norcalboxing.net or provide a link to the original article.
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