Local Amateurs Vie for Trip to AIBA Junior Men's Worlds

By Ryan Maquiñana
Norcalboxing.net

Izaiah Bautista of Oakland's Champ Nation will compete at 106 pounds.

A total of 10 amateurs from Region 11 are scheduled to compete in the inaugural Junior World Team Open next week in Reno.  Here's an excerpt from USA Boxing's press release along with the local hopefuls that will be vying for a trip to the AIBA Junior Men's World Championships:


USA Boxing will hold the first-ever Junior World Team Open, January 7-11 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev. The event will showcase many of the nation’s top 15 and 16-year-old boxers as the male competitors vie for the opportunity to represent the United States at the 2013 AIBA Junior Men’s World Championships in August.

Tournament action is scheduled to begin with preliminary round action on Monday, January 7 with each session starting nightly at 6 p.m. at the Sierra State Pavilion at the Grand Sierra Resort. Quarterfinal competition will take place on Wednesday, January 9 and semifinal round action will be contested on Thursday, January 10. The finalists will compete in championship night action on Friday, January 11.

The current list of registered athletes can be found below, but boxers will be able to enter the tournament through January 6 and a final list of participants will be released on January 7.  The Junior World Team Open is an open tournament available to male and female boxers born in 1997 and 1998 with at least five contested bouts of experience.

The Junior World Team Open will be streamed live via Watch Me Sports and can be viewed on the USA Boxing website at www.teamusa.org/USA-Boxing/Watch-Live. The full tournament stream can be purchased for only $14.95 online.

The newly created tournament will be provide a new competition opportunity for USA Boxing’s younger athletes who often go on to represent the United States in key international events, including the World Championships, Pan American Games and Olympic Games upon entering the open division. As there is not an AIBA Junior Women World Championships in 2013, the female winners of the Junior World Team Open will not advance to international competition.

106 POUNDS
Kevin Montano, Concord
Izaiah Bautista, Hercules

110 POUNDS
Evan Sanchez, Fresno

114 POUNDS
Joseph Cuellar, Tulare
Bryan Lua, Madera
Isidro Ochoa, Fresno

119 POUNDS
Uriel Sanchez, Santa Rosa

125 POUNDS
Xavier Martinez, Sacramento

138 POUNDS
Brandon Trejo, Napa

176+ POUNDS
Suray Mahmutovic, Daly City

Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com during London 2012 and writes a weekly column for CSNBayArea.com.  He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.