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A year after former middleweight world champion Gene Fullmer passed away and 25 years after Sampson Pouha became the first Utahn to win a National Golden Gloves championship, Utah has a new boxing hero.
The newest national champion is fresh-faced high school junior from South Ogden with a shy smile, a lightning-quick jab and an uncanny technical grasp of the sweet science that belies his years. He had been preparing for this night for more than a decade.
Diego Alvarez, 17, gave the state its first Golden Gloves champion on his home turf Saturday night, defeating Nevada's Fernando Martinez 4-1 in a herky-jerky, awkward bout at 114 pounds at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Alvarez was named at event's end the 'Golden Boy' award, which goes to the most outstanding boxer.
"It feels great," said Alvarez, surrounded by dozens of family members and admirers with the championship belt draped over his right shoulder, a belt nearly as big as him. "This is what I have been working for."
Wealthy Utah philanthropist Spence Eccles, a prominent amateur boxing supporter and himself an Ogden native, handed the belt to Alvarez, who attends Two Rivers High School in Weber County. He is the first boxer sponsored by the locally owned Rocky Mountain franchise to win a national title since Cleveland Corder of Boise, Idaho, claimed a belt at 156 pounds in 1997.
"It is a huge shot in the arm for local boxing and for the franchise," said Larry Fullmer, tournament director and a Rocky Mountain franchise board member.
Texas won the team title for the second straight year, a foregone conclusion after Lone Star State boxers won five of their six semifinal bouts on Friday and sent five to the finals.
But for most of the 1,000 or so fans gathered in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday night, this night was about Alvarez.
"When I first started boxing, I knew I had the heart to do it," Alvarez said.
The first round was fought evenly, but Alvarez began to take control in the second round, and the Las Vegas boxer attempted to ugly up the bout with clutching, grabbing and some head-turning in an attempt to frustrate the surging Alvarez.
But the teenager would have nothing of that, and continued to pile up points as fans chanted "Diego, Diego" with every punch he threw.
"That felt good to hear, yeah," he said.
As his younger sister, 8-year-old Giselle, played with the buckle on big brother's new shiny belt, Alvarez said when he returns to school on Monday "I will probably be a little more popular."
Lalo Lopez, who trains Alvarez and others in the Los Gallitos Boxing Club free of charge in an Ogden garage, said through an interpreter (Diego's father, Marco Alvarez) that there was never a doubt that his prized pupil was going to get the decision. Lopez said he knew Wednesday night after Alvarez won his second fight at nationals that he had a champion on his hands.
Asked about Alvarez's future, Lopez said they will sit down and talk about that in the next few weeks, but the plan all along has been to have the teenager remain an amateur for a few more years and make a run at the 2020 U.S. Olympic team that will compete in Tokyo.
"He is a pretty special fighter," Lopez said.
Then the family was off to celebrate with a meal — carne asada and plenty of horchata for the weight-watching champ — and Utah boxing officials breathed a sigh of relief that their long drought was over as well.
"What a night," beamed Fullmer.
The only repeat champion from last year's meet in Las Vegas was Texas' Pablo Ramirez, at 108 pounds. Ramirez not only claimed the title last year, he was named the Golden Boy in Las Vegas.
"It was another tough fight," said the 20-year-old Ramirez, who took a 3-2 decision over Florida's Joseph Ortiz. Ramirez was third in the Olympic trials a few months ago.
Twitter: @drewjay
Saturday's Championship Bouts
108 lbs.
Pablo Ramirez, Texas, def. Joseph Ortiz, Florida, 3-2
114 lbs.
Diego Alvarez, Rocky Mountain (South Ogden) def. Fernando Martinez, Nevada, 4-1
123 lbs.
Duke Ragan, Cincinnati, def. Victor Morales, Nevada, 5-0
132 lbs.
Maliek Montgomery, Knoxville, def. Michael Dutchover, Texas, 5-0
141 lbs.
Frank Martin, Indiana, def. Vergil Ortiz, Texas, 3-2
152 lbs.
Brian Ceballo, New Jersey, def. Rafael Medina, Texas, TKO
165 lbs.
Isiah Jones, Detroit, def. Troy Isley, Washington D.C., 5-0
178 lbs.
Atif Oberlton, Pennsylvania, def. Shavere Staton, New Jersey, 5-0.
201 lbs.
Sardius Simmons, Michigan, def. Marquise Williams, New York Metro, 4-1
201+ lbs.
Marcus Carter, Detroit, def. Gregory Dismukes, Texas, TKO —
Saturday's highlights
R Diego Alvarez, a 17-year-old from South Ogden, becomes the first Utahn since 1991 to win a Golden Gloves National Championship, defeating Nevada's Fernando Martinez 4-1 at 114 lbs.
• Alvarez takes control of the bout in the second round and shows more stamina in the third to join Sampson Pouha as the only Utahns to have won national Golden Gloves titles.