Amateurs in action this week

There will be fireworks in Fernley today when amateur boxers from Northern California and Nevada square off in an invitational boxing tournament sponsored by the Fernley/Wadsworth Boxing Club.

Both the Carson City Boxing Club and Bruno's Boxing Club of Carson City have entered fighters for the card.

"We're taking four fighters who are matched and ready," said Chuck Williams, director of the CCBC. "We entered nine but we couldn't get the other five matched."

CCBC head coach Frank Peralta will lead a group of fighters that includes Evardo Pacheco, Jose Elizondo, Sergio Orantes and Dwayne Pope.

Bruno's Boxing Club head coach Vic Bruno and assistant coach Wayne Pudwill will be taking "at least" four fighters also.

"I've got a minimum of four going to Fernley and maybe one more," Bruno said. "They are Sam Rojas, Joe Goss, Jesse Mejorado and Sam Bruno. Edgar Gomez may get a fight, too, but we're not sure yet."

Fighters from Elko and Reno and Stockton, Calif., as well as our local fighters and the host teams fighters will be on the 15- to 18-bout card.

First bell is set for 1 p.m. on the card, which takes place at the out-of-town park in Fernley.

- More amateur action this weekend at the Silver State Games in Reno.

"Boxers are coming in from all over the west for the Silver State Games," said Carson City's Norm Budden, the boxing tournament director and chief of officials for Northern Nevada.

"I will referee on the card, too. The bouts take place Saturday and Sunday. There should be somewhere around 20 bouts each day with the semifinals Saturday and the finals on Sunday."

The action takes place at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center and the fights begin each day at 1 p.m. There is no admission charge for the fights, as they are part of the Silver State Games, and that ticket gets you into the fights.

Local physician Dr. Michael Edmonds of Carson City will be the volunteer ringside physician. Carson City judges Mike Downey and Jack Howell and Gardnerville judge Warren Bottino will work the card.

The Reno Jets Boxing Club will host the card and Carson City boxers will be well represented on the two-day card.

"I've got six fighters entered for the Silver State Games," Bruno said. "We think they'll all be matched."

The CCBC will be represented by as many as 10 fighters for the games.

"We've entered 10 fighters for the Silver State Games and we should get them all matched," Chuck Williams said. "That's what we're hoping for and it looks good for all to get fights."

It should be an interesting week for local amateurs and we hope they all do well in their matches ...

- South Lake Tahoe professional boxer Juan Torres is done fighting. Torres pulled out of his scheduled June 24 fight at the Peppermill in Reno saying he had eye and numbness problems on his left side and the news is not good!

Torres was sent to the hospital where it was discovered he had a "cerebral bleed" and that was that as far as continuing his career was concerned.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has "suspended Torres permanently" and considering the circumstances, they had no other choice. Torres is done as a boxer but may train or do other things regarding boxing but fighting is out!

The former kick boxer retires with a 14-9 record as a pro boxer.

- The problem with women's boxing being competitive was illustrated during last Friday night's ESPN2 live pro fight card. In one of the prelim bouts, Kathy Rivers, with an 8-2 record, fought Evelyn Rodriguez, who was 0-1 - that loss by knockout - going into the 4-round fight. The experienced Rivers won every minute of every round to take a unanimous decision win over the practically novice Rodriguez, who didn't know much about boxing. And that's what is wrong with female fighting.

There simply are not enough evenly-made matches or competition because there aren't enough women boxers around to make competitive fights, so we get a load of mismatches as some women build their record up by fighting tomato cans, so to speak.

Maybe it will get better as time goes on and more women enter the sport, but I doubt it ...

The main event on that card saw Ray Oliveira pound on and wear down Isaac Cruz. Oliveira eventually won it midway through round six of their scheduled 10-rounder.

This Friday, the ESPN2 card features undefeated Angel Vasquez (20-0, 16 KOs) taking on Max Gomez (24-10, 13 KOs) in the main event. The 2-hour live telecast starts at 6 p.m.

- Some early odds are out regarding two upcoming big heavyweight fights.

Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is listed as a 15-1 favorite over Frans Botha at the Carson Station Sportsbook for their July 15 fight that can be seen on HBO.

Botha, who almost whipped Mike Tyson when they fought, is listed at +10-1.

The Station also has Evander Holyfield a 3-1 favorite over John Ruiz for their Aug. 12 WBA heavyweight title fight on Showtime.

Ruiz, who is at +5-2, and Holyfield fight for the title that was stripped from Lewis when he decided to fight Michael Grant instead of Ruiz in his first title defense but the public knows who the real champ is ... Titles should be won and lost in the ring and not in some back room somewhere and while that day is coming, it's not here yet!

Alan Rogers is the Nevada Appeal boxing writer.