Live amateur boxing in CC for Nevada Day festivities

Bruno's Boxing Club of Carson City will host an invitational amateur boxing card Saturday featuring Northern Nevada and California fighters in action.

"We'll have between 15 and 18 fights on the card," BBC Director Vic Bruno said. "This is our first time hosting a card and we think it'll be a great card with some terrific fights. The fights start at 3 p.m. They take place at our gym (645 N. Edmonds) which is right across the street from the Animal Shelter."

Tickets for the card, which will feature fighters from the host team as well as from the Carson City Boxing Club and the Reno Jets, are priced at $7 for adults and $3 for those 12 and under. Tickets are available at the door.

"It's been a long time since we had fights on Nevada Day and we hope to bring that tradition back to Carson City and Nevada Day," Bruno said. "So after the parade, come join us for an afternoon of amateur boxing. It'll be fun and a good show."

Among the local officials slated to work the card is Carson City's Norm Budden, who is Chief of Officials and a referee for the card. Carson City boxing judges Jack Howell and Mike Downey will work the card and Gardnerville's Warren Bottino will both judge and referee.

- Carson City amateur fighters were in action this past Saturday in Reno at the Reno Jets invitational card, including two from Bruno's Boxing club and two from the CCBC.

Santo Bruno won his fight by decision against Matt Tucker, from Salinas, Calif. Chuey Elizondo also won his fight by decision from another Salinas fighter, Ernesto Vargas. Both fight for the BBC.

CCBC fighter Dwyane Pope won his fight in the 147-pound class by walkover and CCBC fighter Fabian Castellanos lost to Louis Perez from Salinas. Perez was voted "Best Boxer" on the card. The local officials mentioned earlier worked the Reno card, too.

- TYSON GETS A GIFT - I don't know what I can add to what happened in the Mike Tyson fight against Andrew Golota Friday night. If you saw it you know. And if you read about it or saw the highlights on the news or Sports Center type shows, you also know just about all there is to know about the fight.

What I can't figure is why Golota didn't just stay down in the first round when Tyson clocked him with a good right to the jaw to floor him. If Golota wanted to quit - which he obviously did - why not go out then and nobody says a word.

You've seen it before. A fighter goes down, doesn't want to fight anymore and rolls around the canvas until the referee counts 10 and then he gets up ready to fight. If Golota does that, his career continues but now, I doubt there is any promoter out there who will book him for a fight and I doubt there are any fans out there who would pay to see him fight again.

So Golota will fade away, just as former disgraced Tyson opponents like Bruce Seldon and Buster Mathis Jr. have and like Lou Savarese and Julius Francis will, if they haven't already.

After he quit, Golota quickly left the ring amid a shower of soda pop and beer thrown by disgusted fans. Tyson was escorted out before the decision was made official, too, because the fans were in a foul mood and anything was likely to occur. Thankfully, nothing followed and that was that!

I also want to add that Tyson looked a lot better and that's because he now has a real trainer, Tommy Brooks. Some may remember Tommy when he was here in Carson City training Henry Akinwande at the Ormsby House a few summers ago.

- I must note that, in my opinion, Golota really hurt boxing with this. Every single boxing fan I talked with afterward said they were not very happy. "I'll never buy a (pay-per-view) fight on TV again," one fan said. "I've learned my lesson."

What Golota did will affect the upcoming Lennox Lewis heavyweight title defense on PPV against David Tua on Nov. 11 in Las Vegas. They have the poor luck to follow this fiasco and fans who got stung on this one will probably not buy that one or some future PPV bouts, so boxing will suffer because of what Golota did!

So if you bought the Tyson fight or paid at an area casino to see it, the words of Mr. T come to mind and his famous "Pity The Fool" saying. Or as they say in Nevada, You pay your money and you take your chances ...

- I will quickly add that the PPCV telecast also featured interviews both before and after the fight with many boxing people including the fight card promoter, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns.

There were plenty of celebrities in the crowd including Muhammad Ali, who was there to watch his daughter, Laila, win her eighth straight bout when she took a six-round decision over tough Kendra Lenhart in their light heavyweight fight.

It was the first time Laila, who is the second youngest of Ali's nine children, went the distance in a fight as she improved her record to 8-0 with 7 KOs. Her mom, Veronica, was also ringside for the fight.

Also on the telecast, Zab Judah stopped a game Hector Quiroz in round 8 of their IBF junior welterweight title fight and Alex Trujillo climbed off the canvas to outpoint Jose Luis Juarez in their 10-round lightweight fight and remain undefeated at 19-0 with 14 KOs.

- The ESPN2 main event last Friday was a tactical - boring, actually - fight that saw a mild upset when Victor Polo won an easy unanimous decision over previously undefeated Angel Vasquez. ESPN2 comes from Oroville, Calif., this week with a main event featuring the NABF lightweight title fight between Juan Lazcano (24-2-1, 17 KOs) and Dorin Spivey (26-1, 25 KOs) that begins at 6 p.m.

- Sunday Univision showed a couple of fights from the Peppermill in Reno including the main event that saw Juan Manuel Marquez bomb out someone named Reynante Jamili in round three after knocking Jamili down four times in the brief fight. A complete mismatch, I might add.

Alan Rogers is the Nevada Appeal boxing writer.