Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
Jose "Chuy" Elizondo may one day become the best fighter to come out of Carson City. The city has seen him rise from a budding young boxer to a near Olympian. But while he was raised here, his style was developed long before he was born.
His father, Jose Sr., grew up in Jalisco, Mexico where boxing was the sport of all sports. The town of less than 5,000 people was crazy about boxing and would empty whenever there was a fight. The passion didn't pass by the elder Elizondo and while his boxing career ended after getting knocked out, he learned from those fighters the style that he would pass down to his son.
"I remember when those fights were over, we'd go hang out at the park, checking out the girls," Elizondo said. "They'd have black eyes, swollen eyes. Those were pretty brutal fights, there's more technique now than back then ... it was bang, bang, bang, you either made it or you didn't."
The technique that was lacking in those fights during the 1960s, is what has carried the younger Elizondo into prominence. Now the 20 year old is looking to finally take the next step of his career by turning pro. Elizondo will fight his last amateur bout today at the MontBleu Invitational at the MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa in South Lake Tahoe.
Elizondo, who trains out of Bruno's Boxing Club in Carson City, has been waiting a long time for this, actually longer than he anticipated. He was expected to turn pro last year after finishing third at the U.S. Future Stars National Championship, but things fell apart for him since then and he hasn't been in the ring since March 11.
"It's been so long since I've been in the ring ... It's just been a bunch of little things so I figure this will refresh me getting back into the ring for one more amateur fight," Elizondo said.
The injury bug hit Elizondo hard over the last year. He suffered a a detached retina in his right eye that took five months to recover from " not to mention three doctor approvals to be released to box again. Then, while running one morning, he fell to the ground with a torn meniscus in his left knee, setting him back another two months.
Even after he recovered, he needed to get back into boxing shape and trust that his knee would hold up.
"It was hard at first, getting back into shape," Elizondo said. "It wasn't so much that I was tired, it was my leg, getting used to it, hopping around on it. I had to go through a lot of therapy to get me good. Now it feels like normal."
Amateur records aren't always the best indicators in boxing, but his tells a lot about his style and how good he could be. In 90 bouts he has gone 85-5 with just 13 coming by way of knockout, an homage to the style his father began teaching him when he was just 4 years old.
"I'm not a power fighter, I'm more technical," Elizondo said. "All my wins are me just outsmarting the other guy."
In his last bout, he lost a 14-7 decision to Javante Starks, who went on to win the 152-pound class and is now a member of Team USA Boxing.
After the fight Elizondo will begin his quest to become a world champion. He has already started looking for a promoter and could become another fighter in Let's Get It On Promotions' stable. The promotions company is run by the sons of legendary boxing referee Mills Lane, Terry and Tommy. Elizondo was supposed to be on the undercard for the Jessie Brinkley-Jason Naugler fight, which was promoted by the Lanes, last June but was scratched after the injury was discovered.
Now that the injuries are behind him he hopes his next steps take him to a title shot. If they do it will be because of a promise he made a long time ago.
"I had a nephew that I trained and when he was 15 he just quit on me," the elder Elizondo said. "He wanted to play football and he was good (at boxing) ... I looked at (Chuy) when he was like 4 or 5 years old and I brought him to the gym, I said, 'Look when you're older you're never going to quit on me.' To this point we're still here."