For a weekend, Pine Bluff was the hotbed of some of the best boxing in the state as USA Junior Boxing hosted the 2022 Arkansas Junior Olympic state tournament.
Champions were crowned in Juniors: Pee Wee (8-10), Bantam (11-12), Intermediate (13-14), and the Elite Men's Division (19-40).
Gloves not Guns, the local program headed by Arthur Brewer, saw six of its seven fighters win state championships and secure berths to Nationals on Saturday including Trevion Evans (9-10-year-old, 80-pound Pee Wee Division), Daylon Wiley (9-10-year-old, 85-pound Pee Wee Division), Darrion White (60-pound Bantamweight), Demetri Williams (125-pound - Junior Division), Dekylen White (138-pound - Junior Division) and in one of the more entertaining fights of the afternoon, Chandler Wright (65-pound - Bantamweight Division) who outdueled Fort Smith's Dallas Brashears in the gold medal match.
These winners will be advancing to the USA Silver Gloves National Championship tournament on July 9-16 in Wichita Kan.
The most competitive match of the afternoon consisted of a pair of up-and-coming 203-pound Super Heavyweight Elite Gold Glove bruisers -- Jared King of Major Moves Boxing and Central Arkansas' Alfred Tolbert. King scored a three-round split decision over Tolbert at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
"The turnout was better than I expected and I appreciated all of the support," said Brewer. "This was the first time we have ever held this event here and we are definitely looking forward to hosting it next year and making it even bigger and better. We are trying to get a lot of our kids exposed at the national level. When we fight locally we are not advancing so we want to try and get them up to par with some of the other kids that they will see at these bigger tournaments."
Other winners included Kylynn Sellers over Gloves Not Guns entrant King Sanders in the Pee Wee 70-pound division, James Johnson from Team Azeez over Tucker Hill of Augusta Boxing in the 8-year old Pee Wee 55-pound Division, Za'Bron Jiles from Fort Smith, who won a judge's decision over Team Azeez fighter Amere Oliver in the 70-pound Bantamweight Division, Ricardo Huerta (Huerta Boxing) recorded a split decision over StraightRight -LR's Isaiah Finley in the 119-pound Bantamweight Class, and Central Arkansas' Ricky Gonzales who beat John Gonzales of Ashley County in the final bout of the afternoon.
Jiles was also named Outstanding Boxer while Team Azeez took home the Best Organization Award.
"We will hit the streets to begin fundraising and whatever we need to do to make it happen because it is an expensive trip so we are hoping to get the community's support in helping these kids get there." Brewer said. "Overall I think the event was a huge success."