Page 9 - Sanger Herald 1-3-19 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2019
Sanchez
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Evan “Gato” Sanchez has a lot on his plate.
The 20-year-old Parlier boxer, who works out with the Sanger Boxing Club, plans to spend about six weeks at Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside and then try to get an undercard fight for the Feb. 10 bout at the Save Mart Center in Fresno. Avenal’s Jose Ramirez heads up the ticket and plans to defend his World Boxing Council super lightweight championship title for the second time against Jose “Chon” Zepeda of La Puente.
Sanchez doesn’t want to stay on the undercard for long.
“My goal right now is to defeat everybody in 147 pounds and become a champion,” he said.
That’s welterweight. The WBC super welterweight champion is Tony Harrison of Detroit, 28-2 with 21 knockouts. Harrison just dethroned Jermell Charlo, and a rematch appears likely.
Sanchez by comparison has three wins, two of them knockouts. So he’s on his way.
“He’s a great fighter,” said Manny Cortes, who appeared on the undercard of two big boxing events at the Save Mart Center this past year and is one of Sanger’s better-known professionals in the sport.
heads to special training to improve skills
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Evan "Gato" Sanchez spars with Orvelin "Junior" Terrones recently at the Sanger Boxing Club at the youth center.
is still growing.”
In a video published on
YouTube, Garcia said his Riverside facility immerses his fighters in a training program so that they eat, fight and train under constant supervision. “It’s a big property, a big ranch,” he said. “So the guys are in training camp. So it’s not like being at home. When it comes to training, they’re training and they’re focused.”
Evan Sanchez said he was looking forward to the experience and its positive effect on his fighting. He said being a boxer is “real difficult. It’s a lot of dedication. You have to put a lot of time into the sport. If you don’t, you’ll get knocked out.”
Sanchez said he’s already been to Garcia’s academy, helping with Mikey Garcia’s training. “And it taught me a lot,” he said.
Mikey Garcia, 29 of Moreno Valley, fights as a lightweight and is 39-0. He’s got a fight scheduled March 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
David Valenzuela, a former fighter who has been coaching since 1977, trained Omar to train his son. Omar is Evan’s main coach but many of the coaches at the club lend a hand to all the fighters. “Ever since he was little, I was telling his dad he would be something,” Valenzuela said in Spanish. “Omar would get frustrated
and I would tell him, ‘Have patience and good things will come.’”
Valenzuela said he believes Sanchez will continue to earn distinction in the ring. “He’s just starting,” Valenzuela said. “He’s going to make some noise.”
He said Sanchez has what it takes to win. “Everything comes from the heart,” Valenzuela said.
Omar Sanchez said his son’s training has taken him to the other side of the globe. “He was part of Team USA when he was 15,” Omar said. “He went to Ukraine.”
“The more you learn in this sport, the more successful you get,” Evan said. “You can never stop learning, you know.”
Here’s a boxing update on fighters previously profiled.
Carolina Briones, 15, lost her first amateur match and is now looking forward to a rematch with her opponent this month. “I’ve been training hard,” she said. “I actually lost 10 pounds. I’m feeling better. I can’t wait for the rematch.
“I told myself I’ve got to train. I was mad at myself for losing.”
Briones said she made a mistake many athletes discover while in competition. She didn’t pace herself during the bout. “I went all I had the first round,” she said. “Then I got tired.”
She said she was supposed to toy with her opponent, but she got too excited.
Johnathan Espinoza, 16, said he’s dropped to his goal weight of 139 pounds. He had been much heavier and favored a sedentary lifestyle of playing video games and consuming sugary drinks before he took up the gloves about nine months ago.
All the coaches say he’s got fire and is one of the hardest working fighters in the club. “Same motivation,” Espinoza said. “I’m more hungry than ever. 2019 is going to be a different year.”
Espinoza said he’d like to participate in about 30 amateur fights. “I still want to get to 125 pounds,” he said. At that weight, he said he wants to try fighting. He said if he doesn’t like the results, he’ll allow himself to gain more. “I feel strong,” he said. “I feel like my hit’s there with the power.”
Cristal Cuellar, 13, said she’s getting closer to her goal of becoming a decent fighter. “I’m getting there,” she said. “I got a little stronger.”
Like many of the fighters, even the little ones, she’s working hard. And with coaches like Ernesto Betancourt and Valenzuela, working hard is expected.
“He’s a natural, all-around.” Cortes said Sanger’s reputation continues to grow like the boxing club itself. With fighters like Sanchez working out regularly at the Sanger Youth Center, 818 L St., he said the younger fighters get continually inspired to
improve and compete. Sanchez said he started boxing at 8 years old. Back then he said the Parlier Boxing Club was in its heyday. “We’d get like 60
to 80 kids a day,” he said. Sanchez sparred with a hard-punching Orvelin “Junior” Terrones, 28, that night just before Christmas. The two of them wore headgear but otherwise gave the 30 or so people in the small boxing gym a glimpse of what they could do in a real bout. They punched hard and fast with multiple combinations designed to throw their opponent off
balance.
Omar Sanchez, Evan’s dad and coach, showed up a little later. He said he knew that his son had talent after watching him spar in Hanford. Evan was 9 at the time.
“He held his own with a kid who was 10,” Omar said. “Then I felt like from that moment on (he was going to be a good fighter). I told him, ‘My nervousness is gone because you can do this.’”
Omar Sanchez continues to be one of his son’s biggest fans, of course. He said his son’s upcoming training under trainer Robert Garcia should pay big dividends. Garcia’s list of fighters includes brother Mikey Garcia and Saul Rodriguez plus a number of others from outside the country. Reporter David A. Avila wrote in the Sweet Science, which follows boxing, “The roster of prizefighters has multiplied to more than two dozen and
Boys drop 1, win the rest at Clovis Elks
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
In the opening minutes of the second quarter, Luke Dillon passed the ball to his younger brother Jonathan just above the basket.
The taller — by 3 inches — Jonathan Dillon leaped at just the right moment, dodging defenders from Delano’s Cesar Chavez High and scored, giving the Apaches a nine point lead in the second round of the Clovis Elks International basketball tournament on Dec. 27. Sanger held on despite a furious late comeback by the Titans for a 66-58 win.
“They fought hard, but we executed better at the end and we made our free throws,” Luke Dillon said after the game. And about the Alley Oop pass he added, “We’ve been working on that. We practice that at home.”
Working somewhat defines this year’s boys varsity basketball team. The coaching staff has been getting Sanger’s top boys athletes to hone their skills, stressing the basics like free throws and conditioning. Of course, that kind of training happens every season without fail. But at this point, just as the season begins in earnest, the importance of getting everything just right has taken on added urgency.
The team lost two of its key players and is working hard to shore of the lineup and further define the roles of its remaining athletes. Seniors Damian Duarte and Leo Leon reportedly have decided to pursue other interests.
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Sahildeep "Sal" Dhillon goes up for two of his 16 points against Cesar Chavez High of Delano in the Clovis Elks International tournament. He had 19 rebounds.
careers sidelined by injury and knee surgeries, and they back up Dhillon.
At one point in the Chavez game, Trevino drew the foul and went to the line. “When I’ve got family members in the audience, (it adds pressure to make the score),” he said. “Free throws are a must for our team.”
He hit both shots. Trevino said it’s a result of long practices.
“We may not be big like Leo (Leon at 6-foot-11), but we take charge,” he said. “We’re thankful we have all our coaches (and the help they provide.)”
Corrales said he originally played football and only picked up basketball in his junior year. He said he had surgery to fix his anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in his sophomore year. He said he dropped weight afterward as he lost muscle mass. He said he played most of that first Kerman game but only scored one point.
Dhillon said the team tries to get his two subs in to play substantive minutes. He said he needs to focus on playing his game while on the court, making every move count.
“I feel like the domination really comes when my mind is clear,” Dhillon said after the Chavez game. “I still feel like I was rushing my shots today.”
Dhillon said he will try to avoid foul trouble in upcoming games but will continue “doing what I do to win.”
Staney said he likes where the Apaches are headed this year. “We’re
pretty good,” he said.
A new addition this year is Shaun Moore, a guard who most recently played for Reedley. He had to sit out a year, but the junior said he’s ready to play. “These guys showed me love,” Moore said. “And I’ve been getting better
ever since.”
Moore played early in the
second half of the Nipomo game and promptly hit two three-pointers in rapid succession, generating cheers from teammates on the bench. Moore said he plans to execute more of those. “That’s my focus,” he said. “Mainly my shot is outside.”
Assistant coach Mark Alvarado said the Apaches’ role players are good. “It’s the defensive end where we need to show more improvement,” he said. “(But) it’s good to see them come off the bench and score.”
Another Apache making his mark this year is junior Joe LeBeau at guard. Of the season so far, he said, “Even though we lost a few, it kind of brought us together more. Because we need each other, we kind of know our roles. (But) more is asked of us, so people have to start stepping up.”
Al Alvarado said the team must continue to build on its strengths. “It doesn’t matter who we play,” he told the team after the Chavez game. “We’ve got to get back to what makes us successful. We’ve got to stick together.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
“We’re getting our chemistry, working on our hustle and teamwork,” said head coach Al Alvarado III just after the Chavez game in the Clovis High north gym. “It has to be automatic, and that’s where we’ve been struggling.
“We’ll get it though. They won today, and that gets our confidence up.”
Especially important for the Apaches this season has been the leadership shown by seniors Cameron Stanley and Sal Dhillon on court and off. Dhillon, 6-foot-4, has taken charge of the center position, pulling down defensive rebounds, collecting offensive
rebounds and feeding them back into the basket and scoring with machine- like regularity. Stanley continues to dominate at the guard position, feeding the ball to teammates, taking advantage of the fast break or scoring from downtown for a three.
Dhillon got into early foul trouble on the first night of the Clovis Elks tournament and was unable to contribute like his teammates had become accustomed. Sanger lost that first game 67-61 but came back to win every successive match, dominating Central Coast’s Nipomo 63-43 and
culminating with a final win over Bakersfield’s Garces Memorial 63-50 on Dec. 29.
In the Chavez game, Dhillon scored a team-high 16 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. Luke Dillon had 14 points in the game.
Stanley dominated in the Nipomo game, scoring 21 points. Luke Dillon had 18 points and Dhillon had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Asked to comment on Dhillon’s rebounding, especially during the Chavez match, Stanley said, “He’s done it before.”
Moving up the bench were seniors Jaron Trevino and Cesar Corrales. Both have had high school sports