Page 9 - Sanger Herald 7-19-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2018
Second time is the charm for girl joining Sanger Boxing Club
Editor’s note: This story is the second in a series about the young people who have joined the Sanger Boxing Club, which works out most days starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Sanger Youth Center, 818 L St.
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Alyssa Samorano joined the Sanger Boxing Club about a year ago, attended a couple of training sessions and then quit.
“I thought it would be fun,” the 11-year-old said.
But she didn’t think so at the time.
“Then I tried it again this year — the end of April — and I did,” Alyssa said. “It’s fun.”
Boxing is the kind of fun a kid has repeatedly punching a speed bag or heavy bag. It’s the kind of fun experienced while facing off against another boxer about the same age and testing out new moves. It’s the kind of fun a grueling workout can be. Day after day.
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Alyssa Samorano, 11, works on her technique in the ring.
sure they stay on track with their workouts.
Betancourt said he’s impressed with Alyssa. “I like her,” he said. “She likes boxing. I say anything, and she tries it. She listens. With more and more experience, she gets better.
“And she’s working hard.”
Albert Samorano, Alyssa’s dad, often accompanies her to the 5:30 p.m. workouts and also appeared firmly in her corner. He said when she first turned out a year ago, he didn’t have the ability or the time off work to spend with her and felt that may have been part of her decision not to continue, initially.
“It’s a lot of dedication,” he said. “More and more work.”
And Samorano said it’s work for him, too. He said he’s got five kids, four of them boys with Alyssa falling in the middle of the pack, at No. 3. He said she plays around with her brothers.
“She really likes boxing,”
he said. “I come over here and help out as much as I can. She feels that she can do anything now. She’s a sports girl. She’s believing in herself.”
Boxing is attracting an increasing number of girls, but it remains a bit of a boys’ sport. Sparring partners in the right weight class and age group can be hard to find, and often boys must fill in as the opponent.
As in wrestling, however, taking on on male opponents, as one girl from Edison High put it last year, “It makes us tougher.”
Alyssa didn’t appear to mind the plethora of boys. Betancourt put on the protective mitts and had Alyssa use various combinations as he ran her through routine after routine, trying to get her more comfortable with footwork and punching combinations.
“I like fighting people,” Alyssa said just before the workout. “I like training.”
She said she liked the speed bag and heavy bag.
Alyssa said Cortes
inspires her. “If I don’t know something, I watch him and I know what to do. If I don’t know my movements — where to put my feet — I watch him. He does it good.”
In the fall, Alyssa will be a sixth-grader at Washington Academic Middle School.
She said some of her friends tried boxing but found it “nerve-wracking.” And a couple boys in her class tried it, too. “They left,” she said. “They thought the coaches were mean. I told them, ‘He has to be mean, the training is hard.’”
Alyssa said she’s still not fully comfortable with what to do with her feet while sparring or fighting in the ring. “In my head (sometimes) I tell myself I can’t do it,” she said. “But then I can.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
And it truly can be. The boxing club works out in the Sanger Youth Center, which sits just east of the railroad tracks in a quiet part of town. Before practice, the young boxers run laps around a grassy adjacent area that looks like a small park with medium-sized trees. A boxing ring dominates the room the boxers use, and other equipment takes up most available space.
The location is the same place Sanger boxer Manuel
“Chaparrito” Cortes works out. He graduated to larger venues with the latest being July 7 at the Save Mart Center, part of the undercard to the Jose Ramirez World Boxing Council title defense.
To Alyssa, the ambiance is her new normal. She and the rest of the young boxers know what to do, and they do it. Every day. Coach Ernesto Betancourt expects no less, and he works with each young boxer every night, making
Final fight electrifies remaining crowd
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Maria Manzo told people leaving the Save Mart Center they should remain in their seats.
The second of two 10-round title matches was wrapping up and officials were about to declare a winner of the July 7 fight.
The message on her shirt said, “Team Chaparrito,” in support of her little brother Manuel Manzo Cortes. And Cortes, who works out with the Sanger Boxing Club at the city’s inauspicious youth center, still had a four-round fight remaining that night. He and Sergio Lopez, a tough super bantamweight from Las Vegas, had been initially scheduled as the sixth bout that night but apparently got bumped so ESPN could air the higher profile match at a pre-scheduled time.
“There’s one more fight,” Maria said, engaging people climbing the stairs.
Andy Vences of San Jose won a decision against Frank DeAlba of Redding, Pa. in 10 rounds for the super featherweight, and Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas of Oxnard outmaneuvered Juan Carlos Abreu of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic in 10 rounds for the welterweight fight. The Vences-DeAlba fight for a World Boxing Council Continental Americas title aired on ESPN.
However, many had left while the judges decided Mean Machine had won. But what was left of the crowd, maybe 1,500 or more people, gathered down by the ring as Cortes and Lopez got their chance. Event organizers played Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” over the loudspeakers as both fighters and their trainers and coaches settled into their respective corners.
The crowd cheered.
And what a fight. Cortes kept swinging and connecting and Lopez jabbed and connected in a maelstrom of fists
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Manuel "Chaparrito" Manzo Cortes made the leap from small venues to the Save Mart Center and has inspired a number of fellow Sanger boxers to pursue their dreams. He fought to a draw. Cortes hugs coach David Valenzuela after the fight.
that appeared to dwarf the number of punches thrown in the two previous 10-rounders.
“That was the best fight of the night,” said one grinning fan sitting court side.
His assessment was shared all over the venue as people talked about what they had just watched. Cortes and Lopez fought back and forth. Neither gave the other quarter. The crowd roared when one or the other landed blows in rapid succession, a flurry that seemingly would have sent other fighters to the floor.
Cortes had the crowd. These were his people, and they wanted him to win.
Chants of “Manny! Manny!” rose up. One from higher in the stands yelled, “Come on Chaparro!”
After Danny O’Connor of Framingham, Mass. withdrew from his scheduled shot at the WBC super lightweight
title against Avenal’s Jose Ramirez earlier in the week, many expressed disappointment that the main event had been delayed. The fight day crowd didn’t quite reach expectations of a sellout. “These things happen,” said one of the more seasoned boxing journalists there that night.
But Cortes, as promoter Rick Mirigian said, has heart. A lot of it. And a story to tell.
And he continues to attract fans who have seen him fight. Cortes pummeled Leonardo Reyes, nicknamed “The Killer,” in the Save Mart Center on May 26. His fight was the last that night, too.
Cortes is no stranger to challenge. His family emigrated from Mexico. He has five siblings, each one of whom has worked hard to be the best they can at whatever they choose, Maria said. She was the oldest girl and had to take
care of her brothers and sisters while her parents worked. And they worked hard to give their kids a better life, providing at the same time a good example of what they expected of their children, she said.
Cortes worked in the fields. He trained in his backyard. He currently trains in Sanger and inspires at least a couple dozen younger kids to work hard and learn to box.
And he has to scrape together money to afford to fight, to buy shoes and gloves. He has no benefactor, and his sponsors are local companies willing to help somebody they believe in.
Cortes fought hard. He came out every single round swinging, and at least on two occasions had Lopez against the ropes looking like he’d add to the single knockout on his record.
“I don’t think anybody else had the crowd on their feet,” said Mike B.
“He was the fight of the night. Everyone on their feet,” said Wilson Ignacio, Cortes’ trainer.
Cortes battled Lopez to a draw. The judges scored them even. Cortes, who weighed in at 119.8 pounds, came out with a 3-6-2 record, while Lopez, who weighed in at 117.2, a 3-5-2.
Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League, went below in the bowels of the Save Mart Center to meet with the fighters after the match. He congratulated both but tagged along with Cortes’ team.
“His story is incredible,” Cunha said of Cortes. Cunha wore a shirt and hat that said, “Pro immigrant and proud.” To Cortes he said, “You did good. You see the people in there? They were going crazy.”
And indeed there were other fights. Gabriel Flores of Stockton expanded his record to 9-0, beating James De Herrera of College
Station, Texas in six rounds in a lightweight bout. And heavyweight Andy Ruiz of Las Vegas beat Kevin Johnson of Neptune, N.J. in a 10-round decision.
But Cortes made the night.
Ramirez will defend his WBC title Sept. 14 at the Save Mart Center against Antonio Orozco, who is 27-0 with 17 knockouts. Ramirez has 16 and is 22-0. The fight will be broadcast by ESPN.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.