Jun. 19—It’ll be a first for Muskogee when the Kansas-Oklahoma Regional Golden Gloves tournament comes to the Civic Center next Saturday.
State champions representing Oklahoma and Western Kansas will battle it out for a spot in the national tournament scheduled Aug. 7-14 at the Cox Event Center in Tulsa.
Aaron Sloan, who operates The Engine Room gym in Tulsa, is president of Oklahoma USA Boxing. He became vice president of Kansas-Oklahoma Golden Gloves in an effort to spearhead funding for the national team.
“I got involved three years ago as vice president with the idea of restructuring the tournament to have separate state shows, then the regional event in order to raise more interest,” he said.
The state tournaments were in Tulsa and Wichita, Kan. Sloan said he wanted a different area to showcase the regional, which he said had been hosted in Kansas up to now. John Cruz, Civic Center manager, had reached out to him a little over year ago about hosting an event.
“I felt it was better to do regionals in Muskogee. For one they were willing to work with us on the venue,” said Sloan. “It’s hard to come back a month apart and generate interest in two shows in the same location, and Muskogee has a great venue for boxing.”
Added Cruz: “We’ve had some good boxing draws with Toughman and Junior Olympics here. Our goal is to enter into a yearly relationship. We want to offer them something better than any other area and we think we have the facility to do it with.”
Oklahoma’s state champions are represented by nine men and three women. The men are filling all classes for nationals. There are in all 10 women’s classes at nationals.
Among the Oklahoma contingent is Pablo Porras, ranked fourth nationally at 201-plus out of Rival Boxing in Oklahoma City. Neida Ibarra is ranked second on the women’s side at 132 pounds. She’s also one of seven fighters out of Sloan’s gym, as is Angel Mora, a 138-pounder who beat the sixth-ranked fighter who also happened to be from The Engine Room.
Bouts will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday.
VIP tables of six are $500. General admission tickets are $20 each. Kids 10 and under will be admitted free.
Tickets are available online through ticketstorm.com. Enter the event to purchase.