PITTSBURGH Austintown boxer Chris Koval wins Gloves title

The YSU student defeated Justin Cottle of Pittsburgh.
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
PITTSBURGH -- Austintown boxer Chris Koval won a unanimous three-round decision over Pittsburgh's Justin Cottle Tuesday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
With the win, the Fitch graduate captured the novice heavyweight championship of the Pittsburgh Golden Gloves.
The Youngstown State University student improved his amateur record to 7-1 with the 6-2 decision over the Pittsburgh Rimsek Boxing Club fighter.
"This is a real good feeling and I hope this is just the first of many championships," Koval said.
Koval worked his left jab to perfection, doubling and tripling up with it, which set up good combinations of right crosses and left hooks to the body.
"In the early going, I was disappointed with my performance & quot; Koval said. "His style seemed to be a spitting image of me.
"He was quick with a very good defense and had a good jab, but once I started getting to him with shots to the body, I was able to shorten the distance between us and tag him with a few good shots to the head."
One of those shots was a solid right near the end of the fight that snapped Cottle's head back, but the he survived the round .
"With about 15 seconds to go in the third round, I caught him with a good right-hand shot," said Koval, who is trained by Tom Cordell and fights for the Buckeye Elks Youth Center.
"If I had more time, I might have done more [damage]]," Koval said.
Trainer: Cordell said, "Chris won easily against a very tough kid by outboxing him, keeping a jab in his face all night and using angles to get off punches.
"He worked just as well to the body as he did to the head and looked very sharp in winning his first Golden Gloves title," Cordell said.
Monday, Fitch senior Derick Sallaz was to battle for the 139 pound sub-novice crown, but he caught his thumb in a door at his house and broke it.
Sallaz, who intends to fight in the Cleveland Gloves in May, will be out of action for at least three weeks.