BOXING Salinas is Silver Gloves champion at 90 pounds

The trainer said the 11-year-old boxer's progress is better than anyone he's had.
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Last weekend was a good one for Juan Salinas, an 11-year-old 90-pounder from Jack Loew's Southside Boxing Club.
Fighting in the Junior Olympic Silver Gloves State Championships in Columbus, the South Sider won two bouts Friday and Saturday to advance to the regional championships, Jan. 23-25 in Detroit, Mich.
Salinas easily won a three-round decision over Kenneth Todd from Zanesville Friday at the Buster Douglas Recreation Center.
Salinas, with a stinging left jab and good ring movement, completely out-boxed Todd, winning a 5-0 decision.
Saturday, Salinas won the 90-pound state crown with a 3-2 decision over Columbus boxer Antone Medlly.
Cruising
"I thought he won this fight as easy as he did Friday," said his trainer, Jack Loew. "He boxed just as well as he did the night before and did some better banging, especially to the body.
"His progress at his age is better than anybody I have ever had in my gym."
Pro fighters Kelly Pavlik and Billy Lyell also train in Loew's gym, and he said there are times he uses Salinas' work ethic as an example to his older boxers.
"Juan just loves to train and box and if I happened to leave him in the gym overnight by some mistake, he would train all the time," Loew said.
Juan's 8-year-old brother Alejandro, who came to the gym this year, won the 60-pound Silver Gloves title unoppossed.
A pair of 12-year-olds who also train at the Southside Boxing Club, Ronnie Hamayel and Mark Givens, didn't do as well as the Salinas brothers.
Hamayel's 100-pound fight with Daris Brown from the Cincinnati PAL was stopped in the third round. Dayton's David Huffman then stopped Givens in a 125-pound fight.