BOXING Campbell has six champions in tournament

There were 35 champs in the K.O. Drugs High School Boxing Tournament.
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- More than 600 fans were at the Hubbard High gymnasium Wednesday night for the finals of the 16th K.O. Drugs High School Boxing Tournament, as 35 champions were crowned.
With 23 schools competing, Campbell schools led the way with six winners.
The underclass bouts had only seven decisions with eight fights stopped by the referee, and the upperclass division had 17 decisions with only two bouts stopped.
William Rios, in winning an underclass junior lightweight decision, became the first of six Campbell fighters to be crowned a champion.
Rios, a 15-year old eighth grader from Reed Middle School, said of his win over Hubbard's Adam Graban: "We fought last week and he beat me. This week I punched more."
Other champs
Keith Burnside of Struthers, who was a local Golden Gloves champion, was credited with a trio of wins in the underclass division. Jimmy Hlebak from Boardman won the flyweight title, Tom Peluso the junior welterweight crown and Mike Duponty the cruiserweight championship. All three train under Burnside.
Peluso and Duponty were both 4-0 on their way to titles. "Keith worked hard to have me ready for this fight and the tournament," said Peluso.
"We might not have had the best facilities, but training in Keith Burnside's garage had me ready for every fight I fought," said Duponty.
Underclass welterweight champion Greg Slade, a 15-year-old freshman from Keystone, won by decision over Fitch's David Castronova. Slade's uncle died recently and he planned to place his title belt in the casket at funeral services Friday.
Chaney sophomore Mike Rosa, on his 16th birthday, won a decision over Canfield's Dustin Flick to win the underclass light heavyweight championship. Rosa is 8-0 with two titles in as many years in the tournament.
Another Campbell fighter who won a title was Tim Davis (4-0), who won the super middleweight title over Fitch's Steve McLaughlin when referee Jack Loew stopped the contest in round one. Davis stopped all four of his opponents and was awarded the Most Promising Boxer in the underclass division.
"I put my left jab in his face and hit him with some solid rights," said Davis of his win on Wednesday.
The upperclass had two bouts with classmates fighting. In the first, Boardman's Marc Schiavoni (3-0), with devastating punching power, won the lightweight title with a decision over Nele Booth.
"I respected Booth's ability and I just tried to beat him to the punch as much as I could," said Schiavoni, who is 7-0 with two titles all-time.
Guriceo prevails
The other battle of classmates ended when Campbell Memorial's Jake Guriceo (4-0) won a decision over Dan Stucky for the light heavyweight title.
"I knew Stucky was tough," said Guriceo, "so I knew if I was going to win I had to fight as hard as my heart would allow me to go."
Dan Ramun of Poland continued his winning ways with a decision over Cameron Cimino from Boardman to win the super lightweight championship. Ramun won his third straight title and is 14-0 all-time in the tournament.
Cimino the underclass bantamweight champion last year, was awarded with the trophy as the Most Promising Upperclass Boxer.
Mike Marvin, a junior from Liberty, won the cruiserweight championship with a decision over previously undefeated Mike Jones from Poland. It was Marvin's third tournament championship.
"It means a lot to me to win three straight titles because I like boxing and whether I am getting hit or doing the hitting, being in the ring gives me an adrenaline rush," said Marvin, who is 11-1 all-time.
Boardman had four champions. Kiez Smith, with a decision over Struthers' Tom Fiscus, was the junior middleweight champion.
"This was a slugfest from start to finish and he gave me all he had and so did I, with the last round the difference," said Smith.
Pankewicz goes 4-0
Chris Pankewicz from Canfield finished 4-0 with a decision over previously-undefeated Larry Starr of Hubbard, to win the middleweight championship. Also finishing 4-0 with titles were Warren Harding's Derrick Eggleston (super middleweight) and Mathews' John Mintus (super cruiserweight).
In other bouts, Hubbard's Dave Phillips beat Poland's Mike Crnarich in an upperclass heavyweight bout. The super heavyweight title went to Greenville's Ryan Lindsey in a close decision over Josh Fetty from West Middlesex.
Two special awards went to Annie Cordova, the widow of Jimmy Cordova, who was involved in 14 of the 16 K.O. Drugs tournaments, and the K.O. Drugs Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to veteran boxing trainer Willie Brandon, who has worked one of the corners through many of these tournaments.