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Ortiz wins in K.O. Drugs second-round action
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
In two weeks, Jonah Ortiz will proudly graduate from Struthers High School.
His father, who is incarcerated, won’t be there to share that special moment with his son so the younger Ortiz made sure to dedicate his super welterweight win in Monday’s K.O. Drugs High School Boxing Tournament to his father.
After losing his first-round matchup two weeks ago, Ortiz returned to the gym more determined than ever to win his next fight, then went out and scored a unanimous decision over Daniel Day during semi-finals action at St. Lucy’s Palermo Center.
“I dedicated this win to my father because he has always been there for me, no matter what. My mindset was to give it everything I had,” Ortiz said. “I lost two weeks ago and didn’t want that to happen again. I was determined to advance to the championship round.”
Jose Minjarez of Reynolds got the night underway when he scored a second-round TKO over Campbell Memorial’s Kobe Hayden in an underclass bantamweight scrap.
Two other underclass fighters, lightweight Austin Stevens of Austintown Fitch and junior welterweight Aaron Jenkins of Canfield, also scored second-round TKO’s while Hubbard super heavyweight Tyreck Daniels needed just 23 seconds of the opening round to put away J.R. Guzaski of Mahoning County Career Technical Center.
Stevens defeated fellow Falcon Austin Banas while Jenkins stopped Jake Bunch of Reynolds.
“I went into the fight with the mindset that I wanted to end it as early as possible. My plan was to stick and move,” Daniels said. “I hit him with two lefts and a right and that’s all it took to end the fight.”
In a cruiserweight pairing, Campbell Memorial’s Terrell Neeley scored a unanimous decision over Zamiri Leonard of Warren Harding.
“I lost two weeks ago so I needed to get back to the basics and work on my fundamentals. That loss was all the motivation that I needed,” Neeley said. “I just kept my hands up on defense, used my jab and was able to control the fight.”
In other upperclass action, Mike Sullivan, also from Struthers, scored a unanimous decision over Dovonte Gist of Beaver Local in a middleweight match-up while Lakeview’s Jesse Burkey stopped Joe Phillips of South Range by second-round TKO in a light heavyweight pairing.
“I was told by my trainers to use my right hand as much as possible and that is exactly what I did. I also worked in my jab and hook so to me, going three rounds means it was a pretty good fight,” Sullivan said.
Burkey, who was looking for redemption after an opening night loss, said he had to be patient while looking for the right opening in order to land his punch.
“We went back and forth during the first-round and I watched the way he was swinging. When I was able to connect in the second round it really felt good,” Burkey noted.
The tournament will conclude on June 3 when 22 titles will be decided; 10 each in the underclass and upperclass divisions with two female crowns to also be decided.
“Action was very heated tonight with the best fights are yet to come,” Chuck Nelson, founder said. “The June 3 championships will mark the 25th time that K.O. Drugs boxing has had the privilege to crown dozens of high school boxing champions in the Mahoning Valley.”