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Salinas earns 58th amateur victory
By Greg Gulas
Youngstown
Local boxer Alejandro “Popo” Salinas decided to get a head start on his Thanksgiving feast, performing an early carving Friday of opponent Glenn Mitchell at the Saxon Club.
In front of nearly 400 onlookers at trainer Jack Loew’s 11-bout Thanksgiving Feast amateur fight card, Salinas forced three standing eight-counts on the Steubenville native en route to a unanimous decision at 132 pounds.
It was his 58th win in 71 amateur tries.
“Our gameplan was to cut off the ring, go for the body first and then the head if the opportunity was there,” Salinas said. “We’ve sparred in the past so we know each other.
“Glenn [Mitchell] didn’t come here to lose and he gave it his all, so it’s a great feeling to win your last amateur fight in front of the hometown crowd,” Salinas said.
Loew, whose South Side Boxing Club trained four competitors, said the gameplan was executed perfectly.
“We knew that he would run from us,” Loew said. “Mitchell is great at the point system and Popo did exactly what we asked of him tonight.
“He was able to catch him with some big shots and really controlled the entire fight,” Loew said. “He’s definitely ready for the next step in his career.”
Mitchell, who fell to 14-11 overall, complimented Salinas’ effort.
“I felt like my jab was working, but Popo is an excellent fighter and he fought great tonight,” Mitchell said. “Jack had him prepared and he executed their gameplan perfectly.
“I’ll learn from this and come back stronger.”
Burnside A.C.’s Lavell Sharp, with former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik joining trainer Keith Burnside in his corner, followed with a split decision over Cleveland’s Azamat Arifabuyer at 160 pounds.
“It wasn’t my best performance because there’s always room for improvement,” Sharp (2-2) said. “I just looked for clean, open shots and it paid off for me.”
In the opening bout, Francis Stewart (10-0) of Cleveland remained undefeated by scoring a unanimous decision over Isaac Chatman of South Side Boxing Club. Chatman was making his amateur debut in 120-pound action.
Tamel Moultrie (2-1) of Columbus followed with a unanimous decision over Chatman’s SSBC stablemate, Robert Shea in a 142 pound pairing.
Moultrie said that he needed to use his reach to his advantage if he expected to win.
“It was [Robert] Shea’s first fight and while I really didn’t know much about him, my strategy was to stay long since I had nearly a six-inch reach advantage,” Moultrie said. “He was consistent with his jab so I went more to the body and was able to land some good jabs of my own. That seemed to slow him down.”
In the first of six split decisions, Loren Holmes (6-1) of Erie defeated Travell Douglass (3-2) of Columbus in a 120-pound scrap.
Cleveland’s Marty Adams (7-1) earned a split decision win over Dawud Williams (SSBC) in a 142-pound fray.
Williams felt that he fared much better than the judge’s decision.
Durrell Gibbs, a junior quarterback and defensive back at Groveport Madison High School, said his return to the ring after a year layoff was most welcome despite the outcome.
Gibbs (95-18) dropped a split decision to Dante Irving (10-2) at 165 pounds.
“I gave him [Irving] everything that I had the first two rounds but need to get into better boxing shape in order to finish the fight,” Gibbs said.