Plant City Boxing Gym is wrapping up 2016 on a high note.
Fresh off of a showcase in October, the gym made waves in the state of Florida throughout November by sending fighters to compete in tournaments. The three fighters — Alex Bautista, Eric Denson and David Torres — ended the month with four championship belts: one from the Florida State Police Athletic League Boxing Championships, and three from the Sugar Bert Boxing Promotions National Championship Series.
THE PAL
Because Denson and Torres did not have opponents in the Florida State PAL tournament, held Friday, Nov. 4, through Sunday, Nov. 6, the two fighters earned gold walk-over medals. But it was a moment of pride for Bautista, who did get to fight and earn a title belt.
Bautista, who has been training at Plant City Boxing Gym for two years, had to get past one opponent at 165 pounds to get the belt.
“In the beginning of my fight, they wrapped my hands and I was getting really emotional,” Bautista says. “I was nervous. I had never been that nervous before because it was for a belt — I didn’t know how I would react if I lost. My eyes started turning red, I got really nervous, but I did what I had to do.”
He overwhelmed his opponent with a flurry of punches in the second round, until the referee stopped the fight and ruled Bautista the winner by TKO. With one tournament out of the way, Bautista and his teammates had little time to relax: the next tournament was right around the corner.
SUGAR BERT
All three fighters got to compete in the Sugar Bert series, held Saturday, Nov. 19, through Monday, Nov. 21, in Kissimmee.
Bautista may not have been as nervous for his second title fight, but neither was his opponent. This time, he says, he had a greater challenge.
“That was a tough fight,” Bautista says. “That kid wasn’t like the first kid I fought. He was throwing punches with me, he kept going all three rounds and it could have gone either way.”
The judges came to the consensus that Bautista had outpointed his opponent, giving him the win by decision and his second belt in three weeks.
“It felt good,” Bautista says. “I was just happy because I didn’t know I was ever going to win a national title.”
Denson also faced a tough challenge in his championship fight, having to work against an opponent who constantly closed the distance between them.
“He kept coming forward,” Denson says. “I kept throwing punches to back him up, but he kept coming close.”
Although Denson hasn’t fought much — it was his third sanctioned bout — he followed the advice of coach Jose Rodriguez and went the distance for the decision.
“I remained calm and continued to fight,” Denson says. “I gave it my all until the end of the bout, and I won.”
Torres was the only Plant City fighter at the Sugar Bert tourney that didn’t have a long title fight: he scored a win by TKO in the first round.
“I just hit him with combo punches, went body-to-head, did what I had to do,” Torres says. “I listened to my coach. I admit, I got a little tired, but I had to finish it.”
Proud of their successes, all three fighters are ready for whatever comes next. Although they fight individually, they consider themselves members of a team, and are just as eager to cheer on whoever’s representing Plant City Boxing Gym in the ring as they are to fight.
“That’s what we do,” Torres says. “We make each other better. If we don’t do anything at all, we’re not going to get better.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.