The host team and the Dominican Republic were magnificent at the American Boxing Confederation's Junior Championships in Tena, Ecuador last week, where both nations acquired five gold medals.
At the junior tournament athletes born in 1995 and 1996 were eligible to fight in the event where forty boxers from seven nations competed: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
Dominican Republic dominated the lowest weight classes with Ezequiel Urena defeating Leonel Romero of Ecuador by 18:10 in the 46kg division, while Venezuela's 15-year-old top favorite Jackson Zapata missed the event due to injury.
Elvis Rodriguez from the Dominican Republic triumphed over Puerto Rico's strong Jeyver Cintron and followed that great victory with the gold medal in the 48kg weight class after beating Brazil's Thayson Amarantes in the final.
Golden Belt Junior Tournament silver medalist 16-year-old Sparkinson Almonte secured the third Dominican gold in Tena where he triumphed over Ecuador's top favorite Jean Caicedo in the 50kg weight class.
Puerto Rico's first gold was secured by 16-year-old Christopher Collazo, who had an extremely close semi-final against Angel Sacon of Ecuador but then enjoyed a more comfortable victory over Venezuela's Yhomber Kelly.
Bantamweight Ludy Tenorio collected the first gold medal for the host nation after beating Brazil's Valdeir de Campos by an impressive 15:4 in the semi-final and then outpointing Luis Torres of Puerto Rico in the final contest.
Golden Belt Junior Tournament winner Huascar Ramirez is Dominican Republic's biggest hope in this age group and as expected he defeated all of his rivals in Tena. Ramirez has great expectations at the forthcoming AIBA Junior World Championships as well and will be targeting at least a medal in Kazakhstan.
Puerto Rico's 15-year-old Jonathan Irrizary and Brazil's great hope Jonathan Soares put on one of the best contests at the event in Tena. Irrizary claimed the top step on the podium after his narrow victory over the 16-year-old Brazilian who could well be representing his country at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Ecuador's huge talent Miguel Ferrin claimed the gold medal in the 63kg weight division, his compatriot Ariel Ruiz was also too strong for the 66kg weight class boxers. Golden Belt Junior Tournament winner Paul Anangono moved down a weight division and secured the host nation's fourth final victory.
Erick Chala continued Ecuador's incredible golden series in Tena where he dominated the light heavyweight final against Brazil's Lucas Ponte. The last gold medal of the championships was bagged by Dominican Republic's Joaquin Berroa who stopped his local rival at the heavyweight final.
Over half of the boxers who competed in Tena will be competing at the forthcoming AIBA Junior World Championships.
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