Behind the Scenes: Beautiful
Brawlers V Show
by Blanca Gutierrez
November 20, 2015
(NOV 20) On Friday, November 13th,
I would work all day long on Beautiful Brawlers V preparing for
next day and At 6:30 p.m., I would greet an amazing young
lady who drove with her family from Las Vegas. JO National
Champion Yarisel Ramirez would meet me at my gym, the "Babyface
Boxing" for a quick weight check and we would spend some time
talking about her experiences in Tapei, China at the Junior
Worlds.
I was so impressed with the close
relationship between her and her father who is also her coach
and after a few laughs, some serious conversation and some
pictures.
I would drive home knowing that
Yarisel made it safe from Las Vegas. As I was checking in at
Facebook, I knew that Duarte was on their way with their
team and Team jerry Ortiz was already in the bay area from El
Monte with his team of four. As teams were posting their
pictures upon their arrival into the Bay Area it got me thinking
that after all of the months of work tomorrow is the big show
and all these young ladies are just as excited as I am for
Beautiful Brawlers V All Female show.
What a nervous wonderful feeling
we all had but their work in the gym was done and tomorrow would
be their fight and there was so much more for me and my crew to
do to make it all happen including setting up the ring and
turning the Pacifica Moose Lodge into a boxing venue.
As I drove to the weigh-ins an hour early boxers were already there.
I would be greeted by JO World Champ Lupe Gutierrez who was set
to fight for the WBC Amateur title.
I would meet 14 year old
Angela Murillo from Jarupa boxing and her coach Robert Acosta
who knew of my dad "Babyface". Soon I would be greeted by many of
the boxers who arrived early. Seeing Jerry Ortiz Gym's young 10
and 11 years old boxers brought a joy to my heart. We are here
this day to prove to all that female boxing is alive and growing
and we have the Baby Beautiful Brawlers here to prove it. With
JO Boxing sensations like Yarisel Ramirez, Lupe Gutierrez and
Heaven Garcia and Eli Salinas on the card----we already had four of
the best JO’s in the world ready to fight.
Weigh-ins are always a great part of our event. Yes---it is when
all the girls line up to weigh-in see the doctor but there is
always much more to Beautiful Brawlers weigh-ins.
Each girl was
asked to sign the posters, to sign the Beautiful Brawlers
signature gloves, take pictures, get interviewed by the WBC
Champ Martha Salazar who was walking around with hilarious off
the cuff interviews using her new Gopro. We had the boxers for
the WBC face off and we took some great pictures. The day was
just beginning, but at the same time, it was not only exciting,
but was already
filled with controversy. We always expect some fighters to not
show up to weigh-ins or call the night before, and so,
unfortunately a couple of bouts were scratched.
Then in another bout that was
scratched was National JO Champion Kylie Hall vs. Lupe Gutierrez
who were fighting for the WBC title in one of the most
anticipated bouts of the card. Lupe Gutierrez and Kylie Hall
were roommates in Taipei, China at the JO Worlds. They agreed to
fight for WBC months in advance and a few days before the event
Kylie got hurt running which was an unfortunate turn of events.
As we looked over the bout sheet 8 or 9 times, Duarte Boxing
Club who brought four boxers kept on sticking out at us. Who is
Erika Sanchez from Duarte? How many fights does she have? Is she
open? Duarte has always brought a strong team to the Beautiful
Brawlers and they had Vivian Flores who would face Iris
Contreras for the WBC title. But who was Erika Sanchez? We would
all find out when she stepped up and took the fight against the
16 year old JO National Champ Lupe Gutierrez. Erika Sanchez is a
boxer, a warrior, a game fighter, someone who came to Beautiful
Brawlers with her eyes on the prize and she would win our hearts
over too.
After weigh-ins we had a fighter meeting and breakfast. Most of
our meeting will remain confidential but what I can say is that
I got to spend time talking to the young boxers. Perla Bazaldua,
10 years old , just won Latina Sports Award was telling me she
is a 4.0 student. Pi pi Ramirez her opponent for the day and her
friend from Jerry Ortiz would tell me she looks up to JO World
Champion 15 year old Heaven Garcia. When I asked Heaven how does
it feel that she is 15 years old and these little ones look up
to her? Heaven says, “ It makes me train harder so I can do well
for them too.” I was amazed by not only the humbleness but the
realness of each of these young ladies.
Mia Valdez, a three-times National
Champion and her first time at Beautiful Brawlers could not
contain her excitement, she is also a 4.0 student and senior in
high school, talked about colleges, grades and boxing. But that
smile and that excitement exuding from her made me realize this
show is just so much more. Mia Valdez would leave a foot print
on my soul. Then Beautiful Brawler Champion Czarina McCoy walked
in, this young one is so articulate and smart. I was impressed
with the grade point average sitting in the room at breakfast.
According to this room, boxing and the future looks bright. I
was concerned for my boxers Sandra Magallon and Ari Borerro. The
Babyface team would not have their usual coaches in the corner---
as coach BigE and I were commentating the event.
There was just
so much going on but at least all would be fed and physically
ready to go. Our Ringside Dr. Helene would get up and talk about
concussions, nutrition and diet. Lydia Razo our Norcal chief of
officials talked about Sportsmanship and rules. This was a
breakfast and moment for all the girls to soak it all in. Be a
part of something special and we all enjoyed ourselves as we
lived in the moment and for the moment.
The time had come for the bouts to start. We had them going from
the youngest to the most experience boxers on deck and all the
WBC titles were featured fights and the last 3 bouts of the
night. Those WBC Amateur title bouts on the show featured the
best bouts on the card. They did not disappoint.
The first WBC
title was 18-year old DF Boxing’s Iris Contreras the four-times
Beautiful Brawler Champion against 17 year old Vivian Flores
from Duarte Boxing Gym This was a battle that went back and
forth but Vivian Flores came with a purpose and very well
conditioned.
She would out punch a game Iris Contreras. Vivian
Flores was conditioned to go through three rounds of nonstop
punching. She would not stop throwing punches and coming forward
for three entire rounds. Fighting for this belt meant a lot to
both girls and you can see it as the decision was read. Duarte’s
Vivian Flores wins the WBC title with a unanimous decision.
Next on deck was JO World and Beautiful Brawler Champion 16 year
old Lupe Gutierrez. She would be facing 17 year old Erica
Sanchez of Duarte Boxing Gym who took the fight at the last
minute. This fight was an exciting bout and Erika Sanchez proved
to us all she would come to fight and never let up. Gutierrez
would use angles and would dictate the bout and Sanchez kept
coming. At one point Sanchez landed a stunning left hook that
would take Gutierrez to a place in her game where she would have
to step it up and be a smart boxer. At one point as Gutierrez
backed up and fought, the official in the ring would get in the
way and the momentum of the fight was effected by that.
Second
round brought more toe to toe action and this young boxer from
Duarte as well as Gutierrez were winning the hearts of the
spectators with not only their display of skills but the smile
Gutierrez had on her face as the fight continued. Third round
was an all-out war and Gutierrez experience would lead her into
the final round fighting smart and taking the win by 2-1 split
decision.
After Gutierrez hand was raised and the WBC belt
placed around her waist the smile said it all. It was a good
bout, a tough bout, the crowd was pleased and the winner was the
JO World Champion. Erika Sanchez proved to be a force to be
reckoned with and I believe she will be a contender in the 2020
Olympics. Incredible bout fought by two smart and aggressive
young boxers.
Two-time Beautiful Brawler Champion 15 year old Eli Salinas vs. JO
World Champion 15 year old Heaven Garcia was the main event and
in my opinion, the best fight of the night. Right after the
opening bell Eli Salinas came after Heaven Garcia. Salinas was
gunning for the JO World Champion and you could not only see it
you could feel it.
For every punch she through she was
exchanging leather with Garcia and walking forward. The first
round saw Salinas take Garcia to the ropes in a straight forward
attack. Second round Salinas came out aggressively as the first
round but Garcia had answers to the punches being thrown and had
some incredibly placed body shots that didn’t hurt Salinas but
scored points with the judges. Both Boxers were throwing nonstop
punches with Garcia trying to dictate the pace of the fight but
Salinas was having none of that. Third round was an amazing
round with barrages of punches being thrown by both boxers.
This
fight for the WBC belt which would amount to skill, combinations
and what seemed like a flurry of 10-15 punch flurry of punches
from both boxers into the bell. Both boxers thought they won the
bout. Both sets of coaches thought their boxer won the bout.
Both girls stood in the middle of the ring and the crowed were
on the edge of their chairs from the opening bell of this fight
up until the decision was read. After three incredible rounds of
punching, JO World Champion Heaven Garcia hand was raised with
the media rushing to the winners for interviews and pictures.
The last three bouts would represent all that Beautiful Brawlers
All Female Boxing Cards stand for; an incredible display of
boxing skills by the best JO’s in the world. These bouts were so
evenly matched that most fights could have gone either way.
Every boxer on the card left it all in the ring. We could not
have asked for a more successful event. The WBC was a joy to
work with and because of the WBC this event was not only raised
to a higher level it meant more to Martha Salazar and I than it
ever has before. Beautiful Brawlers V was shown on PPV and
hosted by BigE TV’s Edward Feliciano. Thank you to G3Mediaworks
Glen Gorman and Phil Kaylor who are amazing talents at what they
do. Thank you to the Media which always shows us love and we
love them back for it: Lucas Ketelle, ITRI, Mario Cabrera with
Beat The Count, Robert Cartagena SF Bay, Angela Woodall with Al
Jazeera , Laura Ming Wong, Steven Calderon, Brett Ostrowski
Supreme Boxing, Special thank you to our Beautiful Brawlers
photographer Steven Solidarios who documents are journey.
Special thanks to CoCo Militar who was my right hand and we
could not have pulled this off without her.
Thank you to Jerry Hoffman who is not only the biggest supporter
of female boxing but the best ring announcer in the business.
