Chicago Golden Gloves Fighters Punch Through to Next Round

By Kate Gardiner in News on May 6, 2009 4:20PM

Six fighters from the Chicago Golden Gloves tournament have made it past round one of the U.S. National Golden Gloves competition, held in Salt Lake City this year. Winners so far include Junior Wright, the underdog-turned-media-darling in the 178-pound division and 16-year-old Tracy Rollins, of Homewood. Rollins (pictured right) said the decision on his bout was split between judges, 3-2. "I was down but I fought my way back up," he said via text.

It's too soon to tell which, if any, of the competitors will make their way through the next round (late last night, Rollins said he didn't even know who he'd be fighting in the morning) but there is hope that at least one of Chicago's amateur boxers will make it through to the finals Saturday night.

Complete results are here.

Team Chicago results so far:

• 112-pound weight class: Contrelle Wright, Chicago beat Carlos Alcala, Texas, Monday.
• 119-pound weight class: Darres Smith, Chicago beat Alfredo Moreno, Kansas-Oklahoma, Tuesday.
• 141-pound weight class: Alex Martin, Chicago beat Eric Draper, Indiana, Monday.
• 165-pound weight class: Tracy Rollins, Chicago beat Russell Lamour, New England, Monday.
• 178-pound weight class: Junior Wright, Chicago beat Ronald Scott Jr., New England, Tuesday.
• 201-pound weight class: Lamar Fenner, Chicago beat Tamerlan Tsamaev, New England, Monday.