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At Panama's Golden Gloves tournaments you will typically see a few athletes who will go on to successfully compete at the sport's highest levels. Easily the best free show in town photos and captions by Eric Jackson The Golden Gloves are, on the one hand, unfortunately usually the pinnacle of Panamanian amateur boxing; but on the other hand, this little nation with a long list of great boxing champions is very fortunate to have such a showcase for tomorrow's pros. It has been a very long time since Panama sent any pugilists to the Olympics, or even to such regional events as the Bolivarian or Pan-American Games. There is a lot of pressure on fighters to turn pro young, and that probably takes money out of the pockets of the best of them. It seems, for example, that Roberto Vásquez won enough in his recent world championship bout to buy himself a new car --- but how much greater would have been the purse he could have demanded and received had he come into the professional game a few years later, but with an Olympic medal? But that said, let this reporter appreciate what we do have, because it's wonderful. The Golden Gloves finals, held this year at the municipal Gimnasio Eugenio "Yuyin" Luzcando in Bethania, attracted many families as always, and also a collection of professional promoters, backers and trainers to eye the talent. Admission to April 30 event --- the night after Roberto "La Araña" Vásquez won the WBA world junior flyweight championship over at the Figali Center in Amador and on the same night that Vicente "El Loco" Mosquera won his WBA world super-featherweight championship belt at Madison Square Garden in New York, was free, clearly the weekend' s best free show in town. Sure, many of the fighters were rough and awkward the way that even the best young amateurs tend to be, but there were some shining displays of brilliant talent in these finals as well. As luck would have it, the two athletes who most impressed this reporter at this year's Golden Gloves were two of the exceptions to the usual rule. Last year Panama and the Central American countries got together to hold a regional amateur boxing tournament, and on this night Melanio Torres among the men and Verónica Sánchez among the women, both winners at the Central American tournament, put in what to my estimate were the best performances on their ways to their respective gold medals.
Yes, the Golden Gloves tournment attracts hardcore fight fans as well as many of the movers and shakers in Panama's boxing business. However, it's mainly a family affair, particularly among the families who send generation after generation their sons --- and now some of their daughters --- into the ring.
A show of good sporting behavior after a hard-fought match.
Getting ready for their upcoming bouts.
The Golden Gloves not only train a lot of fighters, some of whom go on to greater things, but also produce a lot of judges and referees, some who are destined to advance in those fields.
To stand here when they're passing out the medals --- that's the goal.
A few of the finalists found out that they would be getting silver rather than gold the hard way.
Hmmm --- maybe all that cross-training in ninjitsu techniques won't be so useful against this opponent.
Panama's sports hero of the hour, Roberto "La Araña" Vásquez, his black eyes from the previous night's bout masked behind shades, graciously signed autographs and greeted fans. Before embarking on his professional boxing career Vásquez was a three-time Golden Gloves medalist.
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