NEWTON WINS GOLDEN GLOVES March 16, 2009
ZANESVILLE -The 68th annual Tri-State Regional Golden Gloves Tournament ended last weekend with Zanesville
well represented.
The multi-day competition crowned the best of Golden Gloves amateur boxers in the Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky
area in open and novice men's divisions.
Josh Newton faced Emmanuel Stevens of Lexington, Ky., in the super heavyweight novice division in his bid for gold.
Stevens made several all-out rushes but found Newton more than able to repel his efforts behind a solid jab and well-placed
power punches that put Stevens on the ropes several times. Newton's efforts were rewarded by the judges at the end with a
unanimous decision over Stevens and Newton's first Golden Gloves championship.
Justin Novaria met John Smith of Columbus, in the finals of the open super heavyweight division and the two repeated the
classic battle between them at the same place a year ago.
Novaria scored well in the first round behind a balanced attack and was able to deal well with Smith's reach advantage. The
second round had Smith adjust and score several straight punches that put him back into the lead on points. The final round
was to tell the story and Novaria was waiting on Smith to fade which didn't happen and was unable to score the points needed
to win against last year's champion and settled for runner-up.
Michael Norris made his Golden Gloves debut in the novice light welterweight division meeting Cardus Godfrey of Kentucky
in the finals. Norris jumped to an early lead scoring well with Godfrey making a last ditch effort in the final round to edge out
the victory on a split decision of the judges.
Undefeated Elgin Mitchell moved up into the open division at light welterweight for the first time and went heads-up with
Thomas Miller of Huntington. Miller's more than 100 fights of experience played a major role in the battle that went back and
forth between Mitchell's speed and Miller's movement. When it was over, Miller was in the right place at the right time to outscore
Zanesville's Mitchell on the judges' cards.
More than 2,000 fans were in attendance at the Kentucky National Guard Armory in Ashland for the event. The competition will
help determine a team to represent the region to the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions to be held this year in May
at Salt Lake City, Utah.
