La Cobra Reynoso wins again

Tomas "La Cobra" Reynoso has made a great start to his New Zealand pro career. Photo / File

The renaissance of the Tauranga Boxing Club amateur ranks this season continues over Queen's Birthday weekend with head coach Chris Walker taking five boxers to the North Island Golden Gloves in Taupo.

The tournament is under the permanent stewardship of the Central North Island Boxing Association since tournament founder Nuki Johnson died more than a decade ago.

More than 150 boxers are expected to journey from gyms throughout the North Island to compete at the Great Lakes Centre in Taupo. Since the event began in 1984, the very best pugilists in the country have taken centre stage.

David Tua first made his mark as a 15 year old in 1988, taking the jump into the senior ranks for the first time. Shane Cameron and Joseph Parker also boxed in the North Island premier boxing tournament over the years.

The Tauranga boxers are all set to go.

Middleweight Rewiti Davies faces strong competition in the novice senior male division, in which Tauranga Boxing Club member Nathaniel Crawford took home gold last year. Youth novice lightweight Michael Crosa, who has been showing good form in the gym, will need to win two or three fights to win the gold medal.

Hannah Walker, 15, has won five of her six bouts and is seeking to retain the junior novice featherweight crown she won last season. Senior novice female boxer Ari Ardlington has a tough challenge making her ring debut in the middleweight division.

A third Tauranga novice female boxer in Linda Thompson will complete the Western Bay of Plenty contingent. Boxing in the light welterweight ranks, she will need a strong performance to earn a place in the title deciders on Sunday afternoon.

In other Tauranga Boxing Club news, new professional recruit in Argentinean Tomas "La Cobra" Reynoso is starting to make waves in the Kiwi pro ranks.

Last Thursday Reynoso entered the ring for the second time in six days to fight the highly touted Ricky Murphy on Shane Cameron's fight card televised on Sky TV.

Reynoso gave Murphy, who entered the ring with a 9-0-0 record, a boxing lesson. He totally dominated proceedings, receiving a shutout 60-54 points decision from two of the ringside judges with the third giving Murphy a solitary round.

The Argentine fighter's biggest test since relocation to New Zealand earlier this year will come next month when he crosses the Tasman to fight Australian middleweight star Michael Zerafa on June 17 at Melbourne Pavilion.

The Australian pugilist has built an outstanding record of 21 wins and just two losses. His two defeats have come in a youth world title fight in Russia and against world middleweight title challenger Peter Quillin in the United States.

The Melbourne fight could define Reynoso's New Zealand career, with a good performance likely to propel him on to the world stage.