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Angel Sandoval, of Clovis, left, and Yoruba Moreu Jr. of Albuquerque trade punches during the final day of the New Mexico Golden Gloves at the Belen Community Center on Sunday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)
BELEN The young amateur boxers who fought in Sunday’s New Mexico Golden Gloves finals at the Belen Community Center should save their hand wraps for posterity.
Those wraps were inspected, approved and autographed, after all, by a New Mexico boxing legend: Henry Anaya Sr.
This year’s Golden Gloves reflected a changing of the guard, with many of the top amateurs from recent years having turned pro or simply having moved on from the sport. Based on Sunday’s action, there appears to be no shortage of developing talent.
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Sometime – not today, not tomorrow, not the day after, but sometime – professional combat sports events will return to New Mexico.
Members of the New Mexico Athletic Commission, the state board that regulates combat sports, want to help make that happen.
But, with the COVID-19 pandemic still alive and accompanying protocols still in place, the question is how.
And when.
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“We need to start getting ready for when we do start having events,” chairman Joe Chavez said at Tuesday’s NMAC meeting, held via Cisco WebEx.
Compliance with public health orders, Chavez said, is a given. “But we’re gonna have to have our own kind of rules because of COVID for the fighters and our officials and the people participating. … We’re probably not going to be doing any fights within the next 60 days, but I want to start getting ready for what we’re going to require of t