By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org
The opening night of the 2026 West Michigan Golden Gloves kicked off with a flurry Friday as 12 high-action bouts gave the crowd at the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of Aquinas College plenty to get pumped up about.
The first of three days of boxing saw a number of newcomers have breakthrough moments and also featured some familiar names giving the large crowd plenty of the action they came to witness.
The main event of the card came at the end in what were actually three main events in the loaded 143-pound Elite Open division.
In the first of the three 143-pound matches Stephen Ramirez, boxing unattached, squared off against Gohan Estavez Marte of Wyoming’s PK Boxing. In a bout that featured plenty of non-stop action, a bloodied, but game Ramirez claimed a decision in a fight that went the distance.
“He (Estavez Marte) is a hard hitter,” Ramirez said. “I started off working the outside, but that was not working out so I decided to go inside on him. I pressured him on the inside and I think that was what made the difference.”
The action continued at a furious pace in the next 143-pound Elite Open match between veteran Michigan Golden Gloves Association (MGGA) boxer Michael Guzman and Armand Bridgeforth who boxes unattached.
Both boxers came out throwing plenty of punches at a quick pace. Guzman, however, began to gain momentum throughout the match. That momentum paid off in the third round as he continued pushing the pace and racking up shots to the body and the head. Guzman eventually recorded a standing eight count on Bridgeforth as he went on to win a decision.
In another bout at 154 pounds in the Elite Novice Division, DeKent Murray of Kalamazoo Boxing was the winner when the referee stopped the contest in the second round of his bout with Larry Carter of Blue Gym of Grand Rapids.
Guzman’s plan coming in to the match was to wear out his opponent and eventually put away the win.
The final match of the evening was a battle between Michael’s brother Mike Guzman and Michael Carbajal of PK Boxing.
In one of the most competitive bouts of the evening, the Guzman brothers made it a perfect night as Mike defeated Carbajal by a decision.
Both fighters threw plenty of punches throughout the fight and there were no surprises as the two boxers were meeting for the fifth time over the course of their careers.
“I’m 4-1 against him now,” Mike Guzman said. “I knew I had to continue to box him. He is a brawler and I knew that is what he wanted to do so I concentrated on boxing.”
Both Guzman’s, along with Ramirez, had little time to recuperate from their matches as all three boxers competed in Saturday’s semifinals along with defending champion Siderio Mitchell who had the bye.
The evenings action was kicked off by some strong efforts from PK Boxing fighters in the first three bouts on the card. In the first match of the evening, Gino Corona of PK Boxing won in the third round when the referee stopped the 132-pound Junior Novice contest with Jamison Perry of MGGA.
Corona, who is 16 years old and a student at Grand Rapids Union High School, was making his competitive boxing debut. After a slow start, Corona gained confidence as the match wore on and eventually had all the momentum in the fight before it was stopped in the third round.
“I felt a lot of adrenaline for sure,” Corona said. “I was really pumped up and I really felt all that adrenaline in the first round. After a while I felt like I loosened up some.”
In the second bout, another high school student, Jose Jimanez-Gonzalez of Grand Rapids University Prep High School, picked up a win.
Jimanez-Gonzalez also had a relatively slow start including a standing eight-count being called on him in the opening round. That standing eight seemed to ignite a fire in Jimanez-Gonzalez who battled back and piled up the punches in the later stages of the bout.
“When I received that standing eight count I said to myself, `I can’t let this happen,’” Jimanez-Gonzalez said. “I had to keep fighting back and countering. It was a tough fight. He backed me up against the wall but I fought back.”
PK Boxing picked up another win in the third bout of the evening when Jourell Constant won a decision against My’Khi Jackson-Sims of TCB Boxing of Muskegon Heights in a 154-pound Junior Novice bout.
Also picking up a win in the Junior Novice division was Gustavo Pedraza of United Boxing Club who won a decision against Carlos Soto-Brooks of Muskegon Boxing Club at 165 pounds.
In the Elite Novice Division, Shadiez Butler of PK Boxing defeated Shaad Smith of TCB Boxing when the referee stopped the contest one minute into round two of the bout at 154 pounds.
Also in the Elite Novice Division were three more bouts. At 132 pounds Luciano Ramirez of Warriors Quest won a decision against Trevor Lewis of Blues Gym. At 143 pounds Brennan Bolen of United Boxing Club won his bout against Patient Byiringiro of Blues Gym when the referee stopped the contest in the second round. At 165 pounds, Strey Hakala of Blues Gym won a decision in a tight battle against Corbin Trickery of United Boxing Club.
Boxing resumed Saturday night with the semifinals and Sunday afternoon with the West Michigan finals.
