By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org
Titles were on the line Saturday evening at the 2026 Michigan Golden Gloves State Championships that took place before a large and pumped-up crowd at the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of Aquinas College.
Boxers from the east side of Michigan (Team East) battled it out with boxers from the west side of Michigan (Team West) for state titles, and for Elite Open division boxers, the opportunity to represent the state of Michigan at the National Golden Gloves tournament that is scheduled for May 11-16 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Elite Open division provided boxing fans with several top-notch matches highlighted by the 143-pound division final between Steven Ramirez and Siderio Mitchell, teammates at the Michigan Golden Gloves Association St. Mary’s Gym (MGGA) in downtown Grand Rapids.
Ramirez and Mitchell battled it out for the West Michigan title last month with Ramirez coming out ahead in a rugged, three-round battle. The results were very similar this time as the two warriors gave the crowd plenty to cheer about during another three-round slugfest.
Mitchell started strong in the opening round, however, Ramirez pressed on the accelerator in round two and kept up the pressure into round three. That full speed ahead strategy paid off as Ramirez again came out ahead in the end.
“I had to put the pressure on,” Ramirez said. “He was going on the outside moving fast on his feet, but I knew I had to put the pressure on and not let him breathe. I had to make it my fight, my style, or otherwise I was not going to get the win.”
The win resulted in a first-ever state championship for Ramirez and a trip to the big stage at the Golden Gloves National tournament.
“It feels great,” Ramirez said. “I think I’m prepared (for nationals). I’m ready for whatever.”
Another rematch from the West Michigan finals came about in the 132-pound female Elite Open division. That was where multi-time champion Sarah Batenburg of MGGA squared off against Emily Martinez of Eli J Boxing in Holland.
Batenburg won a decision against Martinez in the West Michigan finals. In the rematch at the state finals, Martinez took the lessons she learned in the first match between the two and made them pay off as she won a close decision for her first-ever state title.
“The last time I fought her it was my first open fight,” Martinez said, “so I kind of came in inexperienced, not really knowing what to expect, jumping from two-minute rounds to three, so I paced myself and I thought too much. I knew this time going in, I’m like, this time you can’t waste time like that, you need to go. It’s like if your exhausted and you can’t breathe at the end, then you can’t breathe, but you need to do whatever or you’re not going to nationals.”
In the 132-pound Elite Open division another MGGA boxer earned his first-ever trip to nationals. Jason Wells had come close twice in the past, but this year he broke through and won a state championship. In one of the top fights of the evening, Wells held off Carter Brown of Flint to earn the trip to nationals.
“This feels really good,” Wells said. “All the hard work paid off. This is great to have a moment like this and I earned it.”
Wells kept the pressure up during the fight and scored points by often going to the body.
“I was just listening to my team,” Wells said. “That’s (body shots) something that I wanted to do better this time. Last match I came up short, so they said touch that body, don’t worry about that head, so I wasn’t worried about that head, I was touching the body and it made the night easier.”
East Kentwood alum James-Tolliver gets title
For amount of punches thrown, the 176-pound Elite Open match between Ontess James-Tolliver of Blue Gym in Grand Rapids and Floyd Santiago of MGGA was one of the best. Both boxers unloaded with punches throughout three rounds of non-stop action. In the end, James-Tolliver had racked up enough points to claim the title. An East Kentwood High School graduate, James-Tolliver is in his second year of boxing after having won the 176-pound Elite Novice division title last year.
In the middle weight classes of the Elite Open division, Evan Jackson of the Kalamazoo Boxing Club won a decision against King Gildersleeve of Flint at 154 pounds. At 165 pounds, Joshua Riley Jr. of Flint outpointed Kyree Wiggins of Flint for the title.
In the upper weights, Maurice Davis of Champsden Boxing in Kalamazoo put on a punishing display of power in his win against Jonathan Jeshurun of Oakland County with the referee stopping the contest in the first round. Davis, a former Olympic Trials boxer, also won his West Michigan title when the referee stopped the bout in the first round.
In Elite Novice action, Strey Hakala of Blues Gym won the title at 165 pounds where his constant pressure against Jesse Garcia-Ramirez paid off with a win by decision. The state title was a first for Hakala who serves in the United State Army.
“I’m extremely grateful,” said Hakala. “I can’t take any of the credit. I give all the credit to my coaches. Dino (Newville), Blues Gym and the Man upstairs. He always comes first. I’m just grateful to be here and get this title.”
Hakala originally got into boxing several years ago at Blues Gym. Newville, his coach, played a huge role in Hakala joining the Army and Hakala wanted to come back and train at Blues Gym for his first experience at a sanctioned boxing tournament.
“I wanted to come back and win it (the title) for the guy who inspired me to join the service,” Hakala said.
A pair of Kalamazoo area boxers won Elite Novice titles for the West team at the finals with Marcos Guzman taking the title at 110 pounds and DeKent Murray winning at 154 pounds.
Team East boxers winning state titles in the Elite Novice division included Jared Argueta (121 pounds), Joshua Wilson (143 pounds) and Ivory Griffin Jr. (198-plus).
Uncontested Novice champions included Luciano Ramirez (132 pounds) of Warriors Quest, Avery Stevens (176 pounds) fighting unattached, Caleb Rivera (187 pounds) of Grand Valley State, Ahmari Jobe (198) of MGGA and Johana Lugo of United Boxing Club in the female 143-pound division.
Uncontested Open champions included Kyree Westerfield of PK Boxing at 110 pounds, Zoe Hicks of Team Glass at 112 pounds in the female division, Gage Stafford of Flint at 121 pounds, Asha Lake of Team Glass at 143 pounds in the female division and Solomon Jagun of Flint at 187 pounds.
