Rumi Maki Show, National GGs

Danny Vaz da Costa of FLO Boxing won his second fight against Isaac Reyes of Rumi Maki by unanimous decision at the May 13th, 2017, Rumi Maki Amateur Boxing Show. 

The two Chicago NW suburbs boxers had faced each other a year ago at the Chop Shop in what turned out to be a very one-sided affair in Danny’s favor. Surprisingly, Mr. Reyes requested a rematch the day after that fight. It took a while, but Reyes got his wish last week. He has improved and this was a closer fight than the first one. 

Danny often has slow starts, but this time he actually had a very good first round. It included a cross to the body that did not look very hard, but which seemingly paralyzed his opponent for several seconds. Reyes stopped throwing punches and did not defend himself very well during that time, but eventually recovered. 

The highlight of round 2 was a sharp, perfectly-timed check hook that made Reyes stumble back into the ropes. Danny also scored with straight rights multiple times and was able to get under most punches Reyes threw. 

Reyes did land a few good shots in the third round. Danny boxed well that day, and I thought he won all three rounds, but the judges gave the last round to the Rumi Maki fighter. 

This was a good result for Danny because he had just returned from the National Golden Gloves in Louisiana, where he lost to Adrian Benton, a boxer from Cincinnati who is currently ranked 4th in the country. It was disappointing to be eliminated in the first round of competition, but the experience gained there was invaluable. Plus, Team Chicago was an outstanding group of guys. We took third place overall and our 108-pound fighter, Angel Martinez, won every one of his bouts by unanimous decision and became national champ. 

Next, Danny will have his much-anticipated “rubber match” against 2017 Chicago Golden Gloves champion Marcos Martinez on May 30th. That will be followed by a trip to the SoCal State Championship, which is open to fighters from other states, in the second week of June. 

Stay tuned.