Kiwon Toney may have been a bit of a slow starter in his bout Saturday in the 76th Chattanooga Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament, but the hard, straight left hand the southpaw landed shortly before the final bell punctuated a strong finish that started a round earlier.
Toney is a fifth-grader at Calvin Donaldson Elementary fighting in the 80-pound weight class in the 11-12 age group for the Westside Boxing Club. His three-round decision victory over Vaughn Ammons, from the Rocket City Rocks club in Huntsville, Ala., was one of 26 fights on the card at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Toney came out of his corner after the first round and began looking more like a national Silver Gloves champion, which he was in 2011.
“He kept me backing back in the first round. Coach told me to keep using my jab,” Toney said of Westside trainer Andy Smith. “I think I got inside real good starting in the second round. He was trying to throw his power and I was able to move and counterpunch.”
Toney’s best flurry in the match was in the second round when he pinned Ammons in his own corner and unleashed a series of lefts and rights.