'Earn Your Keep' Boxing Bouts bring power to Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO — Boxers from various locations came to E3VB in Rio Rancho to compete in the “Earn Your Keep” Boxing Bouts presented by Earn Your Keep Boxing and J.A.B. Clothing on Feb. 22.

It was a packed house with hundreds of people in attendance to watch 41 matches. According to the Bonnell family, the owners of J.A.B. Clothing, 350-400 people were in attendance.

“Our goal, like I said, is to motivate everyone to achieve their own brilliance in life, whether it’s here in the boxing ring, at school, at work, and that’s our goal as a family,” J.A.B. Clothing’s Tanya Bonnell said.

The name began as a salute to their son’s name, Julian Albert Bonnell. Now, J.A.B. stands for “Just Achieve Brilliance.”

“We wear symbols everyday, but most of the time, someone wears a shirt, and what does it mean? What does it stand for? How is it relatable to you? That was the overall goal of ‘Just Achieve Brilliance,’” J.A.B. Clothing’s Julian Bonnell said.

Kicking off the day was a bout in the 9-year old division. Xavier Garcia from Team Tapia faced off against Axle Sutfin from TNT Boxing.

In the match, both boxers displayed a great amount of movement and sound footwork. However, in the end, Sutfin claimed the victory as he landed more punches, including some lethal hooks.

Then came Javier Pineda (Ring Warriors Boxing Club) versus Azariah Junior Romo (House of Pain) in bout nine; both fought at 75 pounds. The young men showed great athleticism and sportsmanship. Pineda took the victory as he landed some nice body shots that shook his opponent.

Another notable match included an impressive victory from Braeden Torrez, who displayed some serious power at 147 pounds.

“I just went in there and did what I had to do,” Torrez said. “I’ve just been training my ass off, been in really good shape, and the results show; I dropped him three times.”

Torrez, who trains at Rosales Karate & Kickboxing, went up against Johnny Lee Tapia from Team Tapia and notched a well-earned victory.

At the halfway point came more festivities, including a musical performance from local artists Ayo Soldier and Yanko.

“We got invited to come and do this performance. We just released a new single and a new music video. So, we’re going to be performing it for the people,” Ayo Soldier said.

Ayo Soldier and Yanko performed their new single “Abusame,” which received more than 1,000 views on YouTube after only four days.

“This song is really central. It dropped a day after Valentine’s Day; that energy is in the air. We thought it would be a good strategy from a business point of view to show it out,” Yanko said.

Ayo Soldier can be found on Instagram at “itsayosoldier” while Yanko can be found at “Yanko_mx.”

The next boxing event at E3VB is scheduled for April 5: “The JAB Throw Down,” which is being put on by J.A.B. Clothing and Code of a Champion Boxing.

If you would like to register for the boxing event, call either Julian Bonnell at 505-559-0573 or Steven Padilla at 505-795-9670.