Brick Boxer Wins State Golden Gloves Title

A Brick Township youth left it all in the ring and has been crowned a state champion.

Francisco “Paco” Sastre, a fighter in the Brick Police Athletic League program, earned a split-decision victory over Manuel Castillo of Global Boxing Gym to take the 123-pound sub-novice New Jersey Golden Gloves championship last weekend.

Dan McKevitt, executive director of the Brick PAL, said Satre, a southpaw, outpointed Castillo with a mix of jabs and a potent left hook and was the aggressor throughout the fight before a packed house at Pershing Field Ice Rink in Jersey City.

Sastre in 4-0 in his amateur career and will be moving up to the novice class in future fights.

Sastre advanced to the finals by scoring a unanimous (3-0) decision victory over Luis Lopez in the semifinals on April 18. He opened the tournament with a second-round TKO (technical knockout) of Hassan Moore of the Asbury Park PAL on March 21 in front of the hometown crowd at Brick Memorial High School. He advanced with an easy in the quarterfinals, McKevitt said.

(Photo credit: Dan McKevitt)