Brinkley, Griffin Weigh-in for Reno Bout

By Mario Ortega Jr. (scaleside)

Jesse Brinkley (29-5, 20 KOs) and Otis Griffin (18-2-2, 7 KOs) weighed in tonight at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino in Reno, Nevada in advance of their twelve-round super middleweight bout tomorrow night. The fight, for the vacant WBC USNBC Super Middleweight title, headlines a six-bout card.

Brinkley, of Yerington, Nevada, came in at 167 pounds. Brinkley competed on the first season of The Contender at middleweight in 2004, but has fought at the 168-pound weigh class since. Griffin, of Sacramento, California, scaled 166. Griffin, who was the winner of the Fox-televised reality series the Next Great Champ in 2004, has fought almost entirely at light heavyweight, but dropped down for the chance to meet Brinkley for the regional title.

The co-main event is an eight-round light flyweight rematch between Glenn Donaire (16-3-1, 9 KOs) of San Leandro, California and Jose Albuquerque (8-2-2, 2 KOs) formerly of Altamira, Para, Brazil. Donaire, who has not competed below flyweight since 2004, came in at 109. Albuquerque, who has recently fought as high 120 pounds, also came in right at 109 pounds. For this bout both men will likely be competing in the division that suits them best. They fought to a six-round majority draw in March of 2006. Shortly after the weigh-in Glenn’s brother, Nonito, the IBF Flyweight Champion, was confident his brother would perform well, despite a long layoff. “This was the first time I really looked at him and he looks really good,” says Nonito. “He’s usually fatty. He’s hefty and chunky sometimes, but today he looked good. This is his weight class, this is his territory. So I am sure he will do good and I have a lot of faith in him.” Nonito also wanted to thank promoters Terry and Tommy Lane for giving his brother this opportunity.

The card also features two brothers from McDermitt, Nevada, who were the first Native American brothers to enter the Olympic Trials, competing in four-round bouts. Heavyweight Tyler Hinkey (1-0-1, 1 KO) scaled 246. His opponent, Travis Biechler (2-5, 2 KOs) of Denver, Colorado, tipped the scales at 220 pounds. Hinkey is coming off of a draw with Alvaro Morales in October. Biechler competed as a junior middleweight in 2002 and once fought Reno’s Joey Gilbert at super middleweight, but is 2-1 since returning to the sport in 2005 as a heavyweight.

Super middleweight Derek Hinkey (4-0, 4 KOs) came in at 161. His opponent, Tony Hirsch (3-1, 1 KO) of Oakland, California, initially came in overweight, but weighed in at the contracted 161 on his second attempt. Hinkey is coming off an eye-opening knockout of normally durable Ray Craig in October. Hirsch last fought in November, where he may have been the victim of a quick stoppage at the hands of Cromwell Gordon, who he had previously decisioned.

The Hinkey brothers are trained by renowned trainer Kenny Adams, who was confident that his men would come out victorious tomorrow night. “They trained very hard,” Adams stated proudly. “As you know Tyler has lost quite a bit of weight. He’s been working good. He worked with some great former champions, Hasim Rahman, and guys such as that. Derek has been working with the WBC Junior Middleweight champ. They’ve both been looking real good and I expect both of them to stop their opponents tomorrow.”

Decorated amateur boxer Emily Klinefelter, of Iowa City, Iowa, will make her professional debut as part of the card tomorrow night. Three times in her career Klinefelter was the top amateur in the nation finishing the year with more ranking points than any other top rated female in any weight class. She was also named the Amateur Boxer of the Year by WBAN (Women Boxing Archive Network) in 2004 and 2006. Klinefelter weighed in at 118 ½ pounds, as did her opponent Elizabeth Cervantes (2-7, 1 KO) of Lakeside, California.

Rounding out the card is a four-round lightweight contest between Mike Peralta (2-2, 1 KO) of Carson City, Nevada and Oscar Marin (3-4, 1 KO) of Las Vegas, Nevada. Marin weighed in at 134. Peralta failed to make weight on his first attempt, but returned after working himself down to 134 ½ pounds.

Tickets for the card, titled “War For The West” and promoted by Let’s Get It On Promotions, are available at Ticketmaster.com or by calling the casino box office at 800-687-8733.