22-year-old Jyric Queniahan of Kea‘au won his first amatuer muay thai belt last week, winning the B-class 130.1-135 lb division at the US Open Spring Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Queniahan entered at the No. 4 seed in his bracket and beat the odds twice, defeating No.1-seeded Kory Jetter of El Cajon, Calif. in the semifinals by unanimous decision before toppling No. 3 seed Matthew Zazueta of Tempe, Ariz. in the finale by another unanimous decision.
“It was a really good match,” Queniahan said. “(Zazueta) looked like a really experienced fighter, he’d fought at the US Open before, so I was expecting a hard fight. He was a lot taller, his body frame was a lot bigger — obviously, we’re the same weight class, but he had height on me.
“His boxing game was a lot better than mine, so we were expecting a heavy puncher going into the fight.”
Queniahan recovered from a rough first two rounds to dominate the third and earn the win.
“The first round was hard fought, I felt like I lost it,” he said. “In the second, I got caught off guard. He almost TKO’d me. Luckily, I was able to bring it back and outscore him in the second. Going into the third there were a lot of emotions. I was fighting for a belt, so I had to pull out the fire, bring the heat and put the pressure. He kinda gave in in the third round and I was able to take it home.”
Queniahan trains with ‘Ohana Muay Thai, a county-affiliated program headed by his father, Glenn Ellazar, at the Kea‘au Armory in Shipman Park. ‘Ohana Muay Thai was founded in 2019 out of the family’s garage in Hilo.
“We do a lot of community work,” Queniahan said, “feeding the homeless, picking up trash at the beach and on the highway, cleaning cemeteries and at (Shipman) park. We try to teach the kids to take muay thai farther than just a sport. We can use the sport in other aspects of life to become a better person and help the community.”
The Tribune-Herald wasn’t unable to confirm, but Queniahan may be the first adult amateur nak muay from the Big Island to win a belt at the US Open.
