Sau wins Junior Olympic boxing title

MARQUETTE, Mich. — Chazzette Sau, a rising sophomore at Maui High School, won the 119-pound title in the 15-16 age group at the Junior Olympic National Boxing Championships by stopping Serina Aguilar on Friday.

Sau, 15, of Kihei, took a 15-point lead on Aguilar of San Jose, Calif., to stop the fight with 1 minute, 15 seconds left in the second round at the Superior Dome on the campus of Northern Michigan University.

Sau won her weight class, which had four competitors in it, after beating Michelle Rodriguez of Fort Worth, Texas, 11-6, in the semifinals on Thursday.

‘‘She has been training with me since she was nine years old,’’ Southside Boxing Club coach Nante Manangan said via phone on Friday. ‘‘From the early years, since I was training her, I could tell she was a natural. She just had to believe that I believed in her. She didn’t want to come to this event, but we convinced her that this is the big picture. Training out of my garage in Kihei is the little picture.’’

Sau led 10-3 at the end of the first round before quickly dispensing of Aguilar in the second round. Efforts to reach Sau were unsuccessful on Friday.

‘‘She came out really smooth today and she kept the girl off balance, scoring with a lot of left hooks,’” Manangan said. ‘‘In the second round, she outpointed her by 15 points so that is why they stopped it. Winners for this tournament get to fight in a USA dual, but I don’t know who that will be against. That will happen after the Olympics in August.’’

Manangan said that Sau has a bright future in the sport.

‘‘The world is her’s right now,’’ the coach said. ‘‘I have been doing this for a while and if she chooses to do this for her career, she could be a world champion some day. I think she is definitely a candidate for the Olympics in 2012. A lot of people have been coming to talk to us about that possibility. We have a national hopeful for our club and for Maui.’’

Manangan, Sau and Josh Nakagawa, a Southside boxer who was a quarterfinalist at 154 pounds in this event, will return to Maui on Sunday.