Hinkey ready to headline boxing event

McDermitt middleweight Derek Hinkey didn’t ask for this role, but now that he’s headlining Friday’s seven-bout card in Fallon, he’ll play it.
Derek’s brother, heavyweight Tyler Hinkey, was knocked out of the main event with a broken nose during a sparring session on Sunday, leaving Derek to fill the gap.
“I hadn’t really looked at it that way,” said the 28-year-old Derek, 5-1 (5), who will meet Ben Aragon, 7-11-2 (5), of Billings, Mont., in the six-round main event at the Churchill County Fairgrounds Rodeo Arena. “I’m doing so much awesome stuff in the gym, I want to let it go over to the fight.
“There’s been a lot of hope going on about how good a fighter I am, but I haven’t been able to show that fighter yet in a real fight.”
The 6-foot-1 Hinkey was originally scheduled to show his wares against Rodrigo Aguiar, but Aguiar pulled out of the bout after suffering a hand injury during a unanimous decision victory over South Tahoe’s Simon Ruvalcaba Aug. 15 in Las Vegas.
It was a matchup Hinkey was looking forward to.
“I helped Simon in the corner and Aguiar and I exchanged glances after the fight,” Hinkey said. “He had the audacity to jump into our corner and flex in my face. I was ready to take care of business. Simon’s a good friend. I was looking for redemption for him. Maybe somewhere down the road.”
Two replacements were offered the fight with Hinkey, but they gave exactly the same answer.
“They both said, ‘Hell no’ — not just no, but ‘Hell no,’” Hinkey said.
In Aragon, Hinkey will meet a journeyman with 20 total fights and who is the most experienced pro he has yet to face.
Hinkey is coming off a six-round technical knockout of then-undefeated Gabriel Gil, of Madera, Calif. Hinkey opened a wide cut under Gil’s eye in the final round of their June 13 bout at the Reno Ballroom.
“The thing with Gil is that in less than 30 seconds he came right up to me and made me back up to the ropes,” Hinkey said. “He ran into a check hook and homeboy went down. He got up. He was shaky, but he kept getting up. I said, ‘Wow, I’m in a tough fight.’”
The fight became even rougher for Hinkey when he took a slapping shot to his ear.
“I lost my balance and my ears rang,” said Hinkey, who said he’d never before suffered an eardrum injury. “It scared me. I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ I never had my legs. People were questioning my conditioning. I had no balance and I couldn’t move because of my eardrum.”
But Hinkey came back strong, proving something to himself.
“In the sixth round, I know I still have power,” Hinkey said. “I can rely on that.”
Hinkey said conditioning would not be an issue for this fight.
“Fighters say it all the time: ‘I’m in the best shape of my life,’” Hinkey said. “I am.”
Hinkey has worked with two coaches — Jacob Chavez (who is also on the card) and Kenny Rayford — for his bout with Aragon. He also sparred United States National Boxing Championship (USNBC) super middleweight beltholder Jesse Brinkley in Reno.
Brinkley will be on hand to root for his cousin, lightweight Andrew Remp, who will be making his pro debut against Raul Duhart.
“Everything’s perfect,” said Hinkey, a Native American who has been finding different ways to deal with living and training in Las Vegas. “I’ve heard it said that everybody has to evolve or cease to exist. So I went home (to the McDermitt Indian Reservation) for a while and trained with my dad (Dave) a little. I just wanted him to be with me.”
Hinkey said he has given some thought to what his future holds for him.
“One day, I’ll be an old man in McDermitt, riding with my horses,” he said. “A leaf on the tree can’t exist without roots. My mind gets cluttered up in Las Vegas. Outside you hear the ghetto birds singing. In the animal kingdom, you know that snakes and hyenas are the bad guys. In Las Vegas, you don’t know who the bad guys are.”
A philosopher who has a great turn of phrase, Hinkey will now exhibit that other side of his nature — that of a warrior — against Aragon.



HISTORY IN THE MAKING

WHAT: Seven-bout boxing card.

WHERE: Churchill County Fairgrounds Rodeo Arena

WHEN: Friday. Doors open at 7 p.m. First bout at 8.

TICKETS: $100 ringside; $50 floor seating; $25 general admission; $10 for students.

Tickets are available by visiting www.ticketweb.com <http://ticketweb.com/>; or by contacting the Fallon Chamber of Commerce at (775) 423-2544.