Charismatic super featherweight Lonnie Smith is set to take a big step up in class as he goes to the hometown of world ranked contender Vicente Escobedo for a ten-round regional title bout at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California on Saturday night. For Smith and his team, the fight represents a calculated gamble, but also rare opportunity to enter the mix at 130-pounds in a big way.

Smith (14-2, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada has been out of the ring since scoring a third-round stoppage of Eduardo Arcos in late July. However, Smith had been in the gym since the Monday after his last fight, refining his arsenal while his team tried to line up the right fight for him. “We’ve been working on a lot of stuff,” explains Smith, who has had considerable ring time with the likes of Joel Casamayor and prospects Darley Perez and Sharif Bogere among others. “I think we’ve worked on a lot of the downfalls in my game. I’ve seen some people that I like and how they fight, and I imitated them and now I mixed it in with my boxing and now I got a new me.”

In the months since his July win, several fights had fallen out and others were passed on by Smith. When his promoters Terry and Tommy Lane got the call from Don Chargin about the possibility of an Escobedo fight they brought the offer to Smith thinking he was likely going to pass, but were met with a very different response.

“When the fight was offered to my promoters, they called me,” recounts Smith. “I don’t know if they knew I was going to take the fight. They offered me other fights that I turned down. But when I heard the name Escobedo and the date March 3rd, I was like yeah, let’s do it.”

The fact that the offer came in about a month before the fight would take place was part of the reason why Smith surprised his promoters with his quick acceptance of the fight. “There were times I took a fight on two weeks’ notice,” says Smith. “If you never had a promoter before, you do have to be ready at all times. That’s the reason behind me always being in the gym.” Another reason Smith jumped at the opportunity was Escobedo was someone that was on his radar already anyway. “Escobedo was a guy on my list,” says Smith. “Actually, I even had Daniel Jimenez on my list, and Jimenez beat him. So I was like well, let’s do it.”

Though Smith has never been in with anyone of Escobedo’s caliber before, his confidence level going into this fight gave his promoter assurance this was the right time to take a chance. “Lonnie is really confident,” says Terry Lane, CEO of Let’s Get It On Promotions. “To him, the fight is just a formality. He is so confident this is going to be a step on the ladder to bigger and better things. He believes he is going to beat this guy that is way more experienced than him and has fought much better fighters than he has on Saturday. He believes he is going to beat him pretty easily.”

The last time the Lanes gave Smith a tough assignment, in the form of former fringe contender David Rodela last April, he displayed a similar level of belief in himself and went on to score a wide unanimous decision. “When we made that fight, he was extremely confident about taking the fight,” recalls Terry Lane. “Obviously, Rodela was a test and a step up, but Lonnie is diligent about taking the fights he thinks he can win. He researches everything he possibly can about fighters before taking a fight. He doesn’t take things just to take them. So when he wanted to take that so quickly, at some point as the promoter I have to have a little faith and trust about what my fighter feels about himself. If he feels he can take it and his trainer Skip Kelp feels he can take it and the rest of his team feels he can take it and win, then we will take the fight. He has the same sort of confidence going into this, which makes me feel this is a fight we should take.”

One of the fights Smith had passed on in the past was to go to the adopted hometown of ranked contender Eloy Perez and fight him for a regional title. On Saturday Smith will be heading into Woodland, the town in which Escobedo grew up and became one of the country’s top amateurs. However, Smith sees it differently. “Eloy never fought outside of California and Eloy wanted the fight in Salinas, California, and I didn’t want to go to Salinas to fight him,” explains Smith. “I wasn’t going to go there and fight him, so that was the choice. But I am going to knock [Escobedo] out. I am going to take the decision in my own hands. I’m not relying on anybody else to get me the fight.”

Saturday’s fight, which will be the televised main event of Telefutura Solo Boxeo, is for the WBO NABO Super Featherweight title, which essentially guarantees the winner a world ranking. While Escobedo is already ranked by the WBO and IBF and has fought for more significant titles in the past, this will be the first time Smith has had a crack at any belt as a professional.

“Every fight is just as important as the next fight, but this fight is important because this title puts me in the mix,” explains Smith, who has been known for his offensive-minded style. “I want this belt to have at the house. I want this belt to hold at night. It is going to be recognition for the time I have put in over these five years of being a pro, with all the mishaps that happen along the way, with fights falling out, bad managers or not having a promoter. Everything is going to work out after I knock this guy out.”

Should Smith claim the title on Saturday, he figures to be ranked highest by the WBO, whose current world champion is Adrien Broner. Though Smith cites Broner, a rising star in the sport, as a friend, it is a fight Smith would take under the right circumstances. However, Smith has always had his eyes on another title.

“I mean I would fight my sister if she got in the ring,” says Smith, who goes by the ring name of “El Negro Mexicano.” “This is a sport, but he is one of my friends. It’s not like I am gunning for Broner, just because Eloy decided to take a shot at him and got his ass cracked. I’m looking at the WBC champion [Takahiro Aoh.] Ever since I was a little kid, I have dreamed of having the green belt around my waist. To have another belt I am still in second place, that is how I feel. I want to fight Aoh out in Japan. He is a little maniac. He’s a beast. I respect him, but it doesn’t matter who has that green belt, I just want that belt.”

Obviously Escobedo comes first, but Smith plans to show the world his work in the gym has paid off and he is ready for the challenge. “The guy that fought Rodela was a crazy mad man,” Smith says of himself. “I was fixated on doing the best I could and I thought the best I could was to never stop punching. Now I am a little calmer. I have patience. That’s how we are going to come out here. Aggressive pressure, but I’ve found out the point of boxing is to not get hit. Hopefully everyone has seen me fight once or twice and they will have the chance to see that I have matured.”

Notes:

-Smith, ever the self-promoter, would like for his fans reach out to him on Twitter @130lbBEAST and on Facebook at Facebook.com/elnegromexicano.

-Escobedo, a 2004 U.S. Olympian, last fought in his home area in 2009, when he dispatched a faded Kevin Kelley in under two rounds at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

– Tickets for Saturday’s event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, are available online at PacoPresentsBoxing.com or by calling Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Emerging super bantamweight Manuel Avila enters a rematch with David Reyes on Saturday night aiming to show his superiority and in a way prove a unanimous verdict should have been rendered instead of the split decision that was announced after their initial October meeting. The bout takes place at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California – a short drive from Avila’s Fairfield home and will air on Telefutura Solo Boxeo, giving the young fighter a chance to further endear himself to both local and national fight fans.

The fact that Avila (6-0, 2 KOs) found boxing as a youth was really a fluke matter of circumstances. “My parents wanted to keep me off the street with sports like baseball and soccer, but they have off seasons,” recalls Avila. “Then when I was nine my dad asked me if I wanted to box and I said yes. So he told me that when I turned ten we’d go.” The elder Avila did not have any aspirations for his son to pursue boxing as a profession, it just happened to be a sport that would keep him busy year round.

Just days before his tenth birthday, Avila’s dad did take him to the local boxing gym, but his son was not eager to begin at first. “I saw some kids sparring and I got scared and didn’t want to do it anymore. I was told that I’ll work my way up, so I decided to do it, starting a day before my birthday.”

The gym his father took him to that day would be the same gym Avila would train out of his entire career, the Georgie Duke Sports Center in Vacaville, where he has trained under Al LaGardo. Shortly after hooking up with the young Avila, LaGardo would give his young pug a nickname that would stick. “My coach Al used to have this pro fighter named Tino Huggins,” explains Avila. “He said I looked just like him, so he told me from now on my name is Tino and it just stuck. Now everyone calls me Tino.”

Tino would get over his reluctance to spar and ten months after arriving at the gym, he would begin competing. Avila developed into one of the top amateurs in California, claiming a Silver Gloves title and placing third in the country at the 2008 Junior Olympic National Championships.

In 2009, Avila traveled to Denver, Colorado to compete at the USA Boxing National Championships. Unfortunately for Avila, his hopes for a national title would be dashed after a controversial disqualification in a preliminary round bout against Luis Rosa of East Haven, Connecticut. “They disqualified me for bowing, but I never did,” explains Avila. “The guy would grab my head and push me down but they called me for it.”

After the fight with Rosa, a few people, including an amateur boxing official not working that day, explained to a dejected Avila that there may have been an explanation for the disqualification. “I was told they weren’t going to let me win the fight because my whole uniform was the Mexican Flag and it wouldn’t look right when I’m representing the USA Team.”

In the immediate aftermath of his exit from nationals, Avila decided he wanted to turn professional. Unexpectedly for Avila, things started falling into place quite rapidly, as prominent manager Cameron Dunkin courted him before he was even old enough to fight in the United States. “It was amazing because I wanted to become a pro as soon as I turned 18 and when I was 17 I got a call from Cameron saying he wants to sign me,” remembers Avila. “I didn’t think people like me get discovered like that or sign by anyone at 18 coming from where I’m from.”

Eventually Dunkin signed Avila up with Golden Boy Promotions, who scheduled his debut for November 18, 2010 on the regionally televised Fight Night Club program emanating from the Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. “I was excited to finally fight as a pro, but to me it was just another fight,” says Avila, who dominated Alexis Hernandez en route to a four-round unanimous decision that night.

In January of the next year, promoters Don Chargin and Paco Damian, who partner with Golden Boy on several of their Solo Boxeo dates, decided to bring boxing to Fairfield for the first time in many years and Tino Avila was a big reason why that decision was made. Unfortunately for Avila and his strong local fan base, his fight fell out at the weigh-in, as his late replacement opponent did not come close to the contracted weight. However, thanks in part to tickets Avila sold, the January event was such a financial success, Solo Boxeo came back to Fairfield the very next month. This time, Tino Avila fans would go home happy.

On that February night, Avila stopped Jose Garcia in the fourth round before a national television audience and of course his large local following. “It felt great being able to fight on TV and in front of my friends and family,” says Avila. “I felt like everyone has a lot of hopes for me. I wasn’t really expecting a KO because I didn’t know anything about this guy. I didn’t even find out he was southpaw until the fight started, but it was a real good feeling.

With the February event again doing well at the box office, Solo Boxeo came back to Fairfield for the third straight month that March and again Avila was on the bill scoring an impressive stoppage. This time it was limited journeyman Frank Gutierrez that would taste the canvas three times and fail to make it out of the second round against Avila.

Two months later Avila returned to Solo Boxeo as he traveled down Costa Mesa, California and scored a four-round unanimous decision over Jesse Padilla. One month later on June 24th, Avila came back to Fairfield for a non-televised decision over Salvador Cifuentes.

After keeping an incredibly busy pace for the first eight months of his career, Avila ran into some bad luck as a series of bouts would fall out on sometimes short notice. One such bout scheduled for September in Reno, Nevada would have to be cancelled as Avila attempted to get the additional necessary medicals required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but could not complete them all in time.

On October 15th, Avila returned to the ring on the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. As Avila stepped into the ring to fight unbeaten local David Reyes on the undercard of a pay-per-view for the first time, the Fairfield native claims the larger stage had no effect on him. “No, not at all,” says Avila. “I just felt like I was getting up there to the big times.”

According to most ringside accounts, Avila won the fight fairly clearly, as he even scored a knockdown in the third of the four-round bout. However, one judge had the fight scored for Reyes, 38-37. The other two had it for Avila, 39-35 and 39-36, giving Tino his sixth professional victory. After hearing the one card for Reyes, Avila feared for a moment he would be the victim of some home cooking. “I thought they were going to give the fight to him just because he was from there in L.A.,” said Avila. “I felt like I won every round.”

That brings us to this coming Saturday. Avila, fighting close to home for the first time in many months, feels he has a little something to prove in the rematch with Reyes. “This time there is doubt that I’m going to win every single round convincingly to show everyone that is watching,” says Avila.

With another win on Saturday, Avila will move one step further away from the kid that came to the gym to stay busy and one step closer to prominence as a professional boxer. As Avila continues to move forward in the sport, chances are some kids in the Vacaville area will walk through the doors of the Georgie Duke Sports Center hoping to be Coach LaGardo’s next “Tino.”

Tickets for Saturday’s event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, are available online at PacoPresentsBoxing.com or by calling Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA – Puerto Rican welterweight rising star Thomas Dulorme continues to impress ringside observers as he quickly disposed of Aris Ambriz inside of one round in the Showtime-televised main event at the Chumash Casino Resort on Friday night.

Dulorme (14-0, 11 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico dropped Ambriz (16-3-1, 8 KOs) of Azusa, California hard with a sweeping left early in the first round. Ambriz, 144, rose from the mat, but was quickly backed against the ropes. Dulorme, 143, dropped Ambriz with the ensuing combination. Referee David Mendoza stopped the bout without a count at 2:12 of the opening round.

With the victory, Dulorme, the WBA #3/WBC #9/WBO #15 ranked welterweight, claimed the vacant NABF Welterweight title and appears ready for a step-up in the level of his competition.

In the televised co-feature, world ranked contender Jonathan Gonzalez (15-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico scored a ten-round unanimous decision over pugnacious Billy Lyell (24-11, 5 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio.

Gonzalez, the WBO #8/WBA #9/WBC #13 ranked light middleweight, looked to be a full weight class bigger than Lyell in the ring – an advantage that largely told the story of the fight. Gonzalez, 156, was able to walk through the offense of Lyell, 153, and even when out landed, it was the Puerto Rican’s power shots that did most damage.

Through the first half of the fight, Gonzalez pressed Lyell back, eventually bloodying the Youngstown native’s mouth in the third. Even when in retreat, Lyell traded with Gonzalez punch-for-punch, but the young prospect would usually smirk in response.

Late in the fight, Gonzalez, who had hit the scales five times in order to make the contracted weight limit, went into a shell and allowed Lyell to have some moments.
Lyell controlled the ninth, even playing to the crowd, as Gonzalez mostly followed him around the ring.

Gonzalez snarled at Lyell’s opening volley to start the tenth and turned up his output level from the three previous rounds. In the end, all three official judges scored the late Lyell rally, but still had Gonzalez the winner by the wide margin of 98-92 and 97-93 twice.

Roman Morales (9-0, 6 KOs) of San Ardo, California scored five knockdowns en route to an impressive fourth-round stoppage of late replacement Ernie Marquez (9-10-2, 3 KOs) of Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Marquez, 120, took the fight on Wednesday and by the second round it was clear he was in over his head. After the fifth knockdown, referee David Mendoza waved off the fight at 2:23 of the fourth round. Morales, 120 ½, appears ready to tackle the next level.

Former amateur standout Roy Tapia (3-0, 2 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California made short work of Brice Yeniki (0-6) of North Las Vegas, Nevada with a devastating first-round knockout. Tapia, 123, pressured Yeniki, 120 ½, to the ropes, where he eventually uncorked a hellacious left hook. Yeniki was clearly out, and referee Marcos Rosales stopped the bout without a count at 2:34 of the first round.

Rufino Serrano (12-3) of Santa Maria, California by way of Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico boxed his way to his second career victory over longtime journeyman Rodrigo Aranda (8-17-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Tabasco, Zacatecas, Mexico.

Serrano, 126, fought at close quarters in the first few rounds, which Aranda, 128, welcomed. However, Serrano’s edge in hand speed won out over Aranda’s determined attack. By mid fight Serrano settled into the jab-and-move style his following has been accustomed seeing over the years at the Chumash Casino Resort.

After a point deduction in the sixth for a low blow on Aranda’s hip, Serrano was awarded the unanimous six-round decision by scores of 57-56 and 59-54 twice. In December of 2010, Serrano dropped Aranda in the first round en route to another six-round decision.

In his second attempt at gaining a victory on U.S. soil, Azat Hovhannesyan (2-1, 1 KO) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia punished William Fisher (0-5) of Victorville, California before scoring the stoppage in the fourth round.

Hovhannesyan, 126, opened up in the second round with right hand leads against the southpaw Fisher, 128, to great effect. Hovhannesyan routinely rushed inside without caution, while Fisher pushed most of his punches. Hovhannesyan pummeled Fisher throughout the third as referee Marcos Rosales looked poised to stop it. Finally in the fourth, Hovhannesyan dropped Fisher near the ropes with a two-handed attack. When Fisher gamely rose, he was soon met with a right uppercut that snapped back his head and pressed Rosales to leap in and call a halt to the contest at 2:43 of the fourth.

Two amateur exhibitions opened the card, as Daniel Flores of the Paso Boxing Gym in Paso Robles, California took on Manuel Romero, also of the Paso Boxing Gym and Oscar Mendoza of the Santa Maria Boxing Club in Santa Maria, California met Manny Flores, also of Santa Maria Boxing Club.

Two additional amateur exhibitions took place later in the evening, as Evander Augustine of the Paso Boxing Gym took on Brandon Gutierrez of the Central Coast Boxing Club in Santa Maria and Rocky Natartez of the Santa Maria Boxing Club met Freddy Perez of Ray Baca’s Boxing Academy in Lompoc, California.

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA — Touted rising welterweight Thomas Dulorme aims to impress in his West Coast debut as he takes on Aris Ambriz in the ten-round Showtime-televised main event emanating from the Chumash Casino Resort Friday night. Fighters weighed in Thursday evening for the six-bout card.

After turning professional in Florida in 2008, Dulorme (13-0, 10 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico returned to the States for three fights in 2011, highlighted by a comprehensive decision over former titleholder DeMarcus Corley in June. Dulorme, the WBA #3/WBC #9/WBO #15 ranked welterweight, capped his year with a nine-round unanimous decision over former title challenger Charlie Jose Navarro in Panama in October.

“I feel I got tested and taken into deep, deep water in my last fight against Navarro, but I learned to swim that night,” Dulorme told Showtime on Friday. Dulorme, who scaled 143-pounds Thursday, had been scheduled to begin his 2012 campaign against Jose Reynoso, but a training injury forced a change in opponents just ten days ago.

In stepped Aris Ambriz (16-2-1, 8 KOs) of Azusa, California (who had gone 0-1-1 against Reynoso) for Friday’s vacant NABF Welterweight title bout. Ambriz, who has rarely fought above 140-pounds, rebounded from a loss to well regarded Pier Oliver Cote with a six-round decision over Juan Santiago last June. Ambriz weighed in at 144-pounds at Thursday’s weigh-in.

In the televised co-feature, 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian Jonathan Gonzalez (14-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan looks to add former title challenger Billy Lyell to his list of credentials in a ten-round light middleweight bout.

Lyell (24-10, 5 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio has become a favorite opponent of matchmakers since his shocking 2009 upset of John Duddy. The win over the previously unbeaten Irishman eventually landed Lyell cracks at the IBF and WBC Silver Middleweight titles, which the Ohio native lost fairly one-sidedly in distance bouts to Sebastian Sylvester and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Gonzalez, the WBO #8/WBA #9/WBC #13 ranked light middleweight, impressed as he stepped up in class last time out with a one-sided ten-round unanimous decision over former contender Richard Gutierrez in June. Gonzalez had been scheduled to fight in November, but an illness forced his lengthy hiatus. “I got very sick and was in bed for two days,” said Gonzalez. “I probably still could have fought in November and I wanted to fight, but my team said ‘no’.” Gonzalez weighed in at 156 after several attempts, while Lyell scaled 153-pounds on his first try.

Super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (8-0, 5 KOs) of San Ardo, California will make his fifth appearance at the Chumash Casino Resort against late replacement Ernie Marquez (9-9-2, 3 KOs) of Fort Morgan, Colorado in a bout slated for either eight or six rounds, depending on how long previous bouts last.

After a decorated amateur career, Morales had a stellar rookie year in 2011, posting eight mostly dominate victories. Despite his professional inexperience, Morales has shown the poise of a veteran throughout his early career. Marquez, who scored an upset of previously unbeaten former Olympian Yan Barthelemy back in 2008, took the fight on Wednesday. Morales’ original opponent Jonathan Alcantara had withdrawn with a wrist injury. Morales weighed-in at 120 ½-pounds, while Marquez scaled 120.

Local favorite Rufino Serrano (11-3) of Santa Maria, California by way of Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico will take on journeyman Rodrigo Aranda (8-16-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Tabasco, Zacatecas, Mexico in a six-round featherweight contest. Serrano, appearing in a Chumash ring for the tenth time, scaled 126-pounds. Aranda, a loser of nine straight, weighed-in at 128-pounds. In December of 2010, Serrano dropped Aranda in the first round en route to a six-round decision.

Roy Tapia (2-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California will meet Brice Yeniki (0-5) of North Las Vegas, Nevada in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Fighting at the Chumash Casino for the third straight time, Tapia, the 2007 National PAL Champion at 125-pounds, appears to be easing into his pro career. If there is something to shoot for in tonight’s bout for Tapia, perhaps becoming the first to stop Yeniki would be the goal. Yeniki has gone the distance in all five of his defeats, including one against a then 3-0 Christopher Martin back in 2006.

Hoping his second appearance in the States goes better than his first, Azat Hovhannesyan (1-1, 1 KO) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia will take on winless William Fisher (0-4) of Victorville, California in a four-round featherweight bout. Hovannesyan retuned to Armenia to stop a no-hoper last September, having had lost a unanimous decision in his debut on U.S. soil in April. Hovhannesyan weighed-in at 126-pounds, while Fisher came in at 128.

Tickets for tonight’s event, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at StarTickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

NABF Welterweight Championship, 10 Rounds
Dulorme 143
Ambriz 144

Light Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Gonzalez 156
Lyell 153

Super Bantamweights, 6 or 8 Rounds
Morales 120 ½
Marquez 120

Featherweights, 6 Rounds
Serrano 126
Aranda 128

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Tapia 123
Yeniki 120 ½

Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Hovhannesyan 126
Fisher 128

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com

Yesterday it was announced that 140-pound prospect Jose Reynoso was forced to pull out of his scheduled ten-round bout against unbeaten Thomas Dulorme, which was to have taken place next Friday at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, due to a hip injury suffered in training. Reynoso, extremely disappointed to withdraw from the Showtime-televised bout, explained the cause of the injury to 15rounds.com today.

“I was hitting the double end bag and I slipped and fell on my hip,” explained Reynoso (15-3-1, 2 KOs) of Riverside, California. “I couldn’t get up and had to be carried to the car, where I was taken to the emergency room.”

In a Gary Shaw Productions press release, it was noted that Reynoso’s hip was popped back into place at the hospital, where a doctor informed him that he had suffered a hip contusion.

“I am sorry to disappoint everyone,” added Reynoso, who has impressively gone 5-0-1 since his last defeat, including wins over previously unbeaten Aris Ambriz and Hector Serrano. The fight with Dulorme would have far and away been Reynoso’s highest profile fight as well as his toughest test to date.

Dulorme (13-0, 10 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico remains without an opponent as of now, though he will remain in the main event against a replacement. “My team is diligently looking for an opponent to step in,” said Shaw in yesterday’s press release. “Right now we have a few names that we’re looking at. An announcement will be made shortly.”

Photo by Carlos Baeza/Thompson Boxing Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

WOODLAND, CALIFORNIA — Rising prospect and local draw Alan Sanchez thrilled his vocal following yet again with a hard-fought eight-round unanimous decision over Alberto Herrera in the Telefutura Solo Boxeo main event at the Woodland Community & Senior Center on Friday night.

Sanchez (9-2-1, 3 KOs) of Fairfield, California entered the ring four times in 2011, three times in Fairfield and once in nearby Woodland. All four times Sanchez emerged victorious in fairly one-sided, but action-packed bouts.

On Friday, Herrera (8-4-1, 5 KOs) of Riverside, California fought the type of fight he needed to in order to be successful. Sanchez just made certain he was not. The shorter and shorter-armed Herrera, 146, took the fight to Sanchez’ chest, but was still outfought nonetheless. When Sanchez, 149, did get at range and keep Herrera on the end of his punches, the Riverside resident was even less successful.

Sanchez utilized a lead right from the early going. It was a punch that Herrera rarely had a remedy for from a defensive standpoint. After maintaining his distance for the first two rounds, Sanchez decided to exchange with Herrera at close range to end the third. Herrera managed to land his first few clean blows, but it was still a Sanchez round.

The fourth was perhaps the only round that Herrera won outright. Herrera, the younger brother of world ranked light welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera, briefly forced Sanchez to the ropes and kept the fight at close range for much of the round. Though he faded late in the stanza, Herrera did well early and got the best of a heated exchange late.

As the fight progressed, Sanchez would fight toe-to-toe in stretches, but eventually find a way to utilize his edge in reach. Sensing he was behind in the fight, Herrera came forward non-stop in round seven. However, Sanchez picked his shots well and landed clean whenever he let go with his hands. To his credit, Herrera fought hard until the end, but just did not have an answer for Sanchez’ size and reach.

All three official scorers, Dan Collins, Marty Sammon and Michael Tate, had the fight for Sanchez by the score of 79-73.

Guy Robb (7-0, 3 KOs) of Sacramento, California sent his large contingent of supporters on hand home happy with a dominant fifth-round stoppage over durable Hugo Ramos (3-11-2, 1 KO) of Palm Springs, California.

Heading into the bout, Ramos, 127, had been stopped only once, having gone the distance with prospects Randy Caballero, Jonathan Arrellano, Joel Diaz and Gabriel Tolmajyan. Robb, 127, predicted a knockout and decided early on a concentrated body attack was his best hope to make his prediction come true.

Ramos was fleet of foot early, but Robb began to land his right to the body by late in the first. It would be Robb’s go to punch throughout the fight, as Ramos continually covered up, leaving his body exposed. Though he clearly had the better boxing skills, Robb was quite comfortable mixing it up at close quarters as well.

By the fourth, Ramos was really feeling the effects of every right to his ribs. While he continued to swing away, the sting had really left Ramos’ punches as Robb relentlessly pursued him around the ring. Sensing his man was in trouble in the fifth, Robb upped his attack even more, eventually catching Ramos with against the ropes. Finally protected his body, Ramos left himself open for a series of clean blows to his head, which prompted referee Ed Collantes to stop the bout at 2:18 of the fifth.

Unbeaten light welterweight Jonathan Chicas (4-0, 3 KOs) of San Francisco, California looked impressive in spoiling the debut of heralded former amateur standout Paul Cano (0-1) of Clovis, California via second-round kayo.

Cano, 144, pressed the action early, but could not avoid Chicas’ counter right hands. Late in the opening round Chicas, 144, caught Cano with a right in an exchange. Two more overhand rights followed, the last one forced Cano to the mat for a knockdown. Cano appeared to have clear eyes as referee Ray Balewicz gave him a standing eight-count with seconds to go in the round. After one more Chicas overhand right, the round ended with Cano a bit shaky going to his corner.

Cano came out pressing again in the second, but again found himself on the end of a series of overhand rights in an exchange. After six straight overhand rights, Cano legs came out from under him as he fell back into the blue corner. Though he popped up quickly, Balewicz opted to stop the fight without a count. Time of the stoppage was 31 seconds of the second round.

In a battle between former sparring partners, Nicolas Balestra (2-1, 1 KO) of Sacramento outlasted Will Walters (0-3) of Sacramento en route to a third-round stoppage. Balestra, 146, and Walters, 146, came out at each other with no feeling out process from the opening bell. Walters boxed well early, but it appeared Balestra’s edge in power began to take over early in the third. Balestra’s right began to find a home without an answer coming from Walters. After a succession of rights by Balestra snapped Walters’ head back, referee Ed Collantes stopped the contest at 1:13 of the third.

In the opener, Oscar Godoy (4-1, 2 KOs) of Watsonville, California dominated journeyman Juan Carlos Diaz (7-16, 6 KOs) of Lakeside, California by way of Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Estado de Mexico, Mexico en route to a third-round stoppage.

After two one-sided rounds, Godoy, 150, really pressed the issue in the third. With Diaz, 152, covering up against the ropes, Godoy unleashed in combination and landed a damaging right that forced the Mexican to wilt against the third strand. With Diaz prone, Godoy continued to throw before referee Ray Balewicz waved off the bout at 2:44 of round three.

In the walkout bout, Dmitry Chudinov (6-0, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Serpukhov, Russia turned back the challenge of short notice opponent Tony Hirsch (12-5-2, 6 KOs) of Oakland, California via six-round majority decision.

Hirsch, who took the fight on a day’s notice and at his holiday weight, 180, was successful in spots in a bout that featured some hard to score rounds. Chudinov, 178, likely got credit for coming forward and for some clean punching on the inside. Hirsch fought off his back foot looking to counter the naturally larger Chudinov. Judges Dan Collins and Marty Sammon saw the fight 59-55 and 58-56 respectively for Chudinov. Judge Michael Tate had the fight even, 57-57.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

WOODLAND, CALIFORNIA — In the season finale of Telefutura Solo Boxeo tomorrow night, welterweight prospect Alan Sanchez will appear on the network for the third time this year as he takes on late fill-in opponent Alberto Herrera in the eight-round main event emanating from the Woodland Community & Senior Center. Fighters weighed in this afternoon at Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in downtown Woodland.

After taking his entire early career on the road, Sanchez (8-2-1, 3 KOs) of Fairfield, California will be fighting near home for the fourth consecutive time as he takes on Herrera (8-3-1, 5 KOs) of Riverside, California.

Sanchez comes in off of a dominate performance in June, as he battered durable Clint Coronel before forcing a cut-induced seventh-round stoppage in Fairfield. Sanchez is currently riding a three-fight win streak which began after a controversial draw against Luis Grajeda in September of last year. Sanchez had Grajeda down twice, but left San Diego, California with the draw in a fight he clearly deserved.

Herrera, the brother of world ranked contender Mauricio Herrera, ended a three-fight skid this past October with a six-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Marcus Robinson. Herrera took the fight with Sanchez on short notice, after originally scheduled KeAndre Gibson was forced to withdraw with a training injury. Herrera scaled 146, while Sanchez came in at 149-pounds at today’s weigh-in.

In the televised co-feature, Guy Robb (6-0, 2 KOs) of Sacramento, California will take on tough Hugo Ramos (3-10-2, 1 KO) of Palm Springs, California in a six-round super featherweight bout. Robb comes in off of his career-best win to date, a dominate six-round decision over heralded prospect Pablo Armenta this past September. Ramos has been in with many of the top featherweight prospects in the state and always held his own. Robb and Ramos both weighed in at 127-pounds.

In an intriguing match-up, unbeaten Jonathan Chicas (3-0, 2 KOs) of San Francisco, California will take on debuting former amateur standout Paul Cano of Clovis, California in a four-round welterweight bout. Chicas, who holds a win over former accomplished amateur and frequent Cano sparring partner Michael Islas, weighed in at 144-pounds. Cano, who has been one of the top amateurs in the nation at his weight class over the last two years, also weighed in at 144.

Nicolas Balestra (1-1) of Sacramento will take on former gym mate Will Walters (0-2) of Sacramento in a four-round welterweight bout. Balestra, a former MMA competitor, got into the win column with a four-round decision over Alex Vlas in November. Walters, who used to spar Balestra on a daily basis, is still in search of his first pro win after two hard-fought battles with Bret De La Torre in April and November. Walters and Balestra both scaled 146-pounds.

Dmitry Chudinov (5-0, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Serpukhov, Russia will take on rugged Tony Hirsch (12-4-2, 6 KOs) of Oakland, California in a four-round super middleweight bout. Chudinov, a 2008 World Cup Championships bronze medalist, weighed in at 169-pounds at today’s weigh-in. Hirsch, who took the fight on very short notice, will weigh in tomorrow.

Oscar Godoy (3-1, 1 KO) of Watsonville, California will take on journeyman Juan Carlos Diaz (7-15, 6 KOs) of Lakeside, California by way of Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Estado de Mexico, Mexico in a four-round light middleweight bout. Godoy, originally scheduled to take on Luis Sanchez, weighed in at 150-pounds. Diaz, who has dropped his last ten bouts, including nine to undefeated opponents, weighed in at 152-pounds.

Tickets for tonight’s event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, are available by calling Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946, Taqueria Guadalajara #1 in Woodland at 530-668-0628 or Travis Credit Union in Woodland at 530-668-0573.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Sanchez 149
Herrera 146

Featherweights, 6 Rounds
Robb 127
Ramos 127

Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Chicas 144
Cano 144

Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Balestra 146
Walters 146

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Godoy 150
Diaz 152

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Chudinov 169
Hirsch*

*will weigh-in tomorrow

Mario Ortega Jr. can be contacted at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Troubled youth finds his way into a boxing gym and turns his life around. Yes, that is a story that has been told before, but there are reasons why it never gets old. There is something captivating about what boxing has done and can do to so drastically change lives for the better. Former amateur standout Paul Cano, who turns pro this Friday at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California, is yet another example of the positive impact the sport can have.

Before he found boxing at the age of fifteen, Cano, who grew up and resides in Clovis, California, was headed down a dangerous path. “I was a troubled kid,” recalls Cano. “I was getting in a lot of trouble in school and with my parents. I was stealing, gangbanging, doing a lot of drugs.”

First it was Cano’s brother Roman that took to boxing, at the behest of his parents. “They were getting into some trouble, and their dad kind of showed up at my PAL center,” recalls Pete Lopes, who ran the boxing program for the Clovis Police Athletic League and would go on to train both Cano brothers. “Me and Roman started working, and things started going well with him. Paul kind of figured it was working for his brother, so he decided to check out this Coach Pete guy and see what could happen.”

Almost right away Lopes could recognize qualities in Paul Cano that gave him the idea he had a fighter with potential on his hands. “At first I didn’t know what to make of him, because he was really quiet and didn’t say much,” remembers Lopes. “But I knew his brother had a lot of moxy, so I just kind of figured he was not too far off from his brother. And him being the youngest, he’s probably learned a lot from them. The minute we put him in the ring, he was really tough. He was raw and chunky and out of breath, but he was a tough, tough kid.”

When Cano first came to the boxing gym, he was a troubled kid that played lineman at about 220-pounds. Soon everything would change. “What boxing did for me was teach me a lot of discipline and also made a lot of my energy go from doing all those bad things to spending all my energy at the gym. So by the time I got home from the gym, I didn’t have time or energy to sneak out or do those other things. The whole change in my life was huge, everything from my relationship with my parents getting better, to me going back to church.”

With his new found discipline, Cano quickly got into shape and started to have success in the ring. “Within a couple months, he was sparring everyone in the gym and I noticed he was real addictive as far as the training was concerned,” says Lopes. “He worked really hard and lost a lot of weight quick. His first amateur fight was at 178-pounds and he stopped the guy.” By his eighth fight, Cano had won the California state tournament to advance to the 2008 Junior Olympics in Michigan, where he advanced to the quarterfinals at 138-pounds.

In 2010, Cano would take trips to Little Rock, Arkansas for the National Golden Gloves and Colorado Springs, Colorado for the USA Boxing National Championships, where he made it to the quarterfinals, losing to USA Boxing #1 ranked 141-pounder Pedro Sosa. “It was big for me, to see that boxing could take me not just around Fresno County, but to where I could go on a plane to another state where I had never been before,” says Cano. “It was huge for me to be over there and get that experience and to represent California. That was another big eye opener to be blessed to do something like that.”

Despite his success as an amateur, Cano and his team have always felt his style was much better suited for the pros. In addition, as Cano carved out his reputation in the amateurs, it became increasingly difficult to find willing opponents, so over the course of the last year especially Cano’s focus shifted more towards preparing himself for his debut and becoming a more experienced and technically sound fighter.

“We’ve definitely been in the gym for a long time,” says Cano. “We haven’t been traveling for competition as much, but we have been traveling to get good sparring and for training. We have had our minds set on the pros and becoming the best pro. We’ve been going up and down California getting the best sparring with champs.” In the last year Cano has shared the ring with world ranked contenders Eloy Perez and John Molina Jr. among others.

For his first pro bout, a four-rounder contested at 145-pounds, Cano is doing something most former national level amateur fighters never do and that is fight a 3-0 fighter, in this case Jonathan Chicas of San Francisco, California. The move is just one step in a larger plan for Cano and his team.

“We want to change the way boxing is a little bit,” explains Lopes. “We want to be the ones that will step up and say we will come to your backyard and fight you. I know who I have as a fighter. I know his reputation and I appreciate Jonathan Chicas in taking the fight, for stepping up, because it is a risk on his part. We really have nothing to lose. He has a 3-0 record and it would be really hard to find a 0-1 guy or a 1-0 guy that would be willing to fight Cano. We would literally have to get someone from another country, because everyone else knows him. We feel like we are between a rock and a hard place, but we also feel like we can win this fight and win this fight in convincing fashion.”

Cano is very much onboard with Lopes’ plan. “We are ready for anything,” says Cano. “My team and I, we’ve been training so hard. We know who we can beat and we know that we can beat Chicas. It was a surprise to us that he took the fight, but now that we know he is going to take the fight, we want to show boxing and the world that I am coming out. I am not ducking anybody. We are here to fight anybody at any time. We are here to come up and let everyone know we are the best. We are here to do the quick. We don’t want to fight any bums. We want to fight the best and let everybody know that we are the best.”

While success in the ring may be expected of Cano as he ventures into the pros, nothing in this sport is ever guaranteed. However, Cano has already succeeded in transforming his life, no matter how many wins or losses he amasses. “I am very proud of him and the professionalism he’s shown in his work ethic,” says his trainer Lopes. “He is just a quality individual and it makes me happy. It makes me hopeful that he is going to be a great example for other kids who have a life just like him, or have a life worse than him. That they can fall in love with something and people will help them, and help them evolve to be a good person and a professional. And that’s the most important thing, a professional.”

Tickets for Friday’s event, promoted by Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents, Jorge Marron Productions and Golden Boy Promotions, are available by calling Paco’s Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946, Taqueria Guadalajara #1 in Woodland at 530-668-0628 or Travis Credit Union in Woodland at 530-668-0573.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA — In the biggest fight of his career, Abner Mares fought the best fight of his career and perhaps validated some of his prior accomplishments with a comprehensive twelve-round unanimous decision in his rematch with former champion Joseph Agbeko at the Honda Center on Saturday night.

Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, California fought a smart fight and proved to have more dimensions than did Agbeko (28-4, 22 KOs) of Bronx, New York by way of Accra, Ghana.

Mares opened up in the second and got the crowd into the fight, as he forced Agbeko, the WBC #4/IBF #3/WBO #12 ranked bantamweight, to the ropes and landed well to the body. Despite holding a clear edge in the round, one Agbeko left appeared to be responsible for a small cut near Mares’ right eye. The small cut eventually became a big cut as the fight would progress, but Mares appeared to keep it out of his mind.

While Mares was balanced in his attack, Agbeko turned into a headhunter in the early going much to his detriment. More often than not, when Agbeko broke through and landed clean, such as he did with his left in the sixth, it only inspired Mares to turn up his offense. Closing the round, Mares landed the better shot in an exchange and follow with a solid right and a left hook shortly after.

Throughout the fight, Mares would continue to throw when most fighters would be satisfied holding on. With Agbeko leaning over or holding on, Mares would hit anything he could until referee Lou Moret would call a break or Agbeko would do something about it himself.

If there was a hope for Agbeko as the fight moved into its final third, it was Mares’ badly swollen and cut right eye. “King Kong” would catch Mares in the spot he needed to with one or two, but Mares defended it enough that it did not endanger his stronghold in the bout.

Rounds eleven and twelve featured some frantic action. Agbeko caught Mares with a clean right uppercut as the champion moved inside early in the eleventh. Mares seemed invigorated by the shot, and got the best of a two-way exchange, as he landed clean head shots to close out the round. Mares came out strong in the twelfth, and disappointingly Agbeko seemed to have no sense of urgency. Both fighters took the fight home in the final seconds, as they exchanged until the final bell.

All three judges scored the bout for Mares, 118-110, who retained his IBF and WBC Silver Bantamweight titles. “I’m happy my fans finally saw my true boxing skills,” said Mares after the fight. Due to the controversial rulings of referee Russell Mora in their first fight, Mares clearly had a desire to leave no bout who the better fighter was. “I proved I beat him the first time and I beat him again,” said Mares.

In the co-feature, Anselmo Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs) of Panama City, Panama retained his WBA Bantamweight title with a wide unanimous twelve-round decision over Vic Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs) of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia by way of Vanadzor, Armenia.

Moreno, 118, had some trouble getting off in the early going as he figured out the awkward style of Darchinyan, 117 ¾, but the Panamanian eventually settled into combination of boxing on the outside while holding his own on the inside.

Moreno opened the second with a straight left, but Darchinyan, the WBA #1/WBO #4 ranked bantamweight, came right back and forced Moreno into a corner. Moreno wisely moved out and returned to center ring. By the third, Darchinyan was clearly getting frustrated that he could not find Moreno with any consistency, as was evidenced when the challenger received a warning for hitting Moreno behind the head at the end of the round.

Darchinyan’s frustration boiled over again at the end of the next round, as he was deducted a point for throwing Moreno to the canvas. The champion had been holding Darchinyan’s right arm excessively before the throw.

Darchinyan appeared to be hoping to land one big shot that would change the fight, but it had to be disheartening that when he landed clean Moreno took his punch well. More importantly, Moreno knew how not to get caught by more than one in row. Midway through the fight, Darchinyan utilized an unorthodox technique of running into range and then firing his left. For the most part, the hard lefts flew over Moreno’s head.

After a couple of close rounds, Moreno landed in combination to start the eighth. With Darchinyan in a brief moment of retreat, Moreno hurt the challenger with two body shots. Darchinyan stemmed some of Moreno’s momentum late in the round, lastly landing a stiff left at the end of the round.

Moreno landed another solid combination in round nine that seemed to briefly stagger Darchinyan. To his credit, the former champion fought back may have deserved the round. The action was tense in rounds ten and eleven, as Darchinyan managed to keep Moreno off balance, but failed to land anything that could change the direction of the fight.

Moreno opted to box at range to open the twelfth as if he was protecting a big lead, which actually created an opening for Darchinyan. Midway through the round, Moreno went down from what looked like a punch from ringside, but was waved off as a slip by referee Raul Caiz Jr. Moreno was slow to get up from the fall, and was more stationary in the moments after returning to his feet. Still Darchinyan failed to land one of his wild lefts and Moreno moved around the ring to close the fight.

“I was going for big punches, but couldn’t find a home for my left,” admitted Darchinyan, after the bout. With the win, Moreno, who took the cards by the scores of 120-107, 117-110 and 116-111, successfully introduced himself to the U.S. television audience and added a recognizable name to his three-and-a-half year resume as a belt holder.

Eyeing the winner of one of tonight’s featured bouts, former titleholder Eric Morel (45-2, 23 KOs) of Madison, Wisconsin by way of San Juan, Puerto Rico did little to get any of the Showtime brass seated ringside excited about that prospect with a lackluster ten-round decision over Jose Silveira (12-5, 4 KOs) of Merida, Yucatán, Mexico.

After boxing and counter-punching his way through much of the first four rounds, Morel, 119 ½, opened up late in the fourth and through much of the fifth. Silveira, 119 ¾, held up well to Morel’s punches and offered back to little success. By the seventh, Morel went back to his jab-and-move style, much to the displeasure of the crowd. Though Silveira was game, he failed to force Morel to fight a fight that the Puerto Rican could lose. Two judges had it 98-92, while the third scored it 97-93 all for Morel.

Currently ranked WBA #6/WBC #9 at bantamweight and promoted by Golden Boy Promotions (the promoter of both Abner Mares and Anselmo Moreno), Morel has hopes his next fight is for a world title.

Former amateur star Frankie Gomez (12-0, 9 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California kept busy with a third-round knockout of an awkward James Hope (6-9-1, 4 KOs) of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Hope, 137 ¾, looked to tie up Gomez, 138 ¾, as much as possible, which made for an ugly fight early. After two frustrating rounds, Gomez made room to land a devastating right that had Hope out before he hit the mat early in the third round. With no need to count, referee Tony Crebs immediately called a halt to the bout. Official time of the stoppage came at 53 seconds of the third.

In a bout fought forehead-to-forehead, Carlos Molina (15-0-1, 7 KOs) of Norwalk, California pounded out a hard-fought unanimous ten-round decision over Manuel Leyva (18-4, 10 KOs) of Downey, California. Though the scoring was justly wide for Molina, 137 ¾, the promising prospect met a willing adversary in Leyva, 139 ½.

After carefully picking his shots in the first, Molina staggered the southpaw Leyva with an overhand left at the bell to end round two. From that moment on, Molina was freer with his punches. As the fight progressed, Molina seemed comfortable standing on the inside, even if he had to take one from Leyva in order to land his own. Throughout the middle rounds, both fighters stood their ground and took turns taking their shots. Molina clearly held the edge in punching power, which gave him the edge round after round.

By the seventh, Leyva was finally giving up ground. Late in the round, Molina opened up and had Leyva in trouble in a corner. Molina uncorked a right hook at the bell that staggered Leyva, who looked lucky that time ran out when it did. Leyva managed to clear his head in between rounds and continued to take his shots until the end. The tenth featured one last two-way exchange to delight of the crowd. As far as “opponents” go, Leyva did his job of providing rounds and making Molina earn the decision, which came by scores of 100-90 and 99-91 twice.

Former title challenger Sakio Bika (29-5-2, 20 KOs) of Sydney, Australia ended a year-long layoff with a third-round stoppage of Alfredo Contreras (11-13-2, 5 KOs) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Fighting for the first time since being undressed by Andre Ward late last year, Bika, 168, forced a referee’s stoppage after opening up cuts over both of Contreras’ eyes. Bika, who held a clear edge in physical strength, threw wildly for much of the fight. In the third, Contreras forced some spirited exchanges, which Bika was happy to oblige. Unfortunately for the fans and Contreras, he came away with the two cuts that would ultimately cause the bout to be stopped, which referee Tony Crebs ruled came from legal blows. After the ringside physician looked over Contreras in the corner at the end of the third, Crebs waved off the bout.

A bout between middleweight prospect Omar Henry (11-0-1, 9 KOs) of Houston, Texas and Lester Gonzalez (12-5-3, 6 KOs) of San Diego, California ended before it ever really started.

After a nondescript opening stanza, Henry, 165 ¾, and Gonzalez, 163 ½, came together with their heads early in the second round. The result was a nasty gash opened up above Gonzalez’ right eyelid. After consulting with the ringside physician, referee David Mendoza called a halt to the bout. Official time of the stoppage was 57 seconds of round two. It will go down in the books as a technical draw.

Touted super bantamweight prospect Richard Contreras (9-0, 8 KOs) of Riverside, California battered Juan Sandoval (5-8-1, 3 KOs) of San Bernardino, California en route to a fourth-round referee’s stoppage in the night’s opening bout.

Contreras, 123 ½, pummeled Sandoval, 124, late in round three after rocking the journeyman with an overhand right. The bell saved Sandoval from a likely knockdown, but all that did was delay the inevitable. With Contreras swinging away at Sandoval in a corner early in the fourth, referee Tony Crebs elected to stop the mismatch. Time off the stoppage was 38 seconds of round four.

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA — With an injury-induced fourth-round stoppage over Renan St. Juste in the Showtime-televised main event at the Chumash Resort Casino on Friday night, Anthony Dirrell became the mandatory challenger for the WBC Super Middleweight title currently held by Carl Froch.

The bout started tentatively for both fighters in the first before Dirrell (24-0, 21 KOs) of Flint, Michigan started to find a home for his straight right hand. The much-shorter St. Juste (23-3-1, 15 KOs) of Repentigny, Quebec, Canada found it hard to find his range or a way around Dirrell’s right in the early going.

The difference in power was evident in the second round, when Dirrell, 167, and St. Juste, 166 ½, exchanged hard left hooks. While Dirrell looked unfazed by the one he received, St. Juste was jolted back. St. Juste, who entered the bout as the WBC #2/WBO #4/WBA #13/IBF #15 ranked super middleweight, broke out of his shell a bit in the third. Unfortunately for the Canadian, he was still kept at a distance and could only wing wild shots at Dirrell, who patiently waited for such openings and usually made St. Juste pay for his poor judgment.

St. Juste found a home for a swinging left early in the fourth, but was soon stopped in his tracks when Dirrell found his body. Just as the fight started to get going, the top of St. Juste’s head crashed into Dirrell’s forehead. The accidental butt forced Dirrell to take a knee on the mat while referee Jack Reiss called for a timeout. The headbutt seemed to light a fire under Dirrell who went after St. Juste when action resumed, rocking him with a right hook.

With his opponent in trouble, Dirrell looked to unload. On unsteady legs and hoping to force a clinch, St. Juste reached to hold on to Dirrell. With St. Juste stumbling over, Dirrell opted to spin away, perhaps angling for the referee to call the fall a knockdown. When St. Juste got up from his awkward tumble, he emerged with an injured left shoulder. The wincing St. Juste, bent over with his left arm dangling, pointed out the injury to the referee who stopped the bout. The official time was 2:54 of round four.

While it may not have been the most satisfying way to win, Dirrell, who entered the bout as the WBC #1/WBA #2/IBF #14 ranked super middleweight, has to be happy with the end result. With the victory, Dirrell is now the mandatory challenger for the WBC title, which will be up for grabs in the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament final between Carl Froch and Andre Ward on December 17th.

In the co-feature, IBF #14/WBO #14 ranked Jhonatan Romero (20-0, 12 KOs) of Cali, Colombia pulled off a minor upset against WBO #4/WBA #8/IBF #10 ranked 122-pounder Chris Avalos (19-2, 15 KOs) of Lancaster, California with a less than warmly received ten-round split decision.

Avalos, 121 ¾, was the aggressor throughout the contest while Romero, 121, consistently looked for one shot at a time. Avalos pressed early, but Romero had control for most of the first round. Romero backed Avalos up with a solid right and caught the Lancaster native with two more soon after. Just when Romero seemed to have the round, Avalos caught the Colombian with a head-snapping combination. Avalos followed his stunned opponent from one side of the ring to the other and dropped Romero with a two-fisted flurry at the bell to end the round.

Avalos seemed to carry the next two rounds with his higher output, while Romero looked to hold on the inside and wing wild shots at a distance. Occasionally Romero did land when he threw, most notably with a right uppercut from way outside in the second round.

Both fighters had their moments in the fourth. Romero found some success countering with hard shots of the ropes, and again found a home for his right uppercut. However, Avalos seemed to take all the shots well and was still the much busier fighter.

After some close middle rounds, Avalos stormed out in the eighth and rocked Romero against the ropes with a left hand. Much like late in the first round, Avalos followed-up with both hands as Romero tried to cover-up against the ropes. Though his head was snapped back a time or two, Romero withstood the flurry and remained on his feet.

After one of his worse rounds, Romero had one of his better rounds in the ninth. A one-two combination out of nowhere landed for Romero, who took advantage of a tiring Avalos and upped his offense. With the fight apparently on the table, Avalos and Romero exchange solid rights early in the tenth. Avalos still imposed himself as he had done for much of the fight, but when Romero would land they were often the harder shots.

In the end two judges favored Romero, 96-93 and 96-94 respectively, with one judge favoring Avalos, 96-94. Despite the close fight, the decision was loudly booed by the crowd.

In another closely-contested battle between a fighter from Colombian and a California resident, featherweight prospect Gabriel Tolmajyan (12-1-1, 3 KOs) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia scored the biggest win of his career over WBA #5/IBF #7 ranked 126-pounder Daulis Prescott (23-1, 17 KOs) of Barranquilla, Colombia via eight-round split decision.

A right-left combination which dropped Prescott, 127, in the fifth proved to be the difference in the scoring. Tolmajyan, 127, did not fully capitalize on the knockdown and allowed Prescott back into the fight, but banked enough rounds with the official scorers to take two cards, 76-75. The lone dissenting judge had the fight for Prescott, who was making his U.S. debut, 76-75.

2008 Colombian Olympian Darley Perez (24-0, 18 KOs) of San Pedro de Uraba, Colombia consistently pressured an outgunned Fernando Trejo (33-17-6, 19 KOs) of Jarrell, Texas by way of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico en route to a one-sided eight-round unanimous decision.

Trejo, 135, began the fight in an offensive mindset, but was quickly picked apart by Perez, 134, whenever he decided to throw. Perez, the WBA #4/IBF#9/WBO #10/WBC #13 ranked lightweight, was clearly the stronger fighter and did not appear too concerned by Trejo’s punches.

Perez had Trejo in the most trouble in the fourth as he landed a right uppercut that began a series of unanswered shots late in the round. Trejo managed to withstand the onslaught and battled his way off the ropes. If there was a knock to be made on Perez, it was that he seemed satisfied to take the decision, as Trejo continued to backpedal as the fight concluded. Perez simply walked down Trejo, but never really attempted to close the show. In the end, all three judges had the fight for Perez, 80-72.

Super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (8-0, 5 KOs) of San Ardo, California continued to roll through his early career competition with a dominant six-round unanimous decision over Alejandro Castillo (4-2, 1 KO) of Denver, Colorado by way of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico.

After a cautious opening round, Morales, 120, settled in and began to punish Castillo, 119, in round two. Morales staggered Castillo with his right hand on three separate occasions in the round. With Castillo in retreat, Morales unloaded in combination as the round closed. With Castillo still feeling the effects of the previous round, Morales dropped the Denver resident with a right-left combination in a corner early in round three. When Castillo returned to his feet, Morales worked him to the body and head in an attempt to end the fight. Castillo caught a break when a double left hand that seemed to score a second knockdown was ruled a slip by referee Jack Reiss.

In rounds four and five, Castillo found his bicycle and managed to limit the damage Morales was able to cause. The occasional punch Castillo seemed to land just seemed to irritate Morales. In the sixth, Morales managed to pin Castillo in a corner, but Castillo stood up to the combination and lasted until the end. Scores read 59-54 and 60-53 twice for Morales.

Roy Tapia (2-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over Jose Garcia (0-5) of Bakersfield, California. Outside of a sold round two for Garcia, 122 ¾, it was the clean punches of Tapia, 123, that carried the fight. Tapia was effective with well-placed counters throughout. Scores read 39-37 and 40-36 twice for Tapia.

Super bantamweight prospect Jonathan Arrellano (11-0-1, 2 KOs) of Ontario, California remained unbeaten with a six-round unanimous decision over always game Jonathan Alcantara (4-6-2) of Novato, California. In a fight that featured many two-way exchanges, Arrellano, 122, won over the judges with his higher work rate. Per usual, Alcantara, 122, made his opponent earn the victory, but in the end came up short against a touted opponent. Scores read 59- 55 and 58-56 twice for Arrellano.

In the walkout bout, Glenn Porras (27-3, 17 KOs) of M’lang, Cotabato, Philippines scored an eight-round unanimous decision over journeyman Adolfo Landeros (21-23-2, 10 KOs) of Hidalgo, Hidalgo, Mexico.

Porras, 120 ½, loaded up on wide left hooks to great effect all night against stationary Landeros, 122. Porras nearly scored a knocked with his left in the third as he wobbled Landeros against the ropes. When it looked as though the Mexican would go down, Porras backed away, which allowed Landeros the seconds he needed to survive.

To Landeros’ credit, he kept throwing back down the stretch of the fight and gave Porras trouble in spots in the final rounds. In the end it was a wide decision for Porras, 80-72 and 79-73 twice.

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Having lost two years of his career while battling cancer, Anthony Dirrell hopes to make up for some lost time beginning tonight against world ranked Renan St. Juste in the Showtime-televised main event emanating from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. The twelve-round bout is sanctioned by the WBC as an eliminator, which means the victor will be put in line to eventually challenge the winner of the upcoming Carl Froch-Andre Ward unification fight.

Shortly after scoring a knockout in December 2006, Dirrell was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Dirrell’s treatment and recovery kept him from training until September of 2008. In the three years since, Dirrell has reeled off eleven consecutive victories, most by stoppage and mostly against modest opposition. In his last bout, Dirrell (23-0, 20 KOs) of Flint, Michigan disposed of Kevin Engel inside of two rounds in July. Dirrell, the WBC #1/WBA #2/IBF #14 ranked super middleweight, weighed in at 167-pounds.

“It’s going to be a big fight,” said Dirrell on Thursday. “I’m ready mentally and physically. I’ve been training hard, working with my brother [Andre] and the team, Team Dirrell. I’m ready.”

WBC #2/WBO #4/WBA #13/IBF #15 ranked St. Juste (23-2-1, 15 KOs) of Repentigny, Quebec, Canada has only been campaigning at 168-pounds since last December when he scored the biggest win of his career: a second-round stoppage of Sebastien Demers. The victory completely turned around St. Juste’s career after an upset loss in his previous bout to Marcus Upshaw at middleweight.

“Being at 168 is better for me,” explains St. Juste, who weighed-in at 166 1/2-pounds. “It was difficult for me to make 160. I walk around in the 180s. At 168, I can keep my muscle and not worry about the weigh-in.”

The winner of tonight’s bout would be in line to eventually cash in on a money fight against the winner of the Carl Froch-Andre Ward WBC/WBA unification bout, which takes place later this month.

In the co-main event, WBO #4/WBA #8/IBF #10 ranked 122-pounder Chris Avalos (19-1, 15 KOs) of Lancaster, California takes on IBF #14/WBO #14 ranked Jhonatan Romero (19-0, 12 KOs) of Cali, Colombia in a ten-round super bantamweight bout.

Avalos moved up in the rankings with a ten-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten prospect Khabir Suleymanov in June. The win marked Avalos’ third straight victory at 122-pounds after a weight-drained defeat at bantamweight against Christopher Martin in August of last year. Avalos scaled 121 ¾-pounds on Thursday.

Romero, a multiple-time former Colombian National champion, will be fighting outside of his home country for just the second time in his career. Avalos also represents a major step-up in class. The only notable name on the pro ledger of Romero came in his last bout on American soil, when he rose from a knockdown and scored a six-round decision over faded former super flyweight and bantamweight title challenger Cecilio Santos in June. Romero came in at 121-pounds Thursday.

2008 Colombian Olympian Darley Perez (23-0, 18 KOs) of San Pedro de Uraba, Colombia will take on veteran gatekeeper Fernando Trejo (33-16-6, 19 KOs) of Jarrell, Texas by way of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico in an eight-round lightweight bout.

Perez, the WBA #4/IBF#9/WBO #10/WBC #13 ranked lightweight, is coming off of a Showtime-televised win over Oscar Meza in September. Trejo, whose most notable victory came in 2005 over then-unbeaten Jose Armando Santa Cruz, was in the ring just a month ago. Trejo went the distance but lost a wide decision to lightweight prospect Jose Gonzalez in Puerto Rico. Perez weighed in at 134, while Trejo scaled 135-pounds.

Fighting for the first time outside of Colombia, WBA #5/IBF #7 ranked featherweight Daulis Prescott (23-0, 17 KOs) of Barranquilla, Colombia will take on once-beaten Gabriel Tolmajyan (11-1-1, 3 KOs) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia in an eight-round bout.

Prescott, the brother of Amir Khan-conqueror Breidis Prescott, would appear to be taking a step up in class. Despite his lofty rankings, Prescott has really yet to be even moderately tested as a pro. Tolmajyan has not exactly fought a who’s who, but has been impressive since dropping a four-round majority decision to still unbeaten Efrain Esquivas back in 2008. Prescott and Tolmajyan both scaled 127-pounds Thursday.

Glenn Porras (26-3, 17 KOs) of M’lang, Cotabato, Philippines will make his U.S. debut against journeyman Adolfo Landeros (21-22-2, 10 KOs) of Hidalgo, Hidalgo, Mexico in an eight-round super bantamweight bout. Porras, who came out to San Leandro, California to work with Nonito Donaire Sr. for this fight, weighed in at 120 ½-pounds Thursday. Landeros, 0-4-1 in his last five, scaled 122.

Super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (7-0, 5 KOs) of San Ardo, California returns to the Chumash Casino Resort for the fourth time this year against Alejandro Castillo (4-1, 1 KO) of Denver, Colorado by way of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico in an eight-round bout. Despite having turned pro just this past February, Morales has quickly become one of the hottest prospects in the state. In his last ring appearance, Morales quickly dismantled Cain Garcia inside of two rounds in September. Castillo has yet to fight outside of Denver and enters tonight’s bout coming off of his lone defeat, a fourth-round stoppage suffered at the hands of Shawn Nichol in March of last year. Morales came in at 120-pounds to 119 for Castillo.

Super bantamweight prospect Jonathan Arrellano (10-0-1, 2 KOs) of Ontario, California will take on the always tough Jonathan Alcantara (4-5-2) of Novato, California in a six-round bout. Arrellano is fresh off the biggest win of his career, an eight-round decision over previously unbeaten Michael Ruiz Jr. to claim a minor title in September. Alcantara has consistently tested up-and-comers, including a draw with the aforementioned Ruiz. Arrellano and Alcantara both came in at the 122-pound super bantamweight limit at Thursday’s weigh-in.

In the opener, Roy Tapia (1-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California takes on Jose Garcia (0-4) of Bakersfield, California. Tapia, the 2007 National PAL Champion at 125-pounds, scaled 123 for his second pro bout on Thursday. Garcia, who has been matched incredibly tough in his career, weighed in at 122 ¾-pounds.

Tickets for tonight’s event, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at StarTickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBC Super Middleweight Championship Eliminator, 12 Rounds
Dirrell 167
St. Juste 166 ½

Super Bantamweights, 10 Rounds
Avalos 121 ¾
Romero 121

Featherweights, 8 Rounds
Prescott 127
Tolmajyan 127

Lightweights, 8 Rounds
Perez 134
Trejo 135

Super Bantamweights, 6 Rounds
Morales 120
Castillo 119

Super Bantamweights, 6 Rounds
Arrellano 122
Alcantara 122

Super Bantamweights, 8 Rounds
Porras 120 ½
Landeros 122

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Tapia 123
Garcia 122 ¾

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

It is almost hard to believe it was eight and one half years ago that James Toney last competed at cruiserweight. It was in April of 2003 that Toney, already written off more than once at that point in his career, put an undefeated left hander from Kazakhstan named Vassiliy Jirov on his back en route to a thrilling unanimous decision. Now years later, Toney finds himself in a similar position. Again written off by some, Toney will now venture to Moscow to take on a once-beaten Russian southpaw in Denis Lebedev at cruiserweight in November.

Toney’s win over Jirov earned him the IBF Cruiserweight title, his third major title in as many weight classes, and vaulted him into a fight with Evander Holyfield and eventual Fighter of the Year honors. Prior to the Jirov fight, Toney had been on the outside looking in at the money fights in and around his weight division. It is a parallel that can be drawn again today, which prompted Toney’s move back down in weight.

“My team was consistently trying to get big fights in the heavyweight division,” says Toney (73-6-3, 44 KOs). “But with the Klitschkos, it was never materializing. Everything was going so well [in the gym] and I was feeling so strong, I said if things don’t materialize like we want them to I’m going to jump down to cruiserweight. They came with a fight with this guy Lebedev and I said ‘Let’s make it happen.’”

Originally Toney’s autumn was to have included a mixed rules bout with legendary mixed martial arts figure Ken Shamrock. “The promoter was playing games,” reports Toney. “He didn’t have has much money as he said he did. So the fight is off for the time being. It’s going to happen, but we are not sure when right now.”

For Toney, who plans to continue competing in both boxing and MMA, changing gears back to the sweet science was no problem. “I’m always in the gym,” says Toney. “I’m always doing my boxing training regardless. So it wasn’t a tough situation.”

Lebedev (22-1, 17 KOs) of Chekhov, Russia came to prominence in the cruiserweight division with early round kayos over former titleholder Enzo Maccarinelli and title challenger Alexander Alexeev in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The win over Alexeev earned Lebedev a shot at WBO belt holder Marco Huck last December which resulted in a split decision loss that many felt should have gone his way.

In his one fight since his sole defeat, Lebedev brutally stopped a faded Roy Jones Jr. in the tenth round in Moscow in May. “I saw the last round,” says Toney of the Lebedev-Jones bout. “I wasn’t too impressed. He’s a physical fighter. He did a good job fighting Roy, but I am not Roy Jones. It is what it is.” Toney’s assessment of Lebedev comes solely from that tenth round, as the veteran does not watch tape of his opponents. “The reason I don’t, is because everybody fights me the same way,” says Toney. “Everybody has the same plan for James Toney, which means I need track shoes.”

Like Toney’s last cruiserweight opponent Jirov, Lebedev is a southpaw. Throughout his recent heavyweight run, Toney did not fight one lefthander. It is a fact that fails to worry the future hall of famer. “I love fighting southpaws,” says Toney, who returned from doing a round of press in Russia on Monday. “I’ve fought eleven of them. I’m a southpaw myself and I can switch up if I have to.”

Just as was the case heading into his 2003 bout with Jirov, a win on November 4th at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia will open the whole world back up for Toney. The options could be plentiful at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. “I’m going to compete at both the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions,” says Toney. “Nobody has done that, but James Toney is a different person. I’m a different species.”

Toney has designs on making a cruiserweight bout with reigning light heavyweight kingpin Bernard Hopkins. It was a superfight that died on the negotiating table back in 2003 prior to Toney’s fight with Holyfield and before Hopkins switched his focus to making a fight with Oscar De La Hoya. There also remains the possibility that a win over Lebedev could be enough to land Toney his long sought bout with one of the brothers Klitschko, Wladimir or Vitali.

In any event, Toney’s eyes are not on any prize beyond Lebedev yet. “The Klitschkos are garbage,” Toney proclaims. “But I’m not worried about them right now. I’m worried about Denis Lebedev. He’s the number one contender at cruiserweight, so we need to worry about him right now, not the Klitschkos and what they are going to do.”

Another thing that does not worry the former champion is fighting Lebedev on his home turf. “I’ve been overseas many times and I’m not concerned at all, because my hands will do the talking,” says Toney, who last left U.S. soil for a fight way back in October of 1991 for a defense of his middleweight title against Italian Francesco Dell’Aquila in Monte Carlo, Monaco. “They call me “Lights Out,” so it’s time for me to put his lights out. That’s what I plan on doing and I’m going to be successful so there won’t be no controversy.”

It feels like 2003 all over again. In more ways than one, can Toney turn the trick again? Not only can Toney reemerge as a major player in the sport by pulling out the victory, but could it possibly be another Toney-Jirov type classic? “It all depends on Lebedev,” says Toney. “If he comes out like Jirov did, it will be the same type of fight and he’s going to get knocked out too.”

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA — The improbable comeback run of Paul Nave, which began in 2009 after a nine plus-year retirement, hit a snag on Friday night, as Brandon Hoskins flew in from Missouri with an unbeaten record and came away with a hard-fought eight-round majority decision at Albert Park Field.

The action was competitive, but it was Hoskins (16-0-1, 8 KOs) of Hannibal, Missouri that came out of the gate faster. While Nave (19-9-2, 8 KOs) of San Anselmo, California looked to time his right hand in the early going, Hoskins did some solid work behind his jab, including two hard right hands.

Hoskins, 143, opened up the second round with two lefts, as Nave, 146 ½, still could not get his timing just right. After Hoskins doubled up on the left again, Nave decided to let loose and rocked Hoskins with a combination to end the frame.

Both fighters had their moments in rounds three and four as it became mainly an inside fight. Hoskins punctuated an even exchange in the third with an eye-catching right over the top. Nave closed the fourth well as he worked his way inside and landed with some short hooks. By the fifth, Nave’s left eye was badly swollen. There would be a decent-sized cut opened up below the eye by round’s end as well.

Just when the fight looked to be heading in one direction, Nave had one of his better rounds in the sixth. The overhand right Nave had trouble timing in the early going was finding its target with better regularity, but Hoskins did well enough to move out of harm’s way before the local favorite could really follow-up. Hoskins stemmed some of Nave’s momentum with the cleaner punching in the seventh.

Knowing he needed to take the eighth in order to have a shot at coming away with the victory, Nave, who turns 51-years-old in less than a week, outworked and outfought the much younger Hoskins in the final round. Nave’s final round performance got the hometown crowd up and cheering, but it would not be enough to pull out the win. One judge had the fight even, 76-76, but was overruled by the other two who had the fight 78-74 and 78-73 for Hoskins.

“I feel awesome. I’m going deer hunting on Sunday and back to work on Monday,” said Hoskins, full-time factory worker, after the fight. “[I began boxing] just to lose weight. Nine years ago I was 185-pounds, so I have come a long way from just losing weight.”

Though he came away with a deserved win, the 24-year-old Hoskins seemed genuinely impressed with his nearly 51-year-old opponent. “I thought he was going to come out like a dog, and that’s what he did,” said Hoskins, who sought Nave’s autograph during the post-fight interview. “I told Craig, ‘If I can’t outbox him and I am going to try and dogfight with him.’ The last round he was mean. I just tried to wrestle with him a little bit.”

After the fight, Nave refused to make any excuses for loss, such as his age or the added distraction of being the promoter of the event. Instead the veteran seemed to have just one regret. “The bummer is I felt fine at the end and that’s not good,” said Nave. “I should have felt exhausted and given it my all, which I did in the final round especially. I should have picked it up a little earlier. It was just one of those days you feel you could have done a little better. I’m not going to blame anything. The better fighter won tonight and you just have to tip your hat to him and give him the credit he deserves.”

Of course the inevitable question after a loss at this stage is whether or not Nave would continue to fight. “I have to take a step back and take a look at it and see what I am going to do,” said Nave. “I’m going to take time to evaluate everything.”

In the co-main event, Lamont Williams (5-1-1, 2 KOs) of Fairfield, California completely turned around a fight that was going against him and scored a third-round stoppage over Brent Urban (7-5-1, 5 KOs) of Burlingame, California.

The first round was even before Urban, 185, caught Williams, 183, in the final seconds, forcing him to backpedal until the end of the round. Urban again stunned Williams with a short right in the second, but in boxing a fight can turn around in an instant, which it did in the third. Out of nowhere, Williams rocked Urban with a clean right and flurried him into the ropes. After a vicious right uppercut, the referee leaped in to stop the fight at 2:26 of the third round.

Making her professional debut before a throng of fans, Marquita Lee (1-0) of Novato, California pounded out a four-round unanimous decision over a game and determined Laura Deanovic (0-3) of San Francisco, California.

Lee, 132, often gave ground in the fight but did well to catch the onrushing Deanovic, 128 ½, with hard shots. Backing to the ropes, Lee rocked Deanovic late in the first with a combination. Undeterred, Deanovic fired back, but she simply did not posses the same type of power as did her opponent. The second and third rounds looked much like the first, with Deanovic pressing the action, but Lee catching her with the harder shots. Deanovic showed her heart and took the fourth round, most notably rocking Lee against the ropes with a combination. All three judges scored the fight in favor of Lee, 39-37.

In a solid action fight, Luis Alfredo Lugo (12-16-1, 5 KOs) of Richmond, California by way of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico slugged his way to a four-round unanimous decision over Hector Alatorre (16-17, 5 KOs) of Tulare, California.

Alatorre, 146, got off to a good start, as he found Lugo’s body a hittable target early. Lugo, 145, got warm later in the round and returned the favor, working the Tulare resident’s body in the final minute. Action further heated up in the second, with Lugo’s left hook, right uppercut combination standing out. After Lugo outworked Alatorre in the third, both men had their moments in a tit for tat fourth. In the end, all three judges had it a shutout for Lugo, 40-36.

In the free-swinging opener, Jesus Partida (0-0-1) of Redwood City, California tasted the canvas in the fourth but managed to eke out a draw against a determined Denis Madriz (0-0-1) of San Francisco. After almost three frantic minutes, Madriz, 125, appeared to hurt the awkward Partida, 127, with a combination late in the first. Partida came out swinging to begin the second, rushing Madriz with combinations in the early going. Madriz looked to time the southpaw Partida coming in, but was too tentative at times.

After getting outworked for much of the third, Madriz caught Paritda with two well-placed right hands that stunned the Redwood City resident. However, Madriz failed to capitalize on the advantage and it appeared Partida had regained his footing before the end of the round. That was not the case as Madriz dropped Partida in the opening seconds of the fourth. As the round progressed, Partida fought on even terms as Madriz tried to put him down again. Each fighter took a card 38-37, with the third judge scoring the bout even, 38-38, forcing the draw.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA — Just four days shy of his 51st birthday, local favorite Paul Nave hopes to keep the comeback he began two and a half years ago rolling against the undefeated Brandon Hoskins, a fighter 26 years his junior, tonight at Albert Park Field. Fighters weighed in Thursday at the Embassy Suites San Rafael – Marin County.

Nave (19-8-2, 8 KOs) of San Anselmo, California has gone 4-0 since ending a nine-and-one-half year retirement against modest opposition, but appears to be taking a leap up in class against an undefeated, accomplished former amateur tonight. Nave, who doubles as the promoter for the event, last fought in June of last year, scoring a third-round stoppage of Daniel Schlienz. Nave weighed in at 146 ½-pounds.

Nave returned to the ring in 2009 after back injures looked to have ended his fighting career prematurely. Nave came back with designs on landing one more big fight, but he understands he cannot look ahead past Hoskins. “Everything hinges on this fight,” said Nave in a recent press release. “If I am to win this fight, it would open up a huge opportunity. But everything is contingent on this fight.”

Hoskins (15-0-1, 8 KOs) of Hannibal, Missouri was 50-7 as an amateur and won several regional titles before turning pro. Hoskins, who will be fighting outside of Missouri or Kansas for the first time, last fought in March, scoring a unanimous six-round decision over 2-9 Keith Collins. Hoskins’ draw came in 2008 against Gustavo Mejia, who he defeated by majority decision a year later. Hoskins weighed in at 143-pounds Thursday.

The supporting card is comprised of four fights tonight. In an interesting match-up, Lamont Williams (4-1-1, 1 KO) of Fairfield, California will take on Brent Urban (7-4-1, 5 KOs) of Burlingame, California in a six-round cruiserweight bout. Williams, who went back up to heavyweight in his last fight in May, is back down well below the cruiserweight limit at 183-pounds. Urban, who scaled 185, is looking to rebound from a stoppage defeat in May.

In a four-round women’s attraction, Marquita Lee of Novato, California will make her professional debut against Laura Deanovic (0-2) of San Francisco, California in a super featherweight bout. Lee, who trains out of the Novato Boxing Club under former pro Suzanne Howard, weighed in at 132-pounds Thursday. Deanovic, who turned pro in March and comes in off of a majority decision defeat, scaled 128 ½-pounds.

Jesus Partida of Redwood City, California will take on Denis Madriz of San Francisco as both men make their professional debut in a four-round featherweight bout. Partida, who trains out of Gladiators Boxing Gym in Redwood City, scaled 127-pounds. Madriz, who trains under Ben Bautista at the Straight Forward Club in San Francisco, weighed in at 125-pounds.

Luis Alfredo Lugo (11-16-1, 5 KOs) of Richmond, California by way of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico will take on fellow longtime gatekeeper Hector Alatorre (16-16, 5 KOs) of Tulare, California in a four-round welterweight bout. Lugo, who has incredibly fought undefeated fighters in thirteen of his last fifteen fights, weighed in at 145-poounds Thursday. Alatorre, who has been in with more than his share of prospects, weighed in at 146-pounds.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Liberty Boxing Enterprises, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Nave 146 ½
Hoskins 143

Cruiserweights, 6 Rounds
Williams 183
Urban 185

Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Lugo 145
Alatorre 146

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Lee 132
Deanovic 128 ½

Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Partida 127
Madriz 125

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA – World ranked super featherweight Eloy Perez dominated veteran Daniel Jimenez, dropping the normally durable Puerto Rican three times en route a second-round stoppage at the Salinas Sports Complex on Friday night. With the eyebrow-raising performance, which came before his supportive local fan base, Perez looks poised to break through against the upper echelon of the division.

Promoter Don Chargin, who celebrated his 60th year of promoting with Friday’s event, proved prophetic with his comments in the days leading into the fight. “Eloy used to be strictly a boxer,” Chargin told 15rounds.com on Wednesday. “But he has started to sit down on his punches and he is going to start hurting people.”

Long seen as a light-hitting classical boxer, Perez (22-0-2, 6 KOs) of Salinas unleashed newfound power against an opponent that had been stopped just once in his career. In fact, the last time Jimenez (20-4-1, 12 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico failed to see the final bell was 2007 and the knockout came in the twelfth round against eventual world champion Rocky Martinez.

Perez, 130, came out aggressively, and appeared to bother Jimenez, 130, in the early going with his left hand. Halfway through the first, a two-punch combination wobbled Jimenez, who had bent over after the jab, enabling the right to land high on his head. Moments later Perez caught Jimenez with a short right in the midst of an exchange, dropping the Puerto Rican on his back. Jimenez got up on very shaky legs, leaning against the ropes while receiving the mandatory eight count.

Late in the round, Perez landed a left that bounced Jimenez off the ropes and into another short left for the second knockdown of the first. With the seconds ticking away in the round, Jimenez smiled and shook his head to referee Ed Collantes, but was likely saved from a first-round knockout by the sound of the bell.

Perez, the WBO #4 ranked super featherweight, opened the second looking to close the show and found an unsteady, but willing opponent in Jimenez. Moments later Perez set Jimenez up with a right hand and unleashed a devastating left that sent the Puerto Rican’s head across his shoulders and into the ropes. Collantes leaped over and immediately waved off the fight. Time of the stoppage was 56 seconds of the second round.

With the win Perez successfully defended his WBO NABO 130-pound title and more importantly put his name in the mix as a marketable and viable contender for any of the champions at super featherweight. Perez, who grew up in Rainier, Washington but has been adopted by Salinas since moving there to train under Max Garcia in 2007, also showed he can draw a crowd in a city that had not held a fight card of Friday’s magnitude anytime in recent memory.

In the co-feature, James Parison (15-1, 4 KOs) of San Diego, California edged fellow once-beaten Paul Mendez (6-2, 2 KOs) of Delano, California in a closely-contested battle that could have been scored either way.

Action was tense at the outset, as Mendez, 163, did well at range in the first, but Parison, 163, landed two rights that were perhaps the hardest shots of the round. Again in the second, Mendez did best when on the outside, where he could fire his one-two and stay out of danger. Parison looked for ways inside, but wound up getting caught with a solid right late in the frame. Mendez followed up with a combination to punctuate a round that was clearly his.

After some even exchanges to start the third, Parison forced Mendez into an inside fight late in the round. Fighting at close quarters seemed to favor Parison as he placed uppercuts and short shots while smothering much of Mendez’ attack.

Much of the fourth was fought back at range, providing Mendez the room to fire his combinations. When Parison would land coming in it was often one at a time. However, Parison’s one blow often would snap Mendez’ head back, which may have won over some of the judges. The fifth was a tough one to score, as both had their moments. Parison was busier early as Mendez held on the inside, but the Delano native finished strong.

Both men fought the sixth like they needed it. Parison landed a couple eye-catching shots in the early going and Mendez kept firing in combination. With the fight in doubt, both men closed out the final seconds throwing until the sound of the bell. In the end, it was Parison that won over two of the official scorers, 59-55 and 58-56. The lone dissenting judge had Mendez up 58-56. Despite the competitive nature of the bout, the decision was not received warmly by the majority of the crowd on hand.

Returning to a boxing ring for the first time in almost two years, Tony Johnson (5-0, 1 KO) of San Jose, California put the first blemish on the ledger of popular knockout artist Joe Gumina (2-1, 2 KOs) of San Bruno, California via four-round majority decision in a wild, free-swinging affair.

Gumina, 182, charged out early, landing some wide, but clean shots. Perhaps a little overanxious, Gumina seemed to leave his feet with some of his early swings. Johnson, 182, took some stiff blows in the first two minutes without landing much in return, but managed to weather the early onslaught. In the last thirty seconds of the opening round, Johnson began to land, but it was Gumina that closed with one last uppercut.

The fight turned into a wild shootout in the second, as Gumina left some openings to exploit in between landing some hellacious bombs. And so the fight went, as both men did little defensively, but showed tons of heart in a game of ‘I can take yours, can you take mine?’ In the end one judge had the fight a draw, 38-38, but was overruled by the other two who had Johnson the winner, 39-37.

Jonathan Chicas (3-0, 2 KOs) of San Francisco, California impressively halted late replacement opponent Davis Kamara (4-3) of Audenshaw, Lancashire, England via third-round stoppage.

Chicas, 142, employed a balanced attack, including short stints in the southpaw stance, against his well-built opponent Kamara, 138 ½. After a solid first round, Chicas really turned up his aggression in the second, pounding the sturdy Kamara around the ring. A left hook followed by a right had stunned Kamara early in the third, but the U.K. import hung in there and fired back.

Despite his gameness, Kamara was eventually forced into a corner by a Chicas right hand, setting up an unanswered series of punches that forced the hand of referee Marcos Rosales. Despite Kamara’s protests, Rosales’ decision was just, as an estimated 16 punches were thrown without a single Kamara retort. Time of the stoppage was 2:45 of the third round.

Rudy Puga Jr. (1-0, 1 KO) of Salinas pleased the hometown crowd in his professional debut, stopping winless Raul Talamontes (0-5) of Stockton, California in the fourth-round.

Puga, 165, took a little bit to get warmed up, but began to assert himself in the second round. After a series of right hands, Talamontes, 163 ½, began to go into retreat as blood dripped down from his nose late in the round. After a dominant third round, Puga closed the show in the fourth, rocking Talamontes with a left hook and forcing him to a corner. A few shots later, referee Ed Collantes stopped the bout, much to the displeasure of Talamontes. Time of the stoppage was 1:27 of the fourth.

In the opening bout of the night, quick-handed prospect Bruno Escalante Jr. (4-0-1, 3 KOs) of San Carlos, California by way of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines made short work of journeyman Frank Gutierrez (2-11-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California, ending his night in less than one minute.

After a couple jabs, Escalante, 121 ½, dropped Gutierrez, 123, with the first overhand left he threw. Given how hard he went down, it was somewhat surprising Gutierrez made it to his feet as fast as he did. Very quickly, Escalante pressured Gutierrez to the ropes and let go with a two-fisted attack. With Gutierrez prone against the strands, Escalante landed two lefts that crumpled the Highland resident to the mat. Referee Marcos Rosales, who looked to be on his way to stopping it before the final blows, ended the contest without a count at 52 seconds of the opening round.

In the walkout bout, Roman Morales (7-0, 5 KOs) of San Ardo, California pounded away at the body of late fill-in opponent Cain Garcia (0-5) of Bakersfield, California en route to a second-round stoppage. Morales, 124, opened the fight in a measured posture before placing a series of blows to the midsection of Garcia, 124.

With Garcia clearly bothered by the body attack, Morales upped his aggression while remaining calm and composed. An overhand right late in the round had Garcia in trouble, as covering up in the corner exposed his vulnerable body. However, Garcia made it out of the corner and eventually out of the round.

After several digging lefts to the body, Morales downed Garcia with a well placed right downstairs early in the second round. Garcia gamely rose, but could only cover up as Morales dug three or four more lefts into his ribs. The blows forced Garcia down to a knee and prompted referee Ed Collantes to stop the bout at the time of 1:49. Morales returns to the ring September 30th at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA — World ranked super featherweight Eloy Perez defends his home turf, WBO NABO 130-pound title and standing among the leading contenders at super featherweight in the ten-round main event against potential spoiler Daniel Jimenez tonight at the Salinas Sports Complex. Fighters weighed in for the Telefutura Solo Boxeo-televised card at a jam-packed Chapala Mexican Restaurant & Bistro on Thursday evening.

Perez (21-0-2, 5 KOs) of Salinas is coming off of a one-sided ten-round decision over an unwilling Alejandro Rodriguez in April. Perez, the WBO #4 ranked super featherweight, finds every fight he’s in from here on out a must-win if he hopes to force one of the champions at 130-pounds into a title fight.

Perez is largely responsible for boxing returning to Salinas for the first time in years, as with the help of the Garcia Boxing team that trains and manages him, the unbeaten fighter managed to draw an impressive crowd out to San Francisco in his two most recent fights. “Their people are so loyal to them to follow them up to San Francisco, where they have to get a hotel room,” said promoter Don Chargin, celebrating his 60th year of promoting this weekend. “I talked to Kathy about it, we came up here and looked at a few locations and decided to do it.”

Jimenez (20-3-1, 12 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico had been tabbed to fight Perez back in April, but pulled out weeks before the fight. Jimenez has not been terribly active in recent years, but could provide to stern test for Perez. Jimenez has a few upsets on his ledger, including one that Northern California fight fans should remember. “I wanted to get a strong opponent, so I thought of Daniel Jimenez, who fought for me at ARCO Arena and gave Vicente Escobedo his first loss,” recalls Chargin of the 2006 upset. Perez and Jimenez both weighed in at 130-pounds, though the challenger did have to make three attempts.

Perez has really caught the eye of Chargin, who promoted his last two fights. “He reminds me of Jackie McCoy, who fought in the ‘50’s,” says Chargin. “I saw Jackie fight in San Jose. Eddie Chavez was 26-0 and Jackie came and beat him in a big upset. He had a style, the style that Eloy is getting now. Eloy used to be strictly a boxer, but he has started to sit down on his punches and he is going to start hurting people. I am very high on Eloy now. I’ve noticed the improvement in each fight.”

In the televised co-feature, James Parison (14-1, 4 KOs) of San Diego, California takes on fellow once-beaten Paul Mendez (6-1, 2 KOs) of Delano, California in an intriguing six-round middleweight bout. Parison, who scaled 163-pounds, has long been an under the radar prospect, losing only one bout to touted Craig McEwan. Much the same could be said for Mendez, who also scaled 163, who has won four straight since a closely contested loss to former European amateur standout David Tabatadze in only his third pro bout. The winner tonight figures to fly under the radar no more.

Super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (6-0, 4 KOs) of San Ardo, California gets to fight near home for the first time as a professional as he takes on Cain Garcia (0-4) of Bakersfield, California in a four-round bout. Morales, who scaled 124, is coming off of a shutout decision over veteran Rodrigo Aranda last month. Garcia, who also came in at 124, took the fight on short notice after countless others turned the fight down.

Bruno Escalante Jr. (3-0-1, 2 KOs) of San Carlos, California by way of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines returns to the ring against journeyman Frank Gutierrez (2-10-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Escalante, a former National PAL champion, has had to deal with several cancellations since his last appearance, an impressive second-round stoppage of Shaun Solomon in April. Escalante scaled 121 ½-pounds, while Gutierrez came in at 123.

In a fight that has many associated with the card buzzing, Joe Gumina (2-0, 2 KOs) of San Bruno, California will take on Tony Johnson (4-0, 1 KO) of San Jose, California in a four-round cruiserweight bout. Gumina, who has a bus load of supporters coming in from the Bay Area, has impressed with two brutal knockouts since turning pro in February. Johnson may have only one knockout on his ledger, but it was devastating enough that it won him a trophy and fighter of the night honors on a card in 2009. Gumina and Johnson both weighed in at 182-pounds.

Making his professional debut, the latest Garcia Boxing protégé Rudy Puga Jr. will take on Raul Talamontes (0-4) of Stockton, California in a four-round super middleweight bout. Puga, coming off of an impressive amateur career, scaled 165-pounds. Talamontes, who has been up and down the scale in his career, came in at 163 ½-pounds Thursday.

In the opener, Jonathan Chicas (2-0, 1 KO) of San Francisco, California takes on Davis Kamara (4-2) of Audenshaw, Lancashire, England in a four-round light welterweight fight. Chicas is coming in off of a four-round unanimous decision over former amateur standout Michael Islas in June. Chicas scaled 142, while Kamara came in at 138 ½-pounds.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions and Paco Presents are available online at Tickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBO NABO Super Featherweight Championship, 10 Rounds
Perez 130
Jimenez 130

Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Mendez 163
Parison 163

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Morales 124
Garcia 124

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Escalante Jr. 121 ½
Gutierrez 123

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Puga Jr. 165
Talamontes 163 ½

Cruiserweights, 4 Rounds
Gumina 182
Johnson 182

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Chicas 142
Kamara 138 ½

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Legendary boxing promoter Don Chargin is in Salinas, California tonight with a solid card at the Salinas Sports Complex which will be televised on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo. The event, dubbed “History in the Making,” not only marks the return of professional boxing to a city that has hosted a few events, but serves as a benchmark for a Hall of Famer, as 60 years ago this weekend Don Chargin promoted his first of many shows.

Chargin had been closely involved in the sport before one event gave him the motivation to break out on his own and promote his first show in 1951. “I had assisted other promoters on shows and then a promoter had a big outdoor show and he was going through a terrible divorce and I was feeling bad for him,” recalls Chargin. “He went through like a two-week drunk and I did everything from setting up the chairs to making all the preliminaries to running the whole thing. Then when the show was over, he gave me 50 dollars. 50 dollars was a lot more then in 1951, but it was still nothing for the amount of work and time and the way I killed myself. That day I wouldn’t accept the 50 dollars and told him I was going to promote on my own and I promised him right there I would take his drawing card from him, which was Eddie Chavez, which I did.”

In fact, Chargin’s first show, which took place on September 3, 1951 in San Jose, California, would be headlined by Eddie Chavez. Chargin had known the fighting Chavez family for some time, and put the popular Eddie on in the featured attraction against name that would surely sell. “It was one of my boyhood idols, the great Manuel Ortiz, who was bantamweight champion for like ten or eleven years,” Chargin remembers. “This was at the end of his career, but he fought his first fight for me on Labor Day, 1951. It was just a great, toe-to-toe slugfest, and Chavez won a decision.”

“That first show was so successful, I thought it was going to be easy,” says Chargin. “I thought I was on my way to making a million dollars.”

Chargin’s success has been well chronicled. From the late 1950’s through the mid 1960’s Chargin put together a successful run of cards together for promoter Jimmy Dundee at the Oakland Auditorium. Most famously perhaps he got the nickname “War-A-Week” matching cards at the Olympic Auditorium for twenty years beginning in the 1964, while promoting his successful run of shows in Sacramento, helping develop world champions like Tony Lopez, Loreto Garza and later Willie Jorrin.

One thing that separates Chargin from some of the other established promoters of longevity has been his willingness to mentor aspiring promoters and matchmakers. “They got their own way of doing things,” says Chargin in reference to some other promoters. “I like to see young people in the business, and any way I can help…because I went through it when I was young. When I first started promoting, I jumped in my old car and I’d go to Newman’s Gym and Dolph Thomas’ Royal Gym and all the old managers and trainers would say, ‘Here’s that kid again, here’s that pest.’ But they wouldn’t do anything to help me until I started putting on successful shows. I swore at that time I would never be that way with young people that were interested in boxing.”

One of Chargin’s pupils is Golden Boy Promotions’ matchmaker Eric Gomez. “Eric Gomez, I am very, very fond of,” says Chargin. “He is like a son to me. He is a good matchmaker, and he is going to be a great matchmaker in time.”

This year Chargin has helped revitalize professional boxing in Northern California, co-promoting four shows in Fairfield and two in San Francisco prior to tonight’s card in Salinas. Working alongside Chargin on those shows have been upstart promoters Paco Damian and John Chavez.

When Damian, who owns and operates a successful restaurant in Woodland, California, Paco’s Mexican Restaurant, decided he wanted to go into boxing promoting he immediately sought after Chargin. “I went to the commission to just ask for information and I had already searched for Don, because I knew he had done all the shows in this area,” recalls Damian. “And as a matter of fact he had just left the office that day I was there. One day I went to one of the shows he was doing at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, and I told him my passion for boxing and that I wanted to be a promoter. And I don’t know whether he saw it or not, but when I was talking to him I don’t know if he was able to feel the vibe that I had, but he invited me to follow him around and check what really goes on.”

“He sounded so nice and sincere,” recalls Chargin. “I mentioned it to my wife and she said, ‘Yeah, let him do it. You always like having young guys around.’ So we did it and we’ve been friends ever since. He watches out for me now. He’s always worried about my health or that I might lose money. But he has been a real friend.”

Eventually Damian went to work and started learning the ropes from the ground up. “They started taking me to all the shows here in Sacramento, the shows in Tucson, Arizona, all the shows in Oroville,” says Damian. “Then I just started doing the minimum stuff, like assigning the fighters their dressing rooms, their gloves, getting the contracts ready and delivering to them, translating if the fighters didn’t speak English. Little by little I just started learning more and here I am now.”

Studying at the School of Don Chargin meant learning from his wife and partner Lorraine, who past away last year after a bout with cancer. “She was afraid somebody would come and brainwash me to do some big show and I would lose all this money,” remembers Damian. “That is what she was really afraid of. I am just trying to keep my work ethic the same as when Lorraine was there, trying to do things the same, because she was amazing. Thanks for her, things used to run so smoothly. Now that she’s gone, everything is a little more difficult.”

Chavez, a longtime fight scribe for various web sites, met the Chargin as a writer and quickly became friends with the couple. “I was doing some writing about Lorraine,” recalls Chavez. “They were just stories that were underreported. They had been in boxing for so many years. I just felt it was important. Little by little, I just started to learn more about how boxing works from Don. From the fan’s perspective, I got to see some of the issues that are going on with the sport and Don gave me perspective on what was going on now as well as the past.”

“We started talking on the phone, and he would mention fights or fighters,” says Chargin. “I would always to best of my ability give him an honest answer. We just became closer and my wife was very fond of John also. We used to have John come down to our home in Cambria on weekends.”

When Chargin brought shows to the Longshoremen’s Hall in San Francisco in February and April, Chavez was a major part of the promotion. “It was a natural thing when I decided to go in San Francisco, because John had always said ‘Let’s do something in San Francisco,’ that John would be apart of it,” says Chargin.

“We had always talked about doing a show together because I had wanted to get into it to see what promoting was all about,” says Chavez. “We had the opportunity this year to make it a reality. For me, it is a damn shame because Lorraine is not around. When I think of Don I think of her too.”

In his time with the Chargins, Chavez has seen firsthand what has separated them from some of their contemporaries. “They are pretty much the opposite [of other promoters,]” says Chavez. “Lorraine took me in like a part of her family. They are like night and day and just so humble, unlike some of the other promoters that always feel like they should be in the spotlight. It seems like in boxing, it doesn’t matter if it’s a writer or a fighter or a manager, they always are badmouthing somebody. When it came to them, it was never like that at all. It was always a positive note and they never had anything bad to say about anybody.”

When the day comes that Don Chargin decides he’s had enough of the boxing game, he will have left at least two promoters with some of his wisdom, though both understand they could never duplicate their mentor. “There is not going to be any replacing Don, that’s for sure, because he has knowledge that not anyone else can come close to in this sport,” says Chavez. “I just want to keep on the legacy of honesty. It’s a high level of honesty that he operates with, regardless of what other people say. I would like to continue to promote like that and be a straight shooter.”

“I don’t think I kind of deserve that,” says Paco in regards to carrying on the Chargin legacy. “He has worked so hard, sixty years, can you imagine? Him and Lorraine used to do one show a week, sometimes two. They would do one here and one in L.A. in the same week. Two in one week. It drains me and takes everything out of me. It just exhausts me mentally and physically. I go to sleep late every night at least one week before the fight. I just have no idea how they did it.

Humbly, not because I am not going to be able to do it, I would love to. Just being humble about it, I don’t want to think that far away. I want to think he is going to keep doing it and I am going to do it with him, learn and have fun and just keep doing it. If one day, he decides he wants me to give me the opportunity to carry on his company name with my name, it would be a privilege and an honor to use his name in every show that I do. So I would have him as my partner even if he doesn’t want to do the boxing anymore or decides to say he is going to take it easy. If he gives me that opportunity, I would use Don Chargin Productions in association with Paco Presents for every show I do.”

The name of the event is “History in the Making,” which was something main eventer Eloy Perez’ manager Kathy Garcia came up with, likely referring to her charge’s road to a title or bringing boxing back to Salinas. However, it’s a fitting title to describe the show for another obvious reason.

“Whatever Kathy had that clicked in her mind to put that name, that was a great name,” says Paco. “She didn’t even know that this fight would be celebrating his 60th year as a promoter. When she found out, I told her that is the perfect name that we would be able to pick for this fight because a living legend and a Hall of Famer will be celebrating his 60th year of promoting boxing, and nobody in boxing history has done that. To me, it’s a privilege and an honor to be part of his team and to learn the ropes from him. Sometimes I can’t find the words to describe it, because he didn’t have to do this for me. He is a top notch guy and has all the contacts. I don’t know what he saw in me, but he saw something in me to give me the opportunity to be with him all these years.”

It is hard to imagine doing something, anything really, for 60 straight years, but Don Chargin would not have had it any other way, “I knew early on I didn’t want to do anything else.”

Photo by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Promising middleweight Paul Mendez takes a step up in class as he meets once-beaten James Parison in the Telefutura Solo Boxeo-televised co-feature at the Salinas Sports Complex, in Salinas, California, tomorrow night. In the twelve months since his last ring appearance, Mendez relocated from Central California and made a stay down south before eventually finding his way to the San Francisco Bay Area to train under the watchful eye of respected trainer Virgil Hunter. Tomorrow Mendez gets his first opportunity to show off his new tools, before a television audience no less.

Since turning pro in February of 2009, Mendez (6-1, 2 KOs) of Delano, California has built up a solid reputation on the West Coast. Most notably scoring back-to-back wins over prospects Derek Hinkey and Tyrell Hendrix, Mendez managed to maintain his record without the backing of a promoter or well connected manager. Mendez took the Hinkey win in his opponent’s hometown and bested Hendrix on short notice at his walking around weight.

Looking to improve himself as a fighter, Mendez moved from the Bakersfield area to Oxnard, California to train with former world champion Robert Garcia. However, with Garcia being one of the most in demand trainers in the sport, Mendez jumped at an opportunity to come up north and train with Hunter. “I got the offer to come spar with [Andre Ward,] I accepted and came over as a sparring partner at first, sometime in October,” recalls Mendez. Apparently impressed with the work Mendez was giving his star pupil, Hunter eventually asked him to move to the Bay Area.

Mendez made the move in January, settled in Walnut Creek, and has been honing his skills under Hunter’s tutelage ever since. “It’s been great,” says Mendez. “Virg is a very wise man. He knows a lot about the game and a lot about the sport. The best way to describe it is that he is like a scientist. He breaks me down and sees what I need to work on and sees little things that not the normal boxing fan would see. He is very methodical, just like ‘Dre.”

Of course, training alongside and especially sparring a top ten pound-for-pound fighter like Andre Ward is a benefit just in itself for a developing pro such as Mendez. “I hate and love sparring with ‘Dre because it frustrates me that he is so smart and so good,” admits Mendez. “He is always two or three steps ahead of me. But it pushes me and every time when we are through with a sparring session, it makes me think about what he was doing to combat my movements in the ring and that’s great.”

Mendez will take everything he has learned into the ring against the most professionally experienced opponent of his career to date. Parison (14-1, 4 KOs) of San Diego, California turned pro back in 2005, logging 71 rounds compared to Mendez’ 30. Parison’s lone loss came to then unbeaten Craig McEwan by decision in November 2009. “I thought about his record and his experience and I had been out of the ring so long,” says Mendez. “But when they offered me this fight, I saw how he did in his last fight. He didn’t do so good. He won, but he didn’t look so good. At the same time, he is older and I am younger. I have been learning a lot. I am better than the last time I entered the ring. I am probably 60 percent better than I was before. I am getting there and I think this fight will prove it.”

Landing the fight with Parison ends a disheartening year-long layoff for Mendez. “It has been hard, but more frustrating than hard,” says Mendez, who recently spent time as a sparring partner for Andre Berto. “I am trying to get fights here and there, but it’s just not happening. Guys don’t want to fight people with my record, because I am so-called dangerous. It’s time to take risks and this is a big risk for me, but there’s a big reward too. I am going to beat this guy. There is no doubt in my mind I am going to win.”

With the fight being televised nationally on Telefutura and some Golden Boy Promotions execs likely in attendance, Mendez aims to make a statement. “I have some Golden Boy suits that I want to impress,” says the promotional free agent. “Golden Boy is a great company and this is a great opportunity for me. I have always looked at Golden Boy as my promoter of choice and I look highly on Oscar De La Hoya himself and the career he had. His upbringing was similar to mine. I am from a small Mexican town. That is why I would like to land that.”

Though he’s not looking past Parison, Mendez hopes a win Friday could lead to a fight with a recognizable name. “After this I’m looking to fight other guarded fighters,” says Mendez. “I’ll say the names. Demetrius Andrade, 154. I’ll fight at 154, that is where I am supposed to be at anyway, but if I have to come up to fight guys like Shawn Estrada or guys like that, that is no problem with me. I am in this game to fight, and that is what I am going to do.”

Before Mendez can look to a fight with an Andrade or an Estrada, he must take everything he has learned in the gym this year and ring it out like a wet sponge on Friday night. Itching for a fight for over a year, Mendez sounds ready to show everyone what he has learned and advance his career, “I just want to open people’s eyes to what I can do and we’ll go from there.”

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

In a heated back-and-forth grudge match, undefeated Vernon Paris got off the canvas to score the biggest win of his career to date with a seventh-round stoppage of world ranked Tim Coleman in the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California on Friday night.

Coleman (19-2-1, 5 KOs) of Baltimore, Maryland downed Paris (25-0, 15 KOs) of Detroit, Michigan late in the second-round with a clean right hand. However, the Detroit native got right back into the fight at the start of the third as the action went both ways through five rounds.

Paris, 140, turned the fight in the sixth, as he hurt Coleman, 140, to the body early and eventually downed him twice with left hands downstairs. Coleman, who entered the bout the IBF#5/WBA #14 ranked light welterweight, rose from his knees the second time just before the bell sounded to end the sixth. In between rounds Coleman told his corner he was ready to continue, but Paris made sure not to give him the time he needed to recover.

Seconds into the seventh, Paris forced Coleman to the ropes and placed another solid left to his body. Coleman fell back on his left knee and referee Dan Stell immediately stopped the bout without a count. Official time of the stoppage was 27 seconds of the seventh.

With the victory Paris claims the USBA Light Welterweight title and will likely appear among the top ranked 140-pounders by the IBF when their next rankings are released. The fight had gained additional heat from a war of words between Paris and Coleman on their Facebook pages. When they arrived at the casino hotel Thursday morning, an altercation in the lobby in which Coleman admittedly threw a punch, led to separate weigh-ins and off site lodging for both main event fighters. In a show of good sportsmanship, Coleman moved past the heightened in-ring security to embrace Paris after the fight.

In impressive fashion, lightweight prospect Mike Faragon (16-0, 7 KOs) of Guilderland, New York broke down Ira Terry (24-6, 14 KOs) of Memphis, Tennessee to the body en route to a second-round referee’s stoppage.

Faragon, 134 ¾, ended an aggressive run by Terry, 129, in the second with a right to the body that referee Raul Caiz asked the prospect to keep up. With Terry clearly bothered by the blow, Faragon targeted his midsection with the ensuing onslaught. With Terry still standing but wilting against the ropes, Caiz leaped in to stop the bout. Official time of the stoppage was 2:32 of the second.

What could have evolved into a solid scrap ended prematurely as unbeaten Art Hovhannesyan (14-0-2, 8 KOs) of Glendale, California by way of Gyumri, Armenia clashed heads with former featherweight titleholder Cristobal Cruz (39-12-3, 23 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico in the fourth and ultimately final round.

Ending a long layoff, Cruz, 130, got off to a solid start in the bout landing well with his awkward, winging style. Hovhannesyan, 130, landed one of his better shots, a right hand, just before stepping in with his head. The head clash opened a bad gash just right of center on Cruz’ forehead. Scoring the abbreviated fourth-round under the California rules, each fighter took a card 39-37, with the third judge’s card forcing the draw, 38-38.

Sergio Nunez (3-0-1, 2 KOs) of Maywood, California pounded out a one-sided four-round unanimous decision over debuting Ricardo Cubillas (0-1) of Riverside, California. Nunez, 134 ½, was by far the better schooled boxer, but Cubillas, 135, was game enough to last the distance. In the end, all three judges scored the bout a shutout, 40-36, for Nunez.

CABAZON, CALIFORNIA – World ranked super middleweight Anthony Dirrell is still looking to earn the lofty status he has with some of the sport’s sanctioning bodies after Kevin Engel provided little resistance through less than two rounds of action in the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa on Friday night.

Dirrell (23-0, 20 KOs) of Flint, Michigan could not miss Engel (18-5, 15 KOs) of Saint Louis, Missouri with his right hand throughout the fight. Before the end of the first, Dirrell’s right had already drawn blood from the Missouri native’s right eye.

Things did not get much better for Engel, 174, in the second as a Dirrell one-two downed the late notice replacement for Alejandro Berrio. Dirrell, 169 ½, met Engel with a right soon after he regained an upright position. The blow forced Engel’s mouthpiece out of the ring and drew blood from his mouth. Moments later, with Engel’s back to referee Lou Moret, Dirrell landed below the belt. Engel went down to a knee and remained there as Moret counted him out for the knockout.

Despite Engel’s protests, the fight was over at the official time of 1:44 of the second round. Dirrell, the WBC #4/WBA #9 ranked super middleweight, fought just twenty days ago, scoring a fifth-round stoppage of Dante Craig in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

“It was short, but it was beautiful,” said Dirrell’s assistant trainer Leon Lawson Jr. after the bout. “He worked on his precision punches, made everything land and got him out of there.”

Engel’s team was upset the fight ended on a low blow, but Lawson felt the result was inevitable. “He did get hit low, I will admit, but he was looking for a way out of there anyway,” said Lawson. “You can tell when a fighter is looking for a way out. It is what it is, but Anthony was going to beat his ass anyway.”

Originally scheduled opponent Alejandro Berrio would have represented a move up in class of opposition for Anthony, the brother of former title challenger Andre Dirrell, had he stuck with the fight. “We are looking to step-up, but the guys keep dropping out,” said Lawson. “We are ready to fight anytime, against anybody they put in front of us.”

Lawson revealed tentative plans for Anthony to return to the ring sometime in September back in Michigan. The possibility exists that Andre would make his return to the ring on the same bill, against Sebastien Demers.

After having only accepted the fight on Monday, Aaron Martinez (15-1-1, 3 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California upset previously unbeaten prospect Joseph Elegele (12-1, 10 KOs) of Winter Haven, Florida via eighth-round technical decision.

If Martinez, 146, is a welterweight, Elegele, 145, looked like a middleweight in the ring. Somewhat surprisingly Martinez rocked Elegele late in the first round as he took advantage of his shorter arms in a clinch along the ropes. Martinez, by no means a puncher, came over the top with a right hand that stunned Elegele. Martinez’ follow-up attack downed the tall southpaw. Martinez looked primed for unexpected stoppage when the bell rang to end the first.

Martinez went for broke early in the second, but appeared to punch himself out by midway through the round. Elegele regained his footing around the same time a headbutt drew blood from Martinez’ left eye later in the round.

Elegele came out more aggressively to start the third, while the Martinez work rate dipped significantly from the two previous rounds. Both started swinging to start fourth, which got the crowd excited. Despite his size disadvantage, it was Martinez setting the distance and the pace throughout the fourth.

Just when Elegele looked to have the fifth in the bag, Martinez sprang to life again and pressed Elegele in a corner. The round consisted mostly of Elegele jabs, so perhaps that flurry could have stole the round for the East L.A. native. Having taken the fight on just a few days notice, Martinez appeared to be looking to take a breather in the sixth. Fortunately for Martinez, Elegele remained in stalker mode and did not really force the action when there appeared to be an opening. Martinez closed out the round well, another that Elegele appeared to have early.

Elegele narrowly escaped the seventh, as Martinez had him in trouble before the bell intervened again. Martinez ran out and rocked Elegele against the ropes in the eighth. The underdog Martinez seemed let Elegele off the hook as he moved to the outside. Just as the fight appeared to be headed to a dramatic ending, a terrible head clash busted open both men. Martinez’ gash was by far the worse of the two, as the cut went down to his skull.

Stopping the fight at that moment was the only call, sending things to the hands of the judges. Scoring the biggest win of his career, Martinez took all three cards by score of 76-75 and 77-74 twice.

In a offense-first, defense never type fight, Kurtiss Colvin (6-0, 5 KOs) of Austin, Texas scored one spectacular knockdown en route to a third-round stoppage of previously once-beaten Cleven Ishe (3-2, 1 KO) of Long Beach, California

Ishe, 159, threw from his hips, but did find Colvin, 159, at times in the fight. Colvin had a clear technical advantage, but chose to swing for the fences the entire way. Some clowning around led Colvin into a solid left hand to end the second round.

Ishe came out swinging to start the third, but Colvin quickly turned the fight around with a wide right hand that knocked the Long Beach resident into a cartwheel. When Ishe returned to his feet, Colvin quickly pounced before referee Lou Moret stopped the action at 1:24 of the third.

Looking to rebound from a draw in his last outing in May, Julian Williams (7-0-1, 4 KOs) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pounded out a workmanlike unanimous decision over Raul Rodriguez (2-6-1, 1 KO) of Bakersfield, California.

Williams, 154, controlled most of the action, but did not dominate Rodriguez, 154, the way one may have expected based on their records. The sixth especially brought some competitive exchanges, as Rodriguez decided to stand his ground and trade with Williams. The Philly fighter was the better and more accurate puncher, but Rodriguez did catch him at times with some pretty clean shots. In the end, two judges had Williams the shutout winner, 60-54, with one judge giving Rodriguez a round for a 59-55 final tally.

Rising super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (5-0, 4 KOs) of San Ardo, California tore through normally durable Juan Tepoz (4-6-1) of Santa Rosa, California in a one-sided first-round stoppage victory.

Morales dropped Tepoz with a quick combination along the ropes early in the first. Pegged as a normally slow starter, Morales continued to disprove that label as he punished a wincing Tepoz when action resumed. Unable to combat Morales’ fast hands, Tepoz headed down to a knee while the San Ardo native sped up the process with a right hand. Referee Lou Moret decided to stop the contest without a count at 2:30 of the first. Morales returns to the ring August 5th at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

In the night’s opener, DonYil Livingston (5-0, 3 KOs) of Palmdale, California easily moved past journeyman Cameron Allen (3-8, 1 KO) of Battle Creek, Michigan by pounding his way to a fourth-round stoppage.

Livingston took the fight to Allen early, stuffing right hands at short range behind his jab. By the second, Allen already seemed winded and was eventually rocked by a quick one-two at close range. Livingston had the Michigan resident in trouble late in the round and opened the third in much the same fashion. Though fading, Allen continued to wing shots from the ropes with little success.

Allen immediately went into retreat at the start of the fourth as Livingston pressured the journeyman. A Livingston left to body finally dropped Allen midway through the round. With his mouthpiece on the mat, Allen got a short reprieve from the onslaught before Livingston went right back downstairs. With Allen hunched over, Livingston landed a couple blows to his cranium which had him headed back to the mat. Referee Tony Crebs jumped in to stop the contest at 2:03 of the fourth-round.

In the walkout bout, Dushane Crooks (1-0) of Brooklyn, New York by way of Clarendon, Jamaica dropped Greg Baca (0-1) of San Bernardino, California in the second-round en route to a four-round unanimous decision. Baca, 157, had some success early, as he rocked Cooks, 156 ½, forcing the Brooklyn resident to hold on for a moment.

Crooks turned the fight in his favor with a left hook that dropped Baca. When Baca quickly popped back up, Crooks landed a couple more shots before referee Tony Crebs could jump in for the eight-count.

From the second on, the fight was completely in Crooks’ control. The Jamaican-born slugger rocked Baca with another wild left and followed up with a combination that shot his mouthpiece out of the ring. After another decisive round, all three judges handed in scorecards of 39-35 or Crooks.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

FAIRFIELD, CALIFORNIA – Local favorite Alan Sanchez kept his record at home unblemished with a well-fought technical stoppage victory over Clint Coronel before his supportive fan base, capping an entertaining night of action at the Fairfield Sports Center on Friday night.

Sanchez (8-2-1, 3 KOs) of Fairfield just had too much height and length and too many dimensions for the crude slugger Coronel (4-3-2, 1 KO) of San Jose, California. To no great surprise, Coronel, 149, opened the fight moving forward, while Sanchez, 147, remained on the outside, using his footwork and his getting behind his jab. Coronel placed a clean overhand right early, but had trouble getting set to land anything clean for the most part.

By the end of the second, Coronel was already bleeding pretty well from his left eye, which prompted Coronel’s corner to ask referee Dan Stell to watch for the headbutts in between rounds. In any event, Coronel was down two rounds and now had a bloody eye for a target, which Sanchez nailed to start the third.

The third was another clear Sanchez round, but Coronel did manage to get in some clean blows in the fourth as the Fairfield resident stayed more stationary than in previous rounds. Coronel was deducted a point in the fifth for a bad low blow which caused a time out. Though it was low, it seemed to be mostly a side effect of Coronel’s swinging punching style more than an intentional foul. Moments later, the referee had both ringside doctors examine Coronel’s right eye, which was bleeding profusely by the end of the round.

Just seconds into the sixth, Stell brought Coronel over to the ringside doctor again, which would make one believe that the referee was leaning towards a stoppage at that point. However, the fight continued, with Sanchez now fighting more on the inside and rubbing against Coronel’s shredded face.

Stell and the doctor took another close look before the seventh, but allowed the fight to resume. To his credit, Coronel remained determined despite the vision and skill disadvantages. Before much of the seventh round had got underway, Stell brought Coronel over to the doctor and this time got the ok for the stoppage he had been looking for in rounds prior. Stell motioned to the commission table that the blood was spurting from Coronel’s face shortly after the bout’s conclusion.

Manuel “Tino” Avila (5-0, 2 KOs) of Fairfield kept his unbeaten record in tact with a measured four-round decision win over the aggressive Salvador Cifuentes (1-2) of Chula Vista, California in the night’s co-main event.

Cifuentes, 124, came out looking to pressure Avila, 123, but the prospect managed to place some pinpoint shots upstairs against his onrushing opponent. Cifuentes found more success in the second half, as he caught Avila, who employed little head movement, numerous times with clean shots to the cranium. Avila remained composed and managed to weather Cifuentes’ flurries before countering with his own more precision style attack.

Midway through the fourth round, a clash of heads opened up a bad cut over Cifuentes’ left eye. Referee Jon Schorle nearly waved off the fight in the corner, but appeared to be talked into allowing the fight to continue by Cifuentes, who came out swinging when action resumed.

In the end, all three judges failed to give Cifuentes any credit for his second half surge, scoring the bout a shutout, 40-36 across the board.

Super featherweight prospect Guy Robb (5-0, 2 KOs) of Sacramento, California did what he was supposed to do against a novice opponent, score a quick knockout. Despite all the talk of his camp at the weigh-in Thursday, Tyshawn Sherman (0-1) of Hesperia, California presented no challenge for Robb.

Sherman, 128, came out running and moving in a very unorthodox manner, which gave Robb, 128, reason to pause and assess the situation for a brief moment in the opening moments of the fight. Once he realized what he had in front of him, Robb stalked his fleet of foot opponent before landing a left hook that got Sherman on his bicycle even more than before.

Moments later, Robb landed a two punch combination that put Sherman into a corner. With Sherman folding over and almost turning away, Robb unloaded with both hands before referee Dan Stell leaped in to protect the amateurish Sherman from any harm. Time of the stoppage was 1:28 of round one.

Former amateur standout-turned mixed martial arts prospect Mike Ortega (2-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento made his return to the sweet science a successful one as he scored a fourth-round stoppage of dangerous Michael Alexander (1-5-3) of Antioch, California.

Ortega, 152, stunned the taller Alexander, 154, early in the bout with two lefts and a hard right. Ortega, who also mixed in his shots well to the body, scored with an overhand right that rocked Alexander for the second time in the round. Ortega continued to press the action before landing a short counter left hand in the closing seconds of the first which backed Alexander into the ropes. Ortega flurried, but Alexander’s cause was aided by the ring of the bell.

Alexander regained his footing by the start of the second, but was still getting outfought by Ortega. The Sacramento native continued to control the action in the third, backing Alexander up with a one-two and placing his other shots well to the body and head.

Alexander got on his toes to start the fourth, eventually landing a stiff jab that got Ortega to take a step back. Just as Alexander landed one of his better shots in the fight, Ortega came back with a four-punch combination that began with a right, followed by a solid left hook and two overhand rights. The last right put Alexander all the way down and prompted referee Dan Stell to wave off the bout without a count. Time of the stoppage was 1:50 of round four.

Local product Omar Sanchez (0-2) of Fairfield came to the Fairfield Sports Center in search of his first pro victory, having fought two legitimate prospects to begin his career in losing efforts, but came away with neither a win nor a loss.

Debuting Jhonnathan Zamudio of San Francisco, California by way of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico scored a knockdown in the first but had to settle for a no contest when a Sanchez cut was ruled to come from a heabutt.

Zamudio, 139, put Sanchez, 134, down in an exchange of left hooks early in the first, but it appeared to be mostly a flash knockdown. Zamudio began the second well, landing two solid counter left hands against the forward-moving Sanchez. The Fairfield product began to get a bit reckless later in the round, which may have been when the headbutt took place. The now bloodied Sanchez did stun Zamudio with a combination, but the Mexican import fired right back.

What looked to be a solid scrap heading into the second half was cut short when referee Jon Schorle took Sanchez over to the ringside doctor in the third round. After getting advice from the physician, Schorle stopped the fight, resulting in a no contest due to the few rounds completed. Zamudio plans to return to the ring September 2nd in Salinas, California.

Jonathan Chicas (2-0, 1 KO) of San Francisco spoiled the professional debut of former amateur standout Michael Islas (0-1) of Madera, California via decisive four-round unanimous decision in the night’s opening contest.

Chicas, 142, countered the attack of Islas, 139, well and outworked the Madera native over the four-rounds. Islas seemed hesitant to unload his artillery and simply waited for openings too often. Chicas attempted to make his own openings, and usually found Islas best with the third or fourth punch of his combinations. In the end all three judges had Chicas the winner. Scores read 40-36 and 39-37 twice.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

FAIRFIELD, CALIFORNIA — Local draw and emerging welterweight prospect Alan Sanchez is back headlining the bill at the Fairfield Sports Center as he takes on free-swinging slugger Clint Coronel in an eight-rounder tonight. Fighters for the six-bout card weighed-in Thursday evening at the Courtyard by Marriott Fairfield Napa Valley Area in Fairfield.

Sanchez (7-2-1, 2 KOs) of Fairfield has quickly turned into a fan favorite and drawing card in his hometown and looks to impress his local following for the third straight time this year. Last time out, Sanchez pounded John Ryan Grimaldo, scoring two knockdowns en route to an eight-round unanimous decision. Sanchez scaled 147-pounds Thursday night.

Coronel (4-2-2, 1 KO) of San Jose, California pulled out a hard-fought six-round decision at the Fairfield Sports Center back in March, overcoming Carlos Musquez via six-round split decision. In the last ring appearance, Coronel fought well but came up short against former amateur standout Michael Zewski, dropping a six-round majority nod in April. Coronel, fighting below his usual weight, managed to come in at 149-pounds Thursday.

In the four-round co-main event, former amateur star and budding professional prospect Manuel “Tino” Avila (4-0, 2 KOs) of Fairfield makes his third appearance at the Sports Center this year in taking on pugnacious Salvador Cifuentes (1-1) of Chula Vista, California. Avila, who will be fighting off television for the first time in his professional career, weighed in at 123-pounds. Cifuentes, dropping down from lightweight, scaled 124-pounds Thursday.

Quickly becoming a venue favorite, super featherweight prospect Guy Robb (4-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California returns to Fairfield for the third time this year against debuting Tyshawn Sherman of Hesperia, California in a four-round bout. Local fight aficionados are still buzzing over Robb’s exciting four-round decision over Manuel Morales in March. Sherman has a limited amateur background, but word is that the Jack Mosley-trained fighter can in fact fight. Robb and Sherman both scaled 128-pounds.

Former amateur standout and professional mixed martial arts prospect Mike Ortega (1-0) of Sacramento will make his long awaited return to boxing in a four-round light middleweight bout against Michael Alexander (1-4-3) of Antioch, California. Ortega turned pro back in 2008 before turning his attention MMA. Despite his record, Alexander poses a tough challenge for Ortega’s squared circle return. Local fight fans may remember Alexander scoring a knockdown over still undefeated prospect Brandon Gonzales in Sacramento in 2008. Ortega came in at 152-pounds, while Alexander made the 154-pound light middleweight limit.

In a four-round light welterweight bout, Fairfield’s Omar Sanchez (0-2) will look to get into the win column against Jhonnathan Zamudio of San Francisco, California by way of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, who will be making his professional debut. Sanchez, an unrelated J.L. Tepito Boxing Club stablemate of Alan Sanchez, has been matched incredibly tough in his young career, but always given his opponent as well as the fans ringside an exciting fight. Sanchez, who scaled 134-pounds, takes on the primed and ready Zamudio, who trains out of the Pastel Boxing Club in Watsonville, California. Zamudio weighed in at 139-pounds.

Also on the card, Jonathan Chicas (1-0, 1 KO) of San Francisco will take on well regarded Michael Islas of Madera, California, who will be making his professional debut, in a four-round light welterweight bout. Chicas thrilled his fans in San Francisco back in April when he demolished Maja Khali in one round. Islas, who competed at the national level on numerous occasions in the amateurs, scaled 139-pounds, while Chicas came in at 142.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Don Chargin Productions, Jorge Marron Productions and Paco Presents, are available by calling 925-286-0195.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Sanchez 147
Coronel 149

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Avila 123
Cifuentes 124

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Robb 128
Sherman 128

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Ortega 152
Alexander 154

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Sanchez 134
Zamudio 139

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Chicas 142
Islas 139

Photos by Arturo Ramos

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

There is something noble about the journey of an aspiring prizefighter. The sport of boxing has always been a way for those that come from humble beginnings to make something of themselves and to provide a better life for their families. Of course there are no promises in boxing and for every one fighter that pulls himself up and makes it, there are many more that do not. Light welterweight Jhonnathan Zamudio begins his professional journey tomorrow night at the Fairfield Sports Center in Fairfield, California.

Zamudio, who will take on Fairfield’s Omar Sanchez (0-2) in a four-rounder, grew up idolizing Juan Manuel Marquez in one of the rare non-boxing Mexican towns, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. “In my hometown of Cuernavaca, boxing is not very popular and we don’t have any one [fighter] that represents us,” explains the aspiring Zamudio. “That is why one of my long term goals is eventually to be able to go back and open up a boxing gym and be able to pass on my knowledge to future generations.”

Like others before him, Zamudio found boxing while looking for something to fulfill him in his life. “I became interested [in boxing] because I was at a point in my life where I needed something that filled me as a person,” explains Zamudio. “I needed discipline and something that was constant in my life, so I decided to try out boxing. I ended up falling in love with it and figuring out that I have the heart for it.”

Zamudio took up the sport seven years ago, and has gradually improved to the point where he believes he can make the leap to the paid ranks. “I started boxing in 2004 and it wasn’t easy to be where I am right now,” says Zamudio. “Since I am not a natural boxer I had to learn everything I know from scratch and train very hard at it to be able to reach my goal of becoming a professional boxer.”

After amassing 17 amateur fights, including a run at the prestigious Golden Belt in Mexico City, Zamudio’s passion for the sport led him to make the decision to leave Cuernavaca and move to the United States in order to better his boxing career. “I left Mexico because I wanted to find new opportunities with boxing,” explains Zamudio. “I left everything behind in search of my dream and the first thing I did when I got here was to look for a boxing gym, even before I looked for a job.”

Zamudio eventually settled in San Francisco, California, but found his home boxing gym in Watsonville, roughly a two-hour drive on most days. Living in San Francisco and training in Watsonville, Zamudio continued his amateur career under the tutelage of Jose Hernandez at the Pastel Boxing Club.

Zamudio has had some success as an amateur since coming to the States, including taking part in the California Golden Gloves last year, but his most rewarding experience was helping former world champion Robert Guerrero ready for his April bout against Michael Katsidis. “I’ve taken away a lot from the amateur experience,” says Zamudio. “The fact that I’ve got to spar with so many good boxers has given me lots of experience and I have learned a lot from all of them. But I’d have to say that sparring with [Robert] “The Ghost” Guerrero has been the most amazing experience I have had so far as an amateur fighter.”

Not only does Zamudio have a long commute to Watsonville to contend with, the ambitious athlete also has a full-time job working at the restaurant Chaya in San Francisco and a blossoming family life. Also, Zamudio and his wife Carolina welcomed their son William Alexander into the world this past May. “Balancing boxing with my job and my family is very difficult for me, especially this past two months in which I have been training so hard for my debut,” says Jhonnathan. “I just had my first son on May 23rd and it has been very stressful and hard to manage a full-time job at a restaurant, five days a week from 4 to 12 a.m. and running at 6 a.m. and driving all the way from Pacifica to Watsonville every day.”

Such are the sacrifices of the young prizefighter, aiming to change his life and achieve something noble. Tomorrow night, Zamudio aims to take his dedication and hard work and apply it to the next level. “I decided to turn pro because it was my biggest dream ever since I started boxing,” says Zamudio. “I have been working on it for the past six years and I feel like this a cycle in my life that will be completed by becoming a professional.”

When one reaches the moment they have dreamt about for years, and worked so hard to make possible, the pressure could be much to handle. Zamudio has arrived at that moment, the culmination of years of hard work, and now it is up to him to show everyone what he can accomplish. “The people that have supported me all this time expect nothing but the best and a great show,” explains Zamudio. “They know how hard I have worked for this day, and I will give it my all in the ring. As we Mexicans say, I die in the line.”

Photo courtesy Team Zamudio

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

RENO, NEVADA – Crowd-pleasing heavyweight Cristobal Arreola continued his climb back near the top of the division with a one-sided seventh-round stoppage of former fringe contender Kendrick Releford at the Reno Events Center on Friday night.

Arreola (32-2, 28 KOs) of Riverside, California did not exactly come out guns blazing, but controlled Releford (22-15-2, 10 KOs) of Fort Worth, Texas from the early going. Arreola, 236, worked over Releford, 230, in the corner for a stretch in the first, which was a somewhat tentative round for both combatants outside of that exchange.

Arreola, the WBC #2/IBF #5/WBO #13/WBA #15 ranked heavyweight contender worked over Releford’s body in round two and began opening up with combinations that kept Releford’s guard up. In the third, Arreola really mixed up his attack, aiming his shots in between and around Releford’s guard, while mixing in shots downstairs as well. Arreola may have been a bit winded late in the round, which allowed Releford to open up momentarily.

By the fourth Releford was beginning to break down from Arreola’s varied attack. Just before the bell Releford was rocked by a right, which would be a sign of things to come. By the fifth Arreola was finding a home for his uppercuts. By this time Releford was mostly in cover-up and flea mode instead of aggressively attempting to win the fight. At the end of the round the ringside physician stepped in Releford’s corner to give the fighter a look over.

It may have been a better idea to stop the bout in between rounds, at least for the sake of Releford’s health. It would be a combination left uppercut-overhand right that would finally force Releford to drop to a knee. To his credit, Releford got up, but was eventually rocked by another left uppercut that had him moving back to the ropes. The writing was written on the wall. Arreola landed a left hook that gave Releford reason to change the expression on his face and back up. The Riverside resident moved in ready to pounce, but referee Russell Mora decided to call it off at 2:43 of round seven.

Friday’s win over Releford marked the second appearance and second knockout for Arreola in as many weeks. More importantly, Arreola came to both fights in great physical condition, especially in comparison to some of the outings in his recent past. “I am in great condition and it paid,” said Arreola. “It’s only going to get better. I am going to work my ass of and get that title. I love boxing and you are going to see it.”

While Arreola was in good shape, his body did work against him in the fight. “I felt sick and nasally when I made it into Reno,” said Arreola, who could hardly be seen without a tissue on Thursday. “I felt great, but I could have taken him out earlier.”

Tony Thompson (36-2, 23 KOs) of Silver Spring, Maryland moved one step closer to another crack at a world title with a one-sided drubbing of an either faded or disinterested Maurice Harris (24-15-2, 10 KOs) of East Orange, New Jersey.

Harris, 244, simply did not show up for the fight. Thompson, 255 ½, started out behind the jab in round one, but soon found chopping rights to be a better weapon. Harris, the IBF #6 ranked heavyweight, appeared to have trouble finding the right stance as he threw mostly off balance shots against the southpaw Thompson.

Thompson, who entered the bout the IBF #7 ranked heavyweight, worked over Harris in the second before landing a chopping right that downed Harris. The New Jersey native rose and made it out of the round on unsteady legs.

Thompson landed a light right hand that dropped Harris down again early in the third. When Harris returned to his feet Thompson landed another chopping right at the top of his head and aided his fall with a light push. Referee Vic Drakulich waved off the knockdown, but soon called the fight anyway. Official time was 1:51 of round three.

With the victory, Thompson earned a title eliminator against IBF #1 ranked heavyweight Eddie Chambers, who earned that position with a victory over Derric Rossy. “It’s going to be my title,” said Thompson after the fight. “The title is coming back to DC. Maurice got the real “Tiger.” No man is going to stand in front of a Tiger, not Eddie, not Wladimir.” IBF Heavyweight ruler Wladimir Klitschko scored an eleventh-round stoppage over Thompson in 2008 in a fight that had some competitive action.

2008 U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (7-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California justly scored a six-round unanimous decision over better-than-his-record journeyman David Lopez (3-6-3) of Nampa, Idaho, but still looks to be a work in progress.

Molina, 149, got off to a solid start, dropping Lopez, 149 ½, with a short right on the inside early in the first. Lopez proved to be game, as he came right out after Molina, forcing the Goossen Tutor Promotions prospect into an exchange. Once Molina slowed down the pace again, he easily outboxed Lopez to close the round.

For controlling rounds two and three with his better technical skills, Molina was drawn into another wild exchange in fourth. This time with was the crude southpaw Lopez that got the better of the action. Lopez seemed to edge a close fifth with a right, left combination that rocked Molina right before the bell.

Lopez refused to go away and traded with Molina again to close the sixth. In the end, the judges gave Molina a wide decision, 60-53 and 59-54 twice. For Molina it was his second fight in thirteen days and his first six-rounder, which could have played a part his less than spectacular performance. Some of the credit must go to the determined Lopez as well.

In the walkout bout, super featherweight prospect Guy Robb (4-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California scored the most entertaining shutout decision you could see over durable Noe Lopez Jr. (7-8, 4 KOs) of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

Robb, 128, forced Lopez, 131, into a corner in the early going to start off a heated two-way exchange. Robb proved a much more elusive target than was Lopez. The Sacramento resident landed the harder shots throughout the bout.

Throughout the next two rounds Robb continued to outpoint Lopez. Robb threw punches at odd angles and from odd places, and Lopez could not adapt. The fight did close with another wild exchange, but Robb took all three rounds on all three cards, 40-36. Robb returns to the ring June 25th in Fairfield, California.

Ricardo Williams Jr. (18-2, 10 KOs) of Cincinatti, Ohio continued his low pressure comeback run with a lackluster six-round unanimous decision over journeyman Chris Gray (13-15, 1 KO) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Williams, 148, did not flash much of the hand speed that made him a 2000 Olympic silver medalist and professional prospect nearly a decade ago. Gray, 148, was game and caught the slow-moving Williams on several occasions.

After six fairly competitive rounds, Williams took the cards 58-56 and 59-55 twice. For Williams, once an HBO favorite, the road back to a meaningful fight looks to be a tough one to navigate.

In a rematch of a November draw, bantamweight prospect Michael Ruiz Jr. (8-0-1, 3 KOs) of Fresno, California scored a six-round unanimous decision over the always tough Jonathan Alcantara (4-5-2) of Novato, California.

Alcantara, 120, was aggressive at the outset, but missed with an overhand right that left him open for a Ruiz, 119, counter. Just as was to be expected after their contentious interaction at the weigh-in, the action heated up early. Late in the round, Alcantara came on and landed a couple solid right hands.

The inside fight resumed to the start of the second before a Ruiz counter forced Alcantara to stumble back. The Novato resident would not be outdone, and landed two solid left lands solid. Late in the round, Alcantara unloaded a flurry that bothered Ruiz puffed up his left eye. Ruiz had some trouble getting out of the way of Alcantara’s combinations as the round progressed.

Ruiz came back well to start the third, rocking Alcantara with a one-two combination. With Alcantara seemingly stunned for the first time in the fight, Ruiz really opened up and forced his opponent across the ring. Just when it seemed the third would be a clear cut Ruiz round, Alcantara stormed back beginning with a right uppercut. With Ruiz a little punched out for a moment, Alcantara came on for a stretch. Ruiz seized control again, as he landed and overhand right-left hand combination.

Alcantara came back in the fourth as he may have hurt Ruiz with a right hand in the opening moments of the round. Ruiz came back midway through and the fourth was another hard round to score. The last two rounds were fought at a slower pace as perhaps the high work rates coupled with the high elevation began to play their part.

In the end, the Nevada judges seated ringside failed to give Alcantara any credit in their scoring. Two judges had the fight a shutout, 60-54 and the third had it 59-55 all for Ruiz.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

RENO, NEVADA — There was a time not too many generations ago when boxing’s elite fought every few weeks. In an era when the top fighters usually fight no more than twice a year, world ranked heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola eyes his second victory in just under two weeks as he takes on veteran Kendrick Releford in the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event at the Reno Events Center tonight. Fighters weighed in Thursday evening down the street at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino.

Tonight’s originally scheduled main event, which would have pitted rising light welterweight contender Josesito Lopez against Steve Upshur Chambers, was scratched not many days before Arreola (31-2, 27 KOs) of Riverside, California stopped Nagy Aguilera in three rounds. Lopez, who shares trainer Henry Ramirez with Arreola, went down with an injured hand. While they were still standing in the ring after the stoppage, which took place on the May 14th Andre Ward-Arthur Abraham undercard, the idea of fighting again tonight was brought up and less than a week later the fight was announced.

Releford (22-14-2, 10 KOs) of Fort Worth, Texas is a fighter that has been around the block and given an impressive list of solid fighters tough fights in his ten-year career. Just two years ago, Releford, who scaled 230-pounds Thursday, trimmed down and made a run at cruiserweight which ended with a third-round stoppage to Alexander Alexeev in July 2009. Since then Releford came back up around 220 and posted two wins before dropping an eight-round decision to former international amateur champion Luis Ortiz last August.

The word on Arreola, the WBC #2/IBF #5/WBO #13/WBA #15 ranked heavyweight contender, was if you could keep him busy enough he would stay in shape. After years of showing up to big fights carrying some extra baggage, Arreola came in looking lean at 234-pounds on May 14th. On Thursday, Arreola looked much the same as he came in at 236-pounds. With an impressive showing tonight, Arreola would be right in line for a return to the upper level of the division and the bigger paydays that come attached to those fights.

Arreola is not the only ranked heavyweight on the bill. In fact, the co-feature has even bigger implications, at least in the short-term, on the heavyweight title picture. Longtime top ten big man Tony Thompson (35-2, 23 KOs) of Silver Spring, Maryland takes on career-spoiler Maurice Harris (24-14-2, 10 KOs) of East Orange, New Jersey in a twelve-round bout with the IBF #2 heavyweight ranking on the line.

Harris, the IBF #6 ranked heavyweight, has taken an improbable road to get to this position once again his career. If there was ever a rollercoaster ride of a career, Maurice Harris’ fits the bill. Harris, still just 35-years-old, turned pro way back in 1992. Harris told 15rounds.com earlier in the week he feels the years of experienced have served him well going into the fight tonight.

“With age comes wisdom,” says Harris. “It was all a matter of being refocused. I always knew I knew had the talent, it was just the work ethic that I needed to improve. I have a couple more kids involved, so that changes things.”

When Harris came back to the ring last year, he made the move expecting to work his way back to this position. “I would have never come back to the ring if I didn’t feel I could do it,” says Harris, who previously fought for the IBF #2 ranking back in 2003 against Fres Oquendo. “From that first day in March that I first got back in the ring, I knew this is what I could do.”

Harris has victory of sorts over Thompson. Back in November of 2002, promoter Cedric Kushner put together a one-night heavyweight. Harris beat Gerald Nobles and Ray Austin, while Thompson advanced past Jeremy Williams and Derrick Jefferson to lead them into the finals. “When I fought him the first time, I didn’t know much about him,” recalled Harris. Harris lack of preparation did not hinder him, as he took the decision and the cash prize. “I hadn’t trained to fight a southpaw or anything. I didn’t know who I would be fighting, but that showed a lot of people where I was skill wise. I beat three different guys, three hungry guys.”

Thompson, the IBF #7 ranked heavyweight, has bounced back from his spirited effort in defeat against Wladimir Klitschko in 2008 with four consecutive stoppage victories. Most notably, Thompson halted former prospect Chazz Witherspoon in nine-rounds in December 2009. Thompson weighed in at 255 ½, while Harris came in at 244-pounds. The winner of the eliminator will eventually be matched with IBF #1 heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers with a crack at the title hanging in the balance.

“Tony’s a good fighter,” says Harris. “I’m not taking anything away from him. He’s up there for a reason. We are fighting for the number two position. It’s going to be an interesting fight. He’s hungry. I’m hungry. So it is going to be a good fight.”

In the first swing bout, 2008 U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (6-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California returns to the ring with the same turnaround as Arreola, having fought on the May 14th Ward-Abraham card in Carson, California. Molina will take on David Lopez (3-5-3) of Nampa, Idaho in a four-round light middleweight fight. Molina, who fought one more round than Arreola did two weeks ago in a four-round decision over Danny Figueroa, weighed in at 149, while Lopez scaled 149 ½-pounds.

In the other swing bout, rising super featherweight prospect Guy Robb (3-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California will take his most experienced opponent to date Noe Lopez Jr. (7-7, 4 KOs) of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico in a bout scheduled for either four or six-rounds. Robb, who scaled 128-pounds, is coming in off of a thrilling four-round decision over Manuel Morales in March. Lopez, who has lost when he has stepped up to the prospect level in the past, came in at 131-pounds.

One of a few fights that have fight of the night potential is the six-round super featherweight rematch between Michael Ruiz Jr. (7-0-1, 3 KOs) of Fresno, California and Jonathan Alcantara (4-4-2) of Novato, California. Ruiz pressed the action for the most part, but was never quite able to pin Alcantara down. Alcantara boxed well at range as each fighter took a card 58-56, with the third one coming up even at 57-57. At the weigh-in it was clear there was some animosity between the two fighters. During the post-scale photo op, Alcantara shoved Ruiz. When asked what he did to provoke Alcantara, Ruiz stated, “I just smiled at him.” Ruiz came in at 119, while Alcantara came in at 120-pounds.

There is another former U.S. Olympian on the card, but from the 2000 team, as Ricardo Williams Jr. (17-2, 10 KOs) of Cincinatti, Ohio continues his comeback against journeyman Chris Gray (13-14, 1 KO) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the six-round curtain raiser. Williams, who claimed silver in Sydney, Australia, weighed in at 148-pounds, as did Gray. Williams has scored three consecutive stoppages against mostly limited opposition.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Arreola 236
Releford 230

IBF Heavyweight Championship Eliminator, 12 Rounds
Harris 244
Thompson 255 ½

Light Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Molina 149
Lopez 149 ½

Super Featherweights, 4 or 6 Rounds
Robb 128
Lopez 131

Super Bantamweights, 6 Rounds
Ruiz Jr. 119
Alcantara 120

Welterweights, 6 Rounds
Williams 148
Gray 148

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA–In a high stakes pairing of former world champions, Kendall Holt put himself in line for a meaningful fight with a devastating third-round knockout of Julio Diaz on Friday night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

The jury is still out on whether Holt (27-4, 15 KOs) of Patterson, New Jersey is still the same fighter he was during his title reign, but one thing is for sure: he can still punch. That is what Diaz (38-7, 27 KOs) of Coachella, California found out in their ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event.

Holt, the WBO #8/WBC #8/WBA #10/IBF #15 ranked light welterweight, was the naturally bigger and stronger fighter and fully exploited that advantage in the less than three rounds of action. Holt quickly landed two solid right hands in the first round, before Diaz, the IBF #9 ranked 140-pounder, came right back, throwing his left. Before the end of the round, Diaz would be cut above his left eye from an apparent headbutt.

Out-muscled for a stretch in the first, Diaz, 141 ½, had a determined start to the second. Diaz threw several combinations, but Holt, 142, did well enough covering up. Several times in the round, Holt would wait for Diaz to finish throwing before looking for a haymaker counter. On a few occasions, Holt just missed landing one of the wild swings. Diaz was the busier fighter in the round, as it was obvious Holt was looking for one knockout punch.

The third round featured excellent two-way action before the fight’s sudden end. Holt came out quick with a good right hand which briefly upset Diaz’ rhythm. In an exchange in which Diaz landed a left and Holt a right, the former belt holders clashed heads again. Soon after action resumed, Diaz opened up and landed a nice combination that gave Holt reason to take a step back. Diaz followed Holt, perhaps thinking he had hurt the New Jersey resident. Instead, Holt gave himself the room to land a left to the body that brought down Diaz’ guard and left him susceptible to the ensuing left hook upstairs. Diaz went down hard, but somehow managed to make it to his feet. With Diaz in no condition to continue, referee Marcos Rosales waved off the fight. Time of the stoppage was 2:37 of the third.

The Diaz victory alone – compounded by its shocking conclusion – instantly makes Holt a viable opponent for one of the money players at 140-pounds. After the fight, talk was that the Holt camp is considering an offer to fight IBF Light Welterweight titleholder Zab Judah. The match-up would be a turf war of sorts, with Holt hailing from New Jersey and Judah, New York. The fight will have to simmer should it come to pass; as an arm injury Holt suffered earlier in the bout gave the California State Athletic Commission reason enough to tag him with a 180-day medical suspension.

For Diaz, Friday’s stoppage may have been the knockout blow to his career and at the very least drops him from contender to opponent status. Should his career be over, Diaz should take solace in the fact that for a bunch of years he was one of the best in the sport. Counted out more than once his career, Diaz always battled back and brought himself back into the upper echelon. Diaz twice claimed the IBF Lightweight title and twice dropped the belt to elite fighters, Jose Luis Castillo and Juan Diaz. This time however, it is hard to envision the now 31-year-old “Kidd” Diaz working his way back to a title opportunity.

In the spirited co-feature, Jonathan Gonzalez (13-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico turned back the challenge of a game Rudy Cisneros (12-3, 11 KOs) of Chicago, Illinois, scoring a seventh-round stoppage. Cisneros, 152 ½, gave Gonzalez, 154, some trouble, especially in the early going, with his constant pressure. Eventually class showed through, as Gonzalez, the WBA #11 ranked light middleweight, took charge in the second half.

Cisneros took some solid shots through four, but handled them well outside of some bad swelling around his left eye. However, by the fifth, Gonzalez’ power began to have a showing effect on Cisneros. Most notably a short right forced the Chicago native to stutter step. Still determined, Cisneros managed to return the favor and rock Gonzalez late in the round.

The fight took a complete turn in favor of the 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian in round six, as Gonzalez unloaded with Cisneros against the ropes late in the round. Cisneros refused to cave in and fired back when possible, but with not much behind his shots. Gonzalez jumped back on Cisneros early in the seventh, eventually forcing him to the ropes for an unanswered barrage. Cisneros’ corner attempted to throw in the towel, but their toss fell short and got caught on the rope. Finally the inspector in their corner signaled referee Ray Corona to stop the bout. The official time came at 1:50 of round seven.

Gonzalez will be back after a quick turnaround as he is scheduled to compete in an eight-rounder against an opponent to be named on a special Saturday edition of Showtime’s Shobox: The New Generation on June 11th emanating from the Roseland Ballroom in New York, New York.

In a rematch of a thriller, undefeated Kurtiss Colvin (5-0, 4 KOs) of Austin, Texas made a statement with a second-round knockout of Cameron Allen (3-7, 1 KO) of Battle Creek, Michigan. Colvin, 159, jumped on Allen, 158 ½, early and often, rocking him early in round one with a combination.

Allen managed to withstand Colvin’s attack and make it into the second round, but may wish he had not. Colvin dropped Allen with a left, but the Battle Creek resident got up to take more punishment. Eventually, Colvin forced Allen against the ropes for a pounding before a right to the body set up a two-punch combination upstairs which downed Allen a second time. Referee Ray Corona waved off the fight without a count at 2:52 of the second round.

In their first meeting, which took place in February, the well regarded Colvin survived a knockdown and a standing eight-count to drop the tenacious Allen in the third en route a four-round majority decision. Colvin will likely return to the ring on June 10th back at the Chumash Casino Resort.

In an excellent fight, unbeaten prospect Julian Williams (6-0-1, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania failed to notch a win for the first time in his pro career as Francisco Santana (12-2-1, 6 KOs) of Santa Barbara, California came on strong in the second half of the fight to force a unanimous draw.

Williams, 153, got off to a solid start, outboxing Santana, 153 ½, in rounds one and two. Santana was competitive in the early going, but Williams seemed to be taking the rounds with a composed and measured performance. Santana looked to turn the fight in round four, as he just threw and threw, keeping Williams on the defensive. Eventually Santana tired, which enabled Williams to pick him off at range as the round closed.

In the second half of the fight, Santana seemed to understand he had little chance fighting on the outside, and made it an inside fight whenever possible. At times he would smother his shots, but it was still more effective than anything he had done at a distance, where Williams’ boxing skill made a big difference.

Santana had his best round when he needed it most, the fifth. The Santa Barbara native caught Williams with a leaping left counter, rocking the Philly prospect. Late in the round, Santana landed clean with a combination and flurried Williams until the bell. Had there been another minute in the round, it looked as though Williams may fall.

One would have had to figure Williams was up on the cards entering the sixth, and it would be in his best interest to keep the fight at range if not get outright on his bicycle. However, Williams was apparently too tired to run which made for an exciting final round. Both had their moments in some heated exchanges to close out the fight, which received a standing ovation from the crowd on hand. Justly perhaps, no fighter left with an ‘L’ as all three judges had the fight 57-57.

Rufino Serrano (9-3) of Santa Maria, California did enough to edge journeyman Ramon Flores (3-12-2, 3 KOs) of Wilmington, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in a six-rounder. Flores, 129, did have more than his fair share of moments in the contest. After getting outboxed from the opening bell, Flores managed to drop Serrano, 126 ¾, with a right hand before the end of the first round. It was clearly a flash knockdown, but still not the way Serrano wanted to end the first round.

The fight was mostly Serrano’s from there on out however. Serrano, who fights and dresses in a style similar to former champion Paul Malignaggi, scored a knockdown late in the fight, but when Flores kneeled down, the local favorite continued to swing away at him. Nothing really damaging seemed to land and referee Marcos Rosales chose to issue a warning to Serrano, rather than take a point. In the end, Serrano was a unanimous victor by scores of 58-55, 58-56 and 57-56.

Anthony Dirrell (21-0, 18 KOs) of Flint, Michigan continued to bolster his stats with a third-round knockout of a completely outclassed Alberto Mercedes (14-18-1, 10 KOs) of West Allis, Wisconsin.

Dirrell, 170, was superior in every way and it was very clear from the first bell. Mercedes, 171, came to earn his paycheck however, and did not fold at the first opportunity as one might have expected him to. Watching the fight, you got the sense Dirrell, the WBC #8 ranked super middleweight, could end it at any instance if he really wanted to, but he opted to toy with Mercedes instead.

Apparently deciding he had put in enough time, Dirrell opted to throw and land the left to the body that had been available all night. Having taken some stiff head shots, Mercedes gave in to the body blow and dropped to a knee. Having seen enough, Mercedes’ corner threw in the towel to signal for the stoppage which came officially at 2:48 of the third round. According to his team, Anthony Dirrell is pegged to fight in his home of Flint, Michigan for the first time in almost five years on July 2nd.

Former amateur champion Seniesa Estrada (1-0) of East Los Angeles, California flashed some of the skills that made her one of the top amateurs in female boxing over the last few years en route to a shutout unanimous decision over Maria Ruiz (0-3-2) of Houston, Texas.

Estrada, 111 ½, switched seamlessly from orthodox to southpaw, showed great hand speed and solid technique over the four rounds. Ruiz, 112 ½, was rocked by a left hook in the early going and had no answer for Estrada at any time in the fight. Estrada may have been a bit too relaxed and cautious considering the level of her opponent. At range Estrada looked like a world class veteran, but she did look uncomfortable in spots on the inside. In the end all three judges had the fight and every round for Estrada, 40-36.

In an exciting swing bout, Daniel Roman (2-0-1, 1 KO) of Garden Grove, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over a gritty Alfredo Madrigal (1-1) of Bakersfield, California. Roman and Madrigal went toe-to-toe from the outset. In the first, it seemed every time one of them landed solid; the other would return the favor right away.

The action remained pretty even until a left hook from Roman, 118, dropped Madrigal, 118, in the second round. Roman began to find Madrigal’s body repeatedly in the third round. By the middle of the round, it was clear that Madrigal’s right side was pretty tender. Roman had loaded up on lefts to his body all round before the final bell sounded. When Madrigal made it back to his corner, his trainer placed him gently on the stool and the Bakersfield native still winced in pain. Roman took the fourth, most notably landing a solid one-two against the ropes and went on to win by the score of 40-35 three times.

In the opening bout of the night, Jhon Ortega (5-0, 5 KOs) of Londonderry, New Hampshire scored a devastating fourth-round knockout of Marcus Thompkins (5-4-1, 2 KOs) of Michigan City, Indiana. After controlling the action for three plus rounds, Ortega, 144 ½, landed a picture perfect one-two to drop Thompkins, 145 ¼, who went down hard and did not require even the start of a count from referee Ray Corona. Official time was 27 seconds of round four.

Joel Diaz (3-0, 2 KOs) of Palmdale, California made short work of Dionicio Alvarez (1-3) of Fresno, California in the final bout of the evening. After a clean body shot, Diaz, 128, flurried Alvarez, 126 ¼, into a corner before referee Ray Corona stopped the bout. The stoppage came at 2:08 of the first round.

Photos by Mark Ortega

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

CARSON, CALIFORNIA–In the first Super Six World Boxing Classic semi-final, tournament favorite Andre Ward continued his unbeaten run through the competition with a decisive twelve-round decision over Arthur Abraham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on Saturday night.

Abraham (32-3, 26 KOs) of Berlin, Germany by way of Yerevan, Armenia did have his moments in the early going. Ward (24-0, 14 KOs) of Oakland, California did not appear to be comfortable in rounds one and two. Abraham, 167, kept Ward, 168, out of his rhythm while making the former Olympian fight his fight.

The fight got rough and ugly in the third, as Abraham, the WBO #1/WBA #3 ranked super middleweight, got on the inside and smothered Ward. Not much was accomplished, but it was Abraham that landed the only clean blows in the round.

Incredibly after winning all of the first three rounds on this writer’s unofficial card, Abraham reverted back to his shell defense of previous fights to start the fourth. Slowly as the round progressed, Ward began to open up offensively, while Abraham remained defensive. Just before the end of the round, Ward began to break through Abraham’s guard. A heated exchange to close the fourth woke up the crowd.

Each fighter had their moments in a back-and-forth fifth. Two rights for Ward stunned Abraham. The Germany-based, Armenian-born crowd favorite managed to catch Ward while chasing the champion into a corner. After a warning from referee Luis Pabon for holding, Abraham landed a solid left near the end of the round.

In the sixth, Ward began to find a home for his one-two combinations. The jab forced Abraham to cover up, but Ward would place his follow-ups where he could find openings. Abraham’s body also became a more available target once Ward began utilizing his jab. Before round’s end, Ward landed a clean uppercut followed by a hard right hand. Again, Abraham just covered up and offered nothing in return.

Rounds seven, eight and nine were near mirror images of each other. Abraham remained defensive and Ward found success boxing and moving his hands. Not everything landed clean, but even when Ward hit Abraham’s gloves it took an effect on his face, which was hiding behind them. In the tenth, a now ultra-confident Ward turned southpaw for the longest stretch in the fight and pounded away at Abraham while facing no consequences.

After making little visible effort to win from the middle rounds of the fight, Abraham made a somewhat spirited attempt at making something happen in the final round. It would be far too little too late. Ward weathered the brief on rush was out in front again by the end of the round. The scoring was academic, as judge Ingo Barrabas had it 118-110, James Jen-Kin, 118-111, and judge Stanley Christodoulou, 120-108.

Given the large Armenian community in Southern California, Ward had the crowd against him for the first time in a long time Saturday night. It was something Ward, who has received criticism from pundits as well as opponents’ promoters for fighting at home in recent bouts, welcomed with open arms.

“I told people before, who said they thought he might have more fans, ‘He might have more fans but it’ll be fun.’ That’s what it was, because you have to prove you as a champion that you can win under different circumstances,” said Ward at the post-fight presser. “I know that I can perform under any circumstances, but it was good to let the people know I can perform under any circumstances.”

With the victory, Ward retained his WBA 168-pound title and moves on to the tournament finals where he will meet the winner of the June 4th clash between Carl Froch and Glen Johnson, which takes place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Froch is currently the WBC Super Middleweight ruler, and a unification bout is something Ward looks forward to. “I want that green belt,” said Ward, citing its historical relevance as the reason.

While Ward does not discount Johnson’s chances in the bout, he expects Froch to come out victorious and move into the finals. It is a fight that Ward eagerly anticipates, should it come to fruition. “He’s been calling for it,” said Ward of Froch. “We want to give the fans what they want. It is going to be an action-packed fight. It’ll be a live atmosphere like it was tonight.”

Chris Arreola (31-2, 27 KOs) of Riverside, California came in shape, but fought a risky fight en route to a third-round knockout over Nagy Aguilera (16-6, 11 KOs) of Newburgh, New York. Arreola, 234, landed a right hand that staggered Aguilera, 238, early in the first. With Aguilera in the ropes Arreola opened up, but left himself open to a right hand counter that looked good. But Arreola did not flinch and kept coming before rocking Aguilera again.

Arreola, the WBC #3/IBF #5/WBO #12/WBA #15 ranked heavyweight, worked over Aguilera again in the second, but the New Yorker remained game. Late in the second round Arreola went for the kayo, but ended up punching himself out. Aguilera took note of Arreola’s waning energy level and opened up himself to some success.

Arreola came out swinging and wobbled Aguilera with a right in the third. As the Riverside native unloaded a combination, referee Raul Caiz Jr. almost jumped in to stop the fight. However, Aguilera would fire a wild swing every time the stoppage looked eminent. When Arreola took a break and flurried again, Caiz decided Aguilera had taken enough. Right when Caiz leaped in, Aguilera fired a wild shot. While Aguilera was coherent and angry over the stoppage, Caiz made the right call. Time of the stoppage was 1:58 of round three.

Shawn Estrada (12-0, 11 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California did what he was supposed to in knocking out Joseph Gardner (7-3-1, 1 KO) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island early into round one. Estrada, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, was the much bigger man in the fight and it showed. Estrada, 174, landed a right hook, left hook combination to drop Gardner, 166, in the first round. The referee immediately waved off the bout at 1:27 of the first.

In Gardner’s two previous losses it took former world title challenger Elvin Ayala four full rounds to get a stoppage and prospect Vladine Biosse only managed a four-round decision. Given that information, Estrada’s performance looks pretty impressive on paper. However, much of the praise he would have received for outshining Gardner’s previous foes will not come due to the fact that Estrada, a middleweight as an Olympian, came in several pounds over the contracted weight on Friday. At the scales Estrada outweighed Gardner by eight pounds, a differential that was likely increased by first bell.

Goossen Tutor Promotions’ Javier Molina (6-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over durable Danny Figueroa (3-2, 2 KOs) of Hastings, Minnesota. Molina, 148, was clearly the more technically sound boxer and used those skills to outbox the determined Figueroa, 148. After four-rounds, Molina, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, had scored a shutout on all three cards, 40-36. Molina will get a quick turnaround with a fight already scheduled for May 27th at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. Molina is slated to take on David Lopez in a swing bout that may be his initial foray into the six-round scheduled distance.

Dominik Britsch (23-0, 8 KOs) of Neckarsulm, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany stopped Delray Raines (18-10-1, 13 KOs) of Paris, Arkansas in the fifth-round of a bout that was put together at the last possible minute. Britsch, who had his opponent switched several times in the last month, scored one knockdown each in the second thru fifth rounds. Most of them looked brutual enough to warrant the stoppage. The one that did it in the end was a right that sent the journeyman down in a heap. Referee Ray Balewicz had finally seen enough at 2:21 of the round.

Armen Ovsepyan (11-1, 9 KOs) knocked out Arturo Brambila (9-15, 4 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in the first round of a scheduled four-rounder. A two-punch combo started with the left dropped Brambila to the canvas and referee Raul Caiz Jr. opted not to begin a count. Time of the stoppage was 2:44 of the first.

Rising bantamweight prospect Matt Villanueva (6-0, 5 KOs) of Van Nuys, Caifornia overpowered young journeyman Frank Gutierrez (2-10-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California in an impressive first-round knockout. Gutierrez, 118, was game us usual, but also outgunned as usual. Villanueva, 117, went swing for swing with Gutierrez before placing a blow that looked to catch the Highland resident behind the head. However, the referee ruled it a knockdown. It was quickly downhill from there, as another right knocked Gutierrez down and out. Official time of the stoppage was 2:56 of the first.

Andrey Klimov (11-0, 6 KOs) of Van Nuys, California by way of Klimovsk, Moscow, Russia scored the most impressive win of his young career with a third-round knockout of former prospect Ty Barnett (18-2-1, 12 KOs) of Washington, DC. Klimov, 137, was in control of the fight from the outset before putting Barnett, 135, down and out in the night’s opening bout. Official time of the stoppage was 1:12 of the third round.

Bowie Tupou (21-1, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles by way of Nuku’alofa, Tonga battled back from some tough early rounds to stop former world ranked contender Manuel Quezada (29-7, 18 KOs) of Wasco, California in the final bout of the evening.

After a feeling out first round, Quezada, 233, turned up his aggression and took control of the fight in the second. Quezada stuck Tupou, 245, with a hard left early in the round. The shot put Tupou against the ropes and set him up for a clean right. The series put Tupou in clinch mode, which helped him get out of trouble.

After winning the third close, Quezada was got caught by a suddenly wild Tupou in the fourth. One flurry forces the Wasco native to the ropes, but Quezada managed to avoid Tupou’s fiercest bombs. After a shaky fourth, Quezada battled back in the fifth and got the better of some heated exchanges.

The fight then turned against Quezada in the sixth, as Tupou suddenly discovered his right hand. After some hard shots upstairs, Tupou landed a combo to Quezada’s body that had the former contender bending at the waist. Another right to Quezada’s body seemed to score a knockdown for Tupou, but it was waved off as a slip by referee Jerry Cantu.

Further illustrating the fact that Tupou had really scored a knockdown in the sixth, Quezada was quickly in trouble after the start of the seventh. With “El Toro” against the ropes, Tupou landed a clean left to his face that forced Quezada to his knees. Stunned with a bloody and perhaps broken nose, Quezada failed to get up off of his knees and was counted out. Official time of the knockout, the most significant win of Tupou’s career to this point, was 53 seconds of the seventh.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — The Super Six World Boxing Classic, boxing’s version of Survivor, enters its final stages tonight as tournament favorite Andre Ward defends his WBA Super Middleweight title against early tournament front-runner Arthur Abraham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Fighters weighed in Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Los Angeles International Airport in nearby Los Angeles.

Ward (23-0, 13 KOs) of Oakland, California may be just two wins away from breaking through into the superstar realm of the sport. Entering the tournament, few of boxing’s so-called experts gave Ward much chance to upset Mikkel Kessler, much less win the entire tournament outright, running the table in the process as he has done thus far. Some may be quick to point out that, due to some early fighter fallouts, Ward has only faced one of the original Super Six in his three bouts since the tournament began.

However, Abraham (32-2, 26 KOs) of Berlin, Germany by way of Yerevan, Armenia is not only one of the original tournament competitors, but entering the ground-breaking experiment, “King” Arthur was one of the co-favorites alongside Kessler. Abraham finds himself in a position he probably never envisioned. After putting Jermain Taylor’s career in doubt with a last minute stoppage, the former middleweight champion was completely outboxed by Andre Dirrell before he got himself disqualified in the eleventh. In his next outing, Abraham was again outboxed, this time even more one-sidedly by Carl Froch. Abraham, ultra-confident entering the tournament, was so down that his promoter arranged a confidence-building tune-up this past February in Germany. What Abraham gained from his second-round stoppage of an overmatched Stejepan Bozic remains to be seen.

Based on their recent body of work, Ward enters tonight’s contest an overwhelming favorite and the pick of many to win the entire tournament, regardless of who triumphs in the other semi-final between Froch and late tournament entry Glen Johnson. Abraham, who enters the bout the WBO #1/WBA #3 ranked super middleweight, has left some to question his viability as a 168-pound contender with his recent performances. Should Abraham pull of the upset tonight, his recent disappointments will be quickly forgotten. Ward scaled 168 Thursday, while Abraham came in at a fit 167-pounds.

Adding some ticket-buying incentive for the local fight fans, world class heavyweight Chris Arreola (30-2, 26 KOs) of Riverside, California will continue his rebuilding process in a ten-rounder against former upset artist Nagy Aguilera (16-5, 11 KOs) of Newburgh, New York.

Arreola, the WBC #3/IBF #5/WBO #12/WBA #15 ranked heavyweight, came in at a fit-and-trim 234, shocking many of his critics. Aguilera, whose name-making victory came over former champion Oleg Maskaev, came in at 238-pounds. A motivated Arreola figures to be a hard test for Aguilera to pass. Arreola, who has routinely showed up out of shape for much bigger fights, looks to be ready to make a statement and move on to bigger things once more.

Another local favorite looks to further endear himself to the Southern California faithful, as Shawn Estrada (11-0, 10 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California will take on Joseph Gardner (7-2-1, 1 KO) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island in a six-round super middleweight attraction. Estrada got his career back on track late last year and has looked impressive against a higher caliber of opponent in recent outings. Estrada, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, dominated once-beaten Jon Schmidt this past January and will look to do the same tonight against Gardner, who has only lost to quality opposition. Unfortunately any victory Estrada comes out with tonight will likely be diminished by the lack of professionalism he displayed by coming in well over the contracted weight Thursday. Estrada did not look to be in great condition as he scaled 174-pounds to Gardner’s 166-pounds.

Javier Molina (5-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California signed a promotional agreement with Goossen Tutor Promotions at the same time his 2008 U.S. Olympic teammate Shawn Estrada did, but injuries have held Molina back at several instances in his brief career. Molina looks to accelerate his career path beginning tonight with a four-round welterweight bout against Danny Figueroa (3-1, 2 KOs) of Hastings, Minnesota. Should Molina, who scaled 148-pounds, come out unscathed, he is already scheduled to return to the ring May 27th in Reno, Nevada. Figueroa also came in at 148-pounds.

In an intriguing crossroads heavyweight clash, former world ranked contender Manuel Quezada (29-6, 18 KOs) of Wasco, California takes on untested hopeful Bowie Tupou (20-1, 15 KOs) in a ten-rounder. For tonight’s victor, big fights and big names could be right around the corner. Quezada, who is returning to the ring for the first time since a brave effort against Chris Arreola, came in at 233-pounds. Tupou, who has had a stop and start career to this point, came in at 245-pounds.

Rising bantamweight prospect Matt Villanueva (5-0, 5 KOs) of Van Nuys, California will take on young journeyman Frank Gutierrez (2-9-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California in a four-round bout. Villanueva, who has impressed his fair share of boxing pundits in his five outings, weighed in at 117-pounds Thursday. Gutierrez, who has never been matched in an easy fight, came in at the 118-pound bantamweight division limit.

Armen Ovsepyan (10-1, 8 KOs) of Yerevan, Armenia will take on longtime journeyman Arturo Brambila (9-14, 4 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in a four-round light middleweight fight. Ovsepyan, who will likely have a large and supportive Armenian crowd on hand, came in at 147 ¾-pounds on Thursday. Brambila, in the familiar role of opponent once again, scaled 149 ½-pounds at the weigh-in.

Ty Barnett (18-1-1, 12 KOs) of Washington, DC will test Andrey Klimov (10-0, 5 KOs) of Van Nuys, California by way of Klimovsk, Moscow, Russia in a six-round light welterweight bout. Barnett, who not too long ago was a well-regarded prospect himself, is by far the toughest for Klimov has shared a ring with since turning professional. Klimov, trained by Joe Goossen, came in at 137-pounds. Barnett, came in at the lightweight limit of 135.

For the last few weeks it looked as though Sauerland Event-promoted Dominik Britsch (22-0, 7 KOs) of Neckarsulm, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany would be left without an opponent tonight. Among the opponents that fell out were journeyman Ryan Davis and former title challenger Billy Lyell. Stepping in last minute for the six-round encounter is Delray Raines (18-9-1, 13 KOs) of Paris, Arkansas. Britsch came in at 168, while Raines came in at 167-pounds.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBA Super Middleweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Ward 168
Abraham 167

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Arreola 234
Aguilera 238

Super Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Estrada 174
Gardner 166

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Molina 148 ¼
Figueroa 148

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Quezada 233
Tupou 245

Super Flyweights, 4 Rounds
Villanueva 117
Gutierrez 118

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Ovsepyan 147 ¾
Brambila 149 ½

Light Welterweight, 4 Rounds
Barnett 135
Klimov 137

Super Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Britsch 168
Raines 167

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com

Former world title challenger Andre Dirrell took in a night at the fights Friday at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. The fight Dirrell came to see was his brother’s, Anthony Dirrell, who moved to 21-0 with a win over journeyman Alberto Mercedes. Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KOs) of Flint, Michigan, who was forced to put his career on hold reportedly due to recurring neurological symptoms, told 15rounds.com he has been cleared to resume his boxing career. Dirrell also gives his take on the Andre Ward-Arhtur Abraham Super Six World Boxing Classic semi-final, which just happens to be taking place today.

The term “must-win” is one of the many overused phrases in all of sports. That being said, tonight’s pairing of former world champions Kendall Holt and Julio Diaz, which takes place at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, is one that warrants that abused label. The winner will be set up for one last crack at a major player, while the loser will likely be relegated to name opponent status.

It seems like forever ago that Holt (26-4, 14 KOs) of Patterson, New Jersey was in a pick ‘em unification bout against Timothy Bradley Jr. A quick check of the record books shows that bout, a notch or two below a superfight at the time, took place just over two years ago. Holt scored two official knockdowns, but came up short in losing a twelve-round unanimous decision, thus handing over his WBO 140-pound title to Bradley. Holt has experienced his share of troubles since, including legal woes and a surprising stoppage suffered at the hands of Kaizer Mabuza. Diaz represents the type of opponent that could bolster the view of Holt enough that a bigger money fight could be possible.

Diaz (38-6, 27 KOs) of Coachella, California is in a very similar position. Turn the pages of the record books back a little further and you will find Diaz entering a lightweight unification bout with Juan Diaz a slight underdog. The young “Baby Bull” handled Julio “The Kidd” quite handily that October night in 2007. Diaz would go on to losing two of his next four bouts before restoring some of his credibility with a recent two-fight winning run over solid to decent opposition.

Their ten-round fight, which takes place just over the light welterweight limit, headlines tonight’s ESPN2 Friday Night Fights telecast. Diaz, the two-time former IBF Lightweight titleholder, scaled 141 ½-pounds Thursday. Holt, who ended an eleven-month layoff with a first-round knockout in January, weighed in at 142-pounds.

In the televised co-feature, undefeated puncher Jonathan Gonzalez (12-0, 12 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico will take on his toughest test to date in Rudy Cisneros (12-2, 11 KOs) of Chicago, Illinois in an eight-round light middleweight bout. Gonzalez, a 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian, weighed in at 154-pounds. Cisneros, who had a solid win on his resume before his 2008 decision over Latif Mundy was changed to a no contest for a failed drug test, weighed in at 152 ½-pounds. Cisneros has been out of action since December of 2009.

In an intriguing undercard bout, Julian Williams (6-0, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania meets Francisco Santana (12-2, 6 KOs) of Santa Barbara, California in a six-round pairing of light middleweights. Williams has an unblemished record, but he has never been in with a fighter of Santana’s caliber before. Santana has faced the tougher opposition and both of his losses were suffered at the hands of still unbeaten prospect Karim Mayfield. Williams scaled 153-pounds, while Santana weighed-in at 153 ½.

Locally popular super featherweight Rufino Serrano (8-3) of Santa Maria, California will take on Ramon Flores (3-11-2, 3 KOs) of Wilmington, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in a six-rounder. Serrano, a winner of this last four, weighed in at 126 ¾-pounds, while Flores came in at 129.

Jhon Ortega (4-0, 4 KOs) of Londonderry, New Hampshire will take on Marcus Thompkins (5-3-1, 2 KOs) of Michigan City, Indiana in a six-round welterweight fight. The unbeaten Ortega, fighting in California for the fifth straight time, weighed in at 144 ½-pounds. Thompkins, who has failed to win four straight times, scaled 145 ¼-pounds.

Joel Diaz (2-0, 1 KO) of Palmdale, California looks to get his year rolling against Dionicio Alvarez (1-2) of Fresno, California in a four-round super featherweight fight. Diaz turned pro last July and picked up two wins in three months, but has been on the shelf since late last year. Diaz’ layoff is nothing compared to the one Alvarez will end tonight. Alvarez was last seen in May of 2006 and is coming off of a knockout defeat at bantamweight. Diaz scaled 128-pounds, while came in at 126 ¼.

In a rematch, undefeated Kurtiss Colvin (4-0, 3 KOs) of Austin, Texas will take on Cameron Allen (3-6, 1 KO) of Battle Creek, Michigan in a four-round middleweight fight. In what was described in various ringside reports as a war, Colvin survived a knockdown and a standing eight-count to drop the tougher-than-advertised Allen in the third en route a four-round majority decision in February. Allen took a fight against another unbeaten foe just a month later and lost a decision, while Colvin has been idle since his first pro scare. Colvin came in at 159-pounds, while Allen scaled 158 ½.

Former amateur champion Seniesa Estrada of Los Angeles, California will make her professional debut against Maria Ruiz (0-2-2) of Houston, Texas in a four-round light flyweight bout. Estrada, the 2009 USA Boxing National Champion at 112-pounds, came in at 111 ½-pounds, while Ruiz scaled 112 ½.

In a four-round bantamweight bout, Daniel Roman (1-0-1, 1 KO) of Garden Grove, California will take on Alfredo Madrigal (1-0) of Bakersfield, California. Roman, coming in off of a February draw, weighed in at 118-pounds, as did Madrigal, who is making his 2011 debut.

A familiar name was a late addition to the card, as Anthony Dirrell (20-0, 17 KOs) of Flint, Michigan will take on Alberto Mercedes (14-17-1, 10 KOs) of West Allis, Wisconsin in a six-round light heavyweight fight. Dirrell, the WBC #8 ranked super middleweight, came in at 170-pounds. Mercedes, originally of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, scaled 171-pounds.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at StarTickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Welterweights, 10 Rounds
Holt 142
Diaz 141 ½

Light Middleweights, 8 Rounds
Gonzalez 154
Cisneros 152 ½

Light Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Williams 153
Santana 153 ½

Super Featherweights, 6 Rounds
Serrano 126 ¾
Flores 129

Welterweights, 6 Rounds
Ortega 144 ½
Thompkins 145 ¼

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Diaz 128
Alvarez 126 ¼

Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Colvin 159
Allen 158 ½

Light Flyweights, 4 Rounds
Estrada 111 ½
Ruiz 112 ½

Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Roman 118
Madrigal 118

Super Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Dirrell 170
Mercedes 171

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com,