By: John Pinto – “Path to Glory” Ontario Doubletree Hotel Ontario, California

Thompson Boxing Promotions hosted their latest monthly installment of Professional Boxing at the Ontario Doubletree Hotel on October 19. Billed as “Path to Glory”, a total of 5 bouts of differing weight classes, which varied in their intensity, were presented to a less than full house, yet still very lively boisterous fight fans. Thompson Boxing’s “up and coming” star, Danny “The Baby Faced Assassin”, was on hand to autograph photos, and later, during the show, work as a commentator on Thompson’s livestream broadcast.

The show opened with a scheduled 6 Round contest between two veteran Lightweight combatants, Rafael “Big Bang” Rivera (128.8 lbs., Tijuana, Mexico, 25-2-2, 16 KOs) and Jose “Pelon” Ramos (132.4 lbs., Guanajuato, Mexico, 11-14-1, 8 KOs). The very beginning of the bout was a “feeling out” process for both fighters, but about 1 minute into the contest, “Big Bang” Rivera unloaded Ramos’ body and head. The Referee, Ray Corona, gave Ramos an 8 count about 40 seconds later, but at the 1:51 mark had seen enough, and called a halt to the contest, in favor of “Big Bang” Rivera, who won by a KO.

Next on the card was a 4 Round Junior Middleweight contest between Anthony “The Future” Franco (154.2 lbs., Redlands, California, 2-1-1) and “The Dangerous” Antonio Louis Hernandez (153.3 lbs., Kansas City, Kansas, 1-3). In this contest, both fighters exploded upon each other from the opening bell. By the end of the opening round, however, in this writer’s opinion, Hernandez was in control. As the 2nd round began, Hernandez continued to dominate, but as the round progressed, both fighters landed some good shots, in what would prove to be a very tough round to score. Round 3 began as a continuation of Round 2, but about halfway through the round, a left hook from Franco sent an “off balance” Hernandez to the canvas. For the remainder of the round, Hernandez adopted a “back-pedal” strategy. By Round 4, the contest had become a “seesaw” battle, as each contestant had their respective moments, and both began to show the wear. Throughout the contest, in this writer’s opinion, Hernandez did too much clowning. Three judges scored this contest 40-35, 39-36, and 38-37, respectively, in favor of Anthony Franco, the winner by a Unanimous Decision.

A 4 Round Heavyweight contest between Oscar Torrez (207.1 lbs., Rialto, California, 2-0, 1 KO) and Richard Soto (257.2 lbs., Dinuba, California, Pro Debut) followed. The first round of this contest was mostly a “feeling-out” process. Both combatants landed some good shots. The next round was punctuated by a lot of wrestling and holding, a tactic more peculiar to the heavier weight classes, and also a slower pace. This continued into the 3rd round as well. Round 4 would prove to be the most exciting round of the fight. Around the 1:10 mark, a series of blows sent Soto to the canvas, in a sitting-down position. The 3 judges scored the contest 39-36, 40-35, and 39-36, in favor of Torrez, the winner by a Unanimous Decision.

Next on the program was another 4 Round Junior Middleweight contest between Loui Lopez (152.9 lbs., Corona, California, 4-0, 3 KOs) and “Sugar” Ray Cervera (154.7 lbs., Bakersfield, California, 0-1). In the 1st Round it was Lopez who forced the action, in spite of a game but not a very effective effort by Cervera. Lopez landed far better punches than Cervera. The 2nd Round was all Lopez. He landed some wicked shots throughout the round. Cervera began to hold quite a lot in the 3rd Round. The punches Cervera through were not effective at all. Lopez, by this time, was “pitching a shutout”. In the final round, Cervera made a game, but not very effective effort.  The three judge’s scores told the story. All three scored the contest 40-36, in favor of Lopez, the Winner by a Unanimous Decision. Loui Lopez made a special presentation to his grandfather, after the result was announced, for his continued battle against cancer, which touched this writer.

It was time for the Main Event of the evening. The contest would be an 8 Round Bantamweight contest between Saul “The Beast” Sanchez (117.8 lbs, Pacoima, California, 10-0, 6 KOs) and Fernando “7 Barrios” Saver (118 lbs, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 7-5, 3 KOs). These two gladiators went at each other from the opening bell for Round 1. It was a very active round. The momentum was with Sanchez for the first half of the round, and with Saavedra for the last half of the round. By Round 2, it had become a seesaw battle with the action and momentum going back and forth between the two. Each fighter had their respective moments. As Round 3 began, the two fighters picked up where they left off from Round 2, and they battled to the end of the round. Round 4 was no different. The action continued to be nonstop. The pace slowed somewhat in Round 5 but both fighters continued to land blows. The pace continued to be a bit slower in Round 6, but the toe-to-toe contest continued, nonetheless. Saavedra’s mouthpiece came out about halfway through the round. Because of the torrid pace of the earlier rounds, the action slowed somewhat in Round 7. Both let everything go in the final round, battling to the end. Judges Fernando Villareal and Krysti Rosario scored the contest 77-75, while Judge Ed Hernandez scored it 76-76. The Winner by a Majority Decision was Saul Sanchez.

One more evening of exciting boxing action came to a conclusion.

Thompson Boxing Promotions’ final show of 2018 will be on November 16.

By John Pinto : “New Blood” Ontario Doubletree Hotel Ontario, California

Thompson Boxing Promotions hosted their latest installment of Professional Boxing at the Ontario Doubletree Hotel on September 21. Billed as “New Blood”, a total of 5 bouts of differing weight classes, that varied in their intensity, were presented to a near full house of very lively boisterous fight fans.

The show opened with a 4-round contest in the Welterweight division. Matched against each other were David Ortiz III (140 lbs., Bloomington, California, making his professional debut), and Mario “El Lion” Angeles (145 ¾ lbs., San Diego, California, 2-10-2). A good part of the “lively boisterous” crowd mentioned in the previous paragraph appeared to be in attendance to cheer for Ortiz. Though Angeles gave a very game effort, Ortiz dominated the contest throughout with a wicked body attack. Angeles had a few brief spells of activity, but the fight was all Ortiz, and all three judges scored the bout 40-36, in favor of David Ortiz III, the winner of his pro debut by a Unanimous Decision.

Next on the card was a scheduled 4-round Junior Middleweight contest between Richard “Cool Breeze” Brewart, Jr. (152 ¾ lbs., Rancho Cucamonga, California, 1-0), and Edward “Eddie” Aceves (152 ¾ lbs., Houston, Texas, 0-4). From the opening bell, Brewart unleashed an onslaught of punches upon Aceves that did not stop. Aceves took a trip to the canvas at the end of round 1. Only the bell saved Aceves from getting knocked out. However, in the 2nd round, Brewart continued has onslaught, and at 1:32 of the round, Referee Edward Hernandez, Sr. had seen enough, and called a halt to the action. Brewart had won his second pro fight by a Knockout.

A scheduled 6-round Lightweight contest between Ruben “Ace” Torres (136 lbs., South Central, Los Angeles, 6-0, 5 KO’s), and Eder “Koreano” Amaro (132 ¾ lbs., Matamoros, Mexico, 6-5, 2 KO’s). This fight appeared to be more evenly matched than the fight that preceded it. Both contestants exploded upon each other from the opening bell, each one having their moments. Rounds 2 and 3 were pretty much the same, however, by the end of the 3rd round Torres started to take charge. Torres continued his domination of the contest in the 4th round. Amaro’s corner stopped the contest in between the 4th and 5th rounds. Torres was the winner by a KO.

Next on the card was a 6-round Bantamweight battle, introduced as the Co-Main Event of the evening. The contest featured Mario “El Gallito” Hernandez (118 lbs., Santa Ana, California, 7-0, 3 KO’s) and Ivan “Ivan Lee” Gonzalez (115 ¾ lbs., Mexico City, Mexico, 4-1-1, 1 KO). This contest began at a somewhat slower pace than the preceding bouts had, but Hernandez came to life about halfway through the opening round, and dominated the round to its conclusion. The pace of the fight got faster in the 2nd round, and Gonzalez gave a very game effort. In the opinion of this writer, Gonzalez gave a very game effort in the third round, but Hernandez won the round by a slim margin. This torrid pace continued in the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds. This fight was a “seesaw” battle to its conclusion, with each contestant having their moments. When the final bell rang, one judge scored the contest 58-56, in favor of Hernandez, while each of the other 2 judges scored the contest 57-57, the result being the fight ended in a Majority Draw.

It was time for the Main Event of the evening. The contest was scheduled for 8 rounds in the Lightweight Division. Matched against each other were Michael “The West Texas Terror” Dutchover (136 lbs., Midland, Texas, 10-0, 7 KO’s), and Bergman “Snake” Aguilar (135 ½ lbs., San Jose, Costa Rica, 14-3-1, 4 KO’s). Though the contest started at a slow “feeling-out” pace, in the opening round, Dutchover soon took control, and dominated the opening round, and he continued his domination in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. By the 4th round, it was literally “target-practice” for Dutchover, and to this writer it appeared to be only a “matter of time”. In the 5th, the pace slowed somewhat, but Dutchover continued his domination. A vicious left to the body sent Aguilar to the canvas, and Referee Wayne Hedgepeth had seen enough, calling a halt to the contest at 2:31 of the round. Michael Dutchover had scored his 11th victory with a KO.

And a very enjoyable, exciting evening of Professional Boxing had reached its conclusion.

 

 

 

 

Father Time + Pedraza Take Down Beltran

08/25/2018- In the hot desert town of Glendale, Az. the wily ‘ol vet, WBO lightweight champion, Ray Beltran (35-7-1D-21K() surrendered his title to a fired up and on point, Jose (Sniper)  Perdraza (24-1-12K(). Beltran who’s never an easy night for ANY body, was in a battle from the beginning. He was cut over the left eye as early as the second round. The cut was nothing new to Beltran, actually, they’re more of a habit. In fact, Ray was lucky to finish in an upright posture as he was being battered from a two-fisted assault just as the final bell rang. The ref knew the bell was about to ring and gave the former champ a shot at finishing on his feet. That was ‘noble’ of him, but it caused Beltran to accept unnecessary punishment, bell or NO bell. The once-beaten Pedraza  ( stopped by Tank Davis) was in great shape and on his game as he beat Beltan up, insisde and at distance. Beltran, as usual, put in his night’s work but tonight was all about the Sniper, as Jose is called. To put n exclamation point on things, Pedraza  dropped a tiring Beltran in the eleventh with a short left uppercut. Beltran survived that but he was pretty much done at this point. The smooth,  switch hitting Pedraza kept Beltran in check with his constant stance switching. He does it very effectively and was always two-three steps ahead of Beltran. In the   twelfth round, Pedraza didn’t wanna’ leave ANY doubt and at the two minute mark, pinned a defenseless Beltran in the corner and fired both hands, nearly stopping the champ.  After a long and successful career and many hard fights and loss of blood, this was probably (I hope(), Beltran’s swan song. The decision was unanimous and there were no dissenters. Now, there’s  already talk of a year’s end hookup between the skilled Pedraza and the undefeated WBA boss Vasyl Lomachenko, which will be worth watching.

Can boogymen stand about 5’2 and weigh 122 lbs? If NOT, how do you explain African bomber, Issac Dogboe (18-0-13K)? This is a ferocious punching and strong African that seems to enjoy punishing folks. The smooth, articulate Dogboe dissected poor Hidenori Otake in one round. Dogboe hit Otake as if he were a heavy bag. Otake was hit with sizzling left hooks, air-sucking body shots and thudding  rights to the head. This was pretty sad, actually. The brave Asian did all he could to keep from getting killed and it was damn near not enough. After landing at will to start things, Dogboe sent a rocket of a left hook Otke’s way and unfortunately, Otake was  there when it landed and down he went. Up and in bad shape, he was pounced on by the champ and rocked on several other occasions. At one point, I was HOPING he’d go down. After being dropped again, he was erect and telling the ref he wanted more. Well, damn if he didn’t get it as the bombs were landing again from Dogboe and FINALLY the ref called things to a halt. This was about as one-sided as it gets to last just one round. Afterwards, the little monster called out all 122 pounders, NONE of which I think has much of a shot at beating this guy. Vargas gets cut at the contract signing and talented Danny Roman doesn’t seem to have the power to keep Dogboe off his ass. Dogboe has the stuff stars are made of, talent, looks, ferociousness and personality.

Call me chauvinistic, but I’m not wasting much time on that women’s fight, it was PITIFUL. Makaela Mayer beat up and dropped a helpless Edina Kiss (as in ‘kissed’ the canvas). Mayer is now 7-1-4-5k as she stopped Kiss in the third.

Jennings + Dimitrenko = A.C. STINKO

Atlantic City, N.J.-8/18/2018- Every now and then we get a really good heavyweight fight but more likely we get what we got last night. Philly’s Bryant Jennings (23-2-13K) faced 6’7” damn near 300 lbs, Alexander Dimitrenko (41-3-26K). This looked like two glaciers, trudging around the ring, grabbing and mauling each other. This was more like a damn wrestling match. Jennings eventually scored a ninth round k.o., after dropping the Russian giant four times. Now on the surface, a fight with that many droops should be exciting, right? Wrong. Jennings too, was dropped in the fourth but from a right hand behind the left ear. Damn near a rabbit punch. Before the fight, the commentators WARNED us about how much HOUND Alexander had in him, having quit a few times in the past. In fact, on the times he was dropped by Jennings, he seemed undecided about how much fighting he really was interested in doing. He was dropped twice in the eighth from clubbing shots from Jennings and pummeled about the ring, offering hardly much resistance. In the ninth, while tied up, Jennings connected with a hard right uppercut, sitting Big D on his Russian rump. Without even bothering to count, the ref, who’d been  harassing Dimitrenko all night, quickly waived things off. It was ridiculous. Hell, we’d already been subjected to this sloth match for eight rounds, why stop it NOW?

This fight was so boring, most times, the cameras were on HOF heavyweight champ, Lennox Lewis who was having anxiety attacks rooting for Jennings all night. This was made worse because there were only two fights aired over the two hour slot. Then again, given the ‘competitiveness’ of the first fight, maybe we should consider ourselves lucky. Instead of showing us more fights, we were subjected to talk, talk, talk and MORE talk from the commentators. Jennings is still in the hunt for a title shot. I think Dominic Breazealle can beat THIS guy.

Speaking of the co feature, some guy named Mike Gavronski who SOMEHOW found 24 people he could beat. His (24-2-1D-15K) proves that numbers DO lie. Even commentator Andre Ward said, “this guy had no business in the ring with Philly’s Jessie Hart” (24-0-20K). It was a JOKE, every time Hart came CLOSE to landing a shot, this guy somehow found himself on the floor. He was just stumbling around the ring like he’d just gotten off one of those rides in A.C. Gavronsk  was so sloppy, Hart caught the fever and didn’t look a helluva’ lot better, at times. Staggered three times in the first round due to his lack of professional skills, I don’t see how he lasted  until he was stopped in the third round. Hart is seeking a rematch with Ramirez and says he’s not interested in a fight with David Benavidez, ONLY Ramirez. I know damn WELL he doesn’t wanna’ see Benavidez, in Philly or anyplace ELSE. All in all, not a good night at the fights, hell. Even those local fights on ESPN were better than this crap.

PBC= PRETTY BORING CONTESTS

8/4/2018- I wasted a perfectly good old man’s nap today. I could’ve used it for the first two ‘fights’ aired on PBC. No, I don’t expect a homerun each time out but I don’t wanna’ witness 22 straight rounds of bullshit, either. What made matters worse was the fact the ring seemed to be about the size of a tennis court and seems like guys were just following each other around all night. Another pet peeve of the ‘ol guy is, when I’m watching a bullshit fight, I don’t want the talking heads telling me what a “great fight” I’m watching. I understand they get paid to do a job but give me some slack and if I hear Robert Guerrero use the words “also, too” together, ONE more time, I’m gonna’ jump off a bridge. According to The Ghost and Shawn Porter, I missed a “great night of boxing”, who knows, maybe I WAS asleep. Any way, here’s what I saw:

Erick Bone (20-5-8K)  v. Sergey Lipinets  (13-1-10K)

When I saw the Russian Lipinets against star Mikey Garcia, he put in a lot more work. Tonight, against a back tracking, wild swinging Bone he looked pretty damn mediocre. The compact Lipinets seemed to spend the large part of this fight shaking his arms loose, as if he couldn’t get started. Lipinets followed Bone around that monster ring all night. When he DID get in range, not much happened. He’d either get wrapped up by Bone or let him slide off the hook. This was his introduction to the welterweight class and he’s  gonna’ have LOTS of problems with those guys and trying to ‘find’ them won’t be one of them. They’ll be right there, LOOKING  for work. Porter said, “Bone’s fighting a good fight”. I guess with that head down wild swinging, he really impressed Shawn, I wonder why? The decision was a no brainer in favor of the Russian tank.

Peter Quillin (33-1-1-23K)  v. J’ Leon Love (24-1-1-13K)

The last time I saw Quillin, Kid Chocolate was being steam rolled in about two minutes by Daniel Jacobs, which btw was the last impressive performance BY Jacobs. Boxing is weird. Quillin, once highly regarded, was shown the exit early, yet top rated Jacobs has allowed a couple of no names to hang around for 12 rounds, go figure. It’s also hard to believe that Love was once the best fighter on TMT. I can’t recall the last time I saw HIM in a good fight, either, and I watch a LOTTA’ fights. Tonight, Q must have thought he was on the talk show circhuit, as he did more talking than fighting tonight. He was talking to Floyd Mayweather during the fight, chatting with people ringside, talking to Love, hell MY phone rang during the fight but I didn’t answer, it was probably Quillin wanting to talk to ME. Q as he’s called has been MIA for some 32 months and to be honest for the most part, he was missing tonight, too. He and Love missed so many shots, I don’t know HOW the judges were able to score it. Porter said (when Q was talking during the ‘action’), “this is what the people missed and paid to see tonigh. O to hell Shawn, nobody missed this shit. Q would grab the rope and look into the crowd and one wonders, ‘what hell was Love doing all this time’? I’ll tell ya,’ he wasn’t doing shit. He showed a lotta’ lateral movement during the match, that’s about all. There was a brief flare-up during the eighth round, shocked the HELL outta’ me as both guys seemed to recall what they were supposed to be doing. Quillin got the best of that brief exchange. After the verdict was rendered in Q’s favor, no surprise there, Love went to Q and embraced him and whispered in his ear for a full two minutes. Shit, Lance Stephenson wasn’t  in LeBron’s  ear THAT damn long. I KNOW Q was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe Love heard about the problems Q was having with his wife and was offering some comfort. I thought they’d done all their talking DURING the fight. Love was like former champ Kevin Kelley. Now THAT dude could TALK, especially after he kicked your ass. He’d be lecturing his victims after the fight like he was their damn coach.

Joey Spencer (3-0-3K)  v. Bruce Lutchmedial  (2-4-2K)

At THIS point, it was up to an 18 year old hid to save the show. Hard punching Joey Spencer is being touted as a rising star. He’s fast, strong, young punches hard AND he’s White, so you KNOW. He faced some guy that was probably taking tickets at the door earlier. Spencer came out and proceeded to drop some heavy shit on his tissue soft opponent. A few well placed body shots put down Uncle Brucie a couple of times and this thing was stopped at 2:59 of the opening round.

Devon Alexander  (27-4-1D-14K)  v. Andre Berto  (31-6-24K)

In the main event, two vets on the downsides of their careers faced off. Devon Alexander has had some decent wins and once held a belt as did Berto albeit, Andre’s was a gift from Al (The Hologram) Haymon. I figured this would be a good one OR a stinker. Turns out, it was a mixture of both. Berto was at a disadvantage as that pesky ass ref wouldn’t leave him alone. He was warning Berto for everything. Devon got out quickly and stunned Berto a couple of times early. There was a knockdown that shouldn’t have been called since it was from TWO shots to the back of the head by Alexander, as if Berto didn’t have ENOUGH to bitch about. After his quick start, Alexander seemed to hit the wall. He slowed down in the sixth and allowed the muscular Berto to make his run. He outhustled Alexander over the second half of the fight, sending trainer Virgil Hunter over the edge. At one point, he told Devon, “I need these next  three rounds”, Devon should’ve said ‘well  dammit, if YOU need ‘em, YOU put the damn gloves on’. Both guys let it all hang loose over the final couple rounds, ending what turned into a pretty interesting fight. During the interviews, post fight, neither  guy was able to say for certain what lies ahead. At least they weren’t making any crazy call outs, seeming to KNOW the future has passed. During the fight, Porter who’s cred had already started to slide, said “we have two hall of fame trainers in the corners tonight”. Really? Kevin Cunningham was in Alexander’s corner and take Andre Ward outta’ the equation, what are we talking about as far as the HOF goes? At the end, one of the talking heads yelled “this was a great night for boxing”. He obviously went to the Trump school of hyperbole. Oh, Berto won by split decision with the cards reading 114-113 Alexander and 115-112 twice for Berto.

Somewhere in Pensacola, trainer John David Jackson is quietly smiling and pulling on his joystick.

Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1D-28K)  v. Eleider Alvarez (25-5-2D 10K)

My, my, my, as MC Hammer would say. The once feared  WBO champion, Krusher Kovalev, once thought to be the most fearsome Russian NOT named Putin, got his ass broke off and served to him by Eleider Alvarez in a stunner. Most people thought this would be a win for the heavy-handed Kovalev, especially given the lack of KO power shown by Alvarez  in past fights. Kovalev has been running down his former coach John David Jackson, saying among other things, “he wasn’t a real coach”. Hey Sergey, was that ass whippin’ you took tonight, “real”? Kovalev whined after his two losses to the (for now) retired, Andre Ward. Krusher blamed everybody except ME. Tonight, Krusher came out looking to stop Alvarez early, pressing and landing body shots. Alvarez though, was here with a PURPOSE. He boxed smoothly, drilling Kovalev with hard jabs, made harder by the Russian’s pressing tactics. Alvarez snapped  Kovalev’s  head back several times, stopping him in his tracks and knocking him off track. On occasion, he’d surprise Kovalev with well timed right hands. This was very interesting. In the fifth, Kovalev was starting to find Alvarez with hard head shots and straight rights to the body. To his surprise, Alvarez was not impressed, firing back and challenging the heavy handed Russian. To his credit, Krusher WAS boxing better than ever.

Though he was stunned a couple of times, Alvarez was up to the task at hand. To say the ending came suddenly is an understatement. Alvarez  threw an overhand right. Krusher took one, then three steps back before he took a seat. He was hurt and there was no doubt about it, there’d be NO whining about THIS shit. To his credit, he arose and was met by a fearsome combo that put him right back where he was this time with his left arm bent awkwardly under his body. I’m sure Kathy Duva’s  undies had flunked the moisture test. Again, Krusher was up and again he was back down under the relentless assault by Alvarez, causing the ref to terminate  Kovalev’s evening. This was a performance  that  screamed,’ I WANT THIS’. This was a startling performance and a win that says, ‘no further questions your honor’. So now, Eleider Alvarez is the unified champ and the new kid on the block. So what’s next Dmitry Bivol who won earlier tonight? May as well. I think this win is gonna’ elevate Alvarez’s game as well as his stock. As for Sergey Kovalev, he doesn’t really seem like the type to bounce back from what just happened. And John David Jackson just changed his shorts for the third time tonight.

Dmitry Bivol  (13-0-11K) v. Isaac Chalemba (25-2-2D-10K)

The talking heads all considered challenger Isaac Chalemba to be mere fodder for the rampaging WBA lighheavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol and they tried to justify their assumptions by wetting their pants each time the hard puncher threw a punch. If Bivol was raising as much hell as the talking heads this fight would’ve been over in two rounds. Truth be told, Bivol came nowhere even close to dropping the awkward challenger, forget STOPPING him. All during the fight, the announcers ranted and raved about Bivol’s performance. I gave his performance a 7, even though he dominated. He didn’t look as frightening as the heads wanted you to believe. If he fights Eleider Alvarez in his next fight he loses. The fact is, 14 fights is not much of a resume. He’s a tough young kid, no doubt but the jury’s still out on the guy.

 

Garcia Unifies, Beats One Armed Man

07/28/2018-Staple Center, Los Angeles, Ca.- Remember that great crime series from MANY years ago called The Fugitive, starring David Jansen? It had to do with the weekly pursuit of a one armed man suspected of murder. Well, there was a one armed man in LA tonight, trying to beat one of the best fighters in tha’ game today. Tall, long armed Robert Easter Jr. from Toledo Ohio (21-0-14K) talked for months about what he was gonna’ do to Mikey Garcia. He promised to show Garcia (38-0-30K) and the boxing world what he was all about . The strange thing was, he tried to do it with one hand. Now, I don’t know exactly what Easter’s game plan was but it didn’t involve much more that a left jab.

For the first 3-4 rounds, he boxed smoothly and smartly, keeping Garcia at bay. Problem was, that’s pretty much ALL he did, aside from a brief exchange in the ninth round. Though a right hand, left hook  set in the third round dropped him for a moment, Easter wasn’t badly hurt. In fact, he rallied at the end of the round. But, mostly he was stuck in reverse as Garcia pursued him around the ring, trying to get Easter to do at least do SOME of the shit he promised. How in the hell, Easter thought he was gonna’ come to LA and be an LA homie like that baffled me. I thought maybe the plan was to lure Garcia to sleep with that long, stinging jab and then blast him with his right hand. I don’t think Easter threw a hook until the ninth round. Spending lots of time pinned to the ropes and being assaulted by Garcia, Easter would rarely fire back, choosing instead to either tie Mikey up or jab his way off the ropes.

At no time did he seem interested in TAKING  Mikey’s  belt. He seemed to think, ‘I’ll stay with my jab and as long as I don’t get hurt, I’m good’. Garcia stayed on the attack, pressing and landing decent shots along the way, as Easter’s D is pretty good. It was a good, NOT great fight and there was no disputing the scores which read, 116-111/ 117-110 and 118-109. As usual, Garcia remained composed and didn’t look sloppy trying for the ko. He stayed with the plan and calmly snatched Easter’s belt along the way. Garcia now has the WBC AND IBF straps.

Now, Mikey doesn’t get hit too much during his fights so SOMETHING must be happening in sparring because he keeps mentioning Errol Spence’s name. Even his brother/trainer Robert AND his uncle Eduardo keep telling Mikey, “don’t SAY that”. I admire Mikey’s courage and I think he’d take the fight but he wouldn’t SURVIVE it. Imagine how difficult it would be for Robert to train Mikey to fight Spence when his heart’s not in it? It would be a strange scenario and how would Mikey  feel ? Afterwards, when told about Mikey’s desire to get killed, Spence needed a bib to catch the drool as he thought about that fight. He struggled to contain his glee at the thought.  Mikey, you’re a HELLUVA’ fighter and I know it’s been hot as hell in LA and maybe the heat’s getting to you, but YOU need to stop playin’. You won’t have to chase Errol like you did Easter and you SURELY don’t wanna’ ‘sit there’ with the best fighter in tha’ game today. He’s too big and too strong and your wish is ALL wrong. Take a couple of Aspirin and call me when you feel better and are thinking clearly.

In the semi, there was a so-called heavyweight fight and I always say, with the big boys, you never know what to look for. Once beaten Cuban Luis King Kong) Ortiz (28-1-2ND-24K) hurt himself by pounding his chest more than his sorry opponent  Razan Cojanu (16-3-9K) did in this brief encounter. They said this Cojanu was some type of ‘former champion’. Yeah, so was I. They also say Ortiz is 39 years old. If he’s 39, I’m 69 and I was born in 1942. Yes, they kept records back then. In any event, after a slow first round, the ‘ol Cuban lined up the ‘former champio’ and drilled his ass with a sweeping right hook and straight hand that dropped Cojanu TWICE. This was some Tyson-Berbick shit. Cojanu went down and reached for the ropes which he missed judged by two feef and eventually wound up on his face. He fell AGAIN, causing the ref to intervene and he had the unmitigated gall the AUDACITY to complain to the ref. He was probably saying, ‘why did you stop it ref, I could’ve gotten killed’.

In the first aired fight, unbeaten (24-0-13K) Mario Barrios fought a guy that put up as much résistance as a two dollar ho.  Jose (El Gato) Roman (24-2-1D-16K) was in survival mode from the time he left his dressing room. He just let Barrios beat on him for seven rounds until his corner awakened from their slumber and told the ref to stop the trouncing. Barrios dropped his woeful opponent with a combination in the fourth round and poor Roman just took his beating like a man.

Munguia Retains Title, Flaws and All

7/21/18 – I was anxiously looking forward to see what newly crowned WBO Jr. Middleweight champion Jaime Munguia would look like against a guy his size. Against Sadam Ali, the size difference didn’t lend itself to a fair fight. He blew Ali out In short order. But exactly what does  Munguia weigh? In tonight’s tiff against Brit Liam Smith, he weighed in at 153.8 but at the bell he was 176, a damn CRUISERWEIGHT. Sure, Smith went from 153 to 172 making one wonder about this sorta’ shit. A couple of weeks ago, a boxer damn near killed himself trying to make weight. My favorite sport has to do something about this. One weight class up after rehydrating, ok, but four classes up, WTH? The commission would be better served by not having these secondary weighins.

Anyway, about the fight. Munguia, 21 years young with a slate of (29-0-25K) said he wanted to “stop Smith faster than Canello Alvarez did, nine rds. Turns out he didn’t stop the rugged Brit at all, though he did drop him with a left hook in the sixth round. Liam Smith proved to be as rugged as hell, making things really interesting for the young upstart. In fact, if Smith was a harder puncher, the flush shots he landed on the pretty much defenseless champion would be cause for concern in Munguia’s camp. I ain’t tryna’ hear that, ‘but Don, he’s so YOUNG’, shit. He’s the champ, RIGHT?  Munguia as strange as it sounds, reminds me of a young George Forman, trying for the ‘sleeper’ with every shot. It seems at times, even while in range, Smith was still able to avoid the champ’s haymakers. The once beaten Smith didn’t pull a Lucas Matthysse stunt, surrendering his drawers to Manny Paquiao after the first hard shot he ate. After each power shot he caught, Smith fought back, hard, drilling Jaime with three-four punch sets. The champ is strong, heavy handed and seemingly pretty durable but unless he learns some D, he’s in for a rude awakening. I was surprised that he wasn’t bruised or cut from the many shots he ate. He must have that Lupe Pintor, Iguana skin.

After a decent amateur career and 30 fights as a pro, given the many rounds of sparring he gets, his D should be much better. To me, he fights like a guy that thinks he’s indestructible and can get by on his offense. He also spends too much time bouncing around in the ring. Wasted energy.  Unbeaten heavyweight champ Deontae Wilder says, “as hard as I punch, I don’t need to work on no defense’. Is that Jaime’s mindset? Oh yeah, Munguia is pretty slow, too. He’s already mentioning  Canelo, Charlo and Hurd, slow ya’ ROLL youngster, those guys will short circuit your career. It’s not the best thing to enter a fight with ONLY a puncher’s shot, especially when those other guys punch hard, too, AND fast. Munguia is a fun guy to watch until……BTW, Jaime won a unanimous decision. It was a good win, Smith’s no joke BUT when you’re the champ, there are no excuses. Jaime learned a lot, he said, what with all the head butts, elbows e.t.c. he was subjected to but he kept his poise and if his peeps are patient and wise enough……

In the co main, sharp shooting, WBA super bantamweight boss, Alberto (Explosivo)  Machodo (20-0-16) was impressive as he dropped top contender Raphael (Sweet pea) Mensa  (31-1-23K) with a sizzling right counter hook, toward the end of the opening round. It appeared to be the beginning of an early exit for the nephew of former champ, Ike Quartey, but he was competitive enough to last the twelve rounds. This was like a sparring session where the champ won every round on every scorecard. The slick ‘n quick champion called out former champion Francisco Vargas, which would be a war with plenty of Vargas’ blood on the canvas. This guy bleeds at the contract signing.

2/19/18- Showbox had a show that featured some weirdly dressed fighters and some batshit BLIND judges.

In the main event, highly touted Philly fighter Jaron (Boots) Enis (20-0-18K) faced, punching bag Armando Alvarez. This was supposed to be Enis’ coming out performance and I can’t say he was outstanding. Being a Philly guy the only guy I can say Enis reminds me of is Gypsy Joe Harris, but not as talented. Gypsy was a clown with a purpose and when he decided to ‘get involved’ he was exciting to watch. Enis’ opponent had ZERO to offer and Enis had a field. The mugging, the clowning, the antics, looking out at the crowd, all that shit better get cleaned up when he fights REAL contenders. This was against a guy, Alvarez (13-0-7K) and my question was how hard did his peeps have to look to find 13 guys HE could beat?  It seemed like Enis had half of Philly in the ring after the fight, such as it was. I’m issuing a pass on this one for Enis, I have to see him in there with somebody, this was just a time consuming venture. It only lasted 3 rounds but seemed longer.

In the blind judges fight of the night, Cleveland’s Thomas Mattice (12-0-10K) got his ass delivered to him over eight rounds by Armenian brawler, Zhora Hamazaryan  (9-0-6K). I suppose the judges looked at the records before the fight and made up their minds. After pressing the taller Mattice in the opening round, Zhora lined his ass up in the second and blasted Mattice to the canvas with a howitzer of a right hand. It didn’t look as if Mattice was gonna’ finish the ROUND, much less the fight. He was in bad shape and spent the rest of the fight making sure THAT shit wasn’t happnin’ again. Zhora was enjoying the fight even though he did all the pursuing. He often cornered Mattice and dug deep rib shots causing Mattice to hold on in desperation. Mattice got back into it late in the scrap, landing some nice uppercuts on the inside along with some nice right hands but there was no stopping the little tank in front of him. Hamazaryan finished strongly, outpunching the favorite right up to the bell. I already wrote in my notes ‘brotha’ got his ass beat’. Mattice even LOOKED like he lost and THEN, the sight-impaired rodents took their positions (which SHOULD’VE been near the damn exits).  Mattice was declared a split decision winner and he was OBVIOUSLY the most surprised person in the building. He probably thought, ‘well if THIS is true, then the Cavs must be world champs]. Hopefully,  Zhora’s team keeps their words and file a protest and request a redo. There is no way in HELL, Mattice even came CLOSE to winning this fight.

In the opener , Montana (Too Pretty) Love (11-0-5K) and Kenneth  (Bossman) Sims, Jr. (12-1-4K) fought hard to keep me awake in this snore fest over eight rounds and the less said, the better. They both tried. It just wasn’t an interesting fight. Montana won the showmanship award, I guess, he had an outfit that looked worse than Enis’ and his handler held up a mirror as he preened WITH his shades on, SPARE ME, especially if you don’t do shit when the bell rings.

HO HUM WEEKEND OF BOXING, SO FAR

/13/2018- Los Angeles, I guess it wouldn’t be fair to expect outstanding action every weekend, though that WOULD be nice. I started out Friday the 13th which should’ve been an omen, watching the Golden Boy Card on ESPN. Weak is the word that comes to mind. It may be Oscar’s budget. Maybe he spent too much on Canelo’s  issues. He supposedly paid a lotta’ extra scratch to finally get the rematch with GGG underway. Anyway, this card had two women’s fights that were aired and neither SHOULD’VE been. No wonder my boy Henry Ramirez hates women’s boxing.

In the first ‘fight’ a girl named Samantha Pill ( I NEEDED a pill after this thing), 3-0 was completely outta’ her orbit when she was trounced by Maricela Cornejo (11-2-4K) It was a sham and Pill was left a crying wreck after being beaten around the ring by the aggressive Cornejo. Mercifully, the end came at :43 seconds of the second round. The next one was even worse ( if that was possible) as Seniesa Estrada (13-0-6K) from East LA had a day at the beach against hapless, helpless Jhosep Vizcaino (6-6-3K) who supposedly traveled all the way from Peru, alone without a trainer. Well, as it turned out, Oscar saved a few bucks by hiring some local yokels to man the corner. It was a total farce as this Peruvian couldn’t fight at all and was battered around the ring by the talented Estrada, finally succumbing to a body shot in the second round. I’m sure the crowd was wondering what else was going on downtown tonight.

The main event, featuring local favorite Joet Gonzalez (19-0-11K) from Glendora faced vet Rafael Rivera from Tijuana. Everybody KNEW what Raf (25-1-2D-16K) had to do just to get a DRAW. Especially since homie had sold over a hundred ducats. This was a pretty entertaining ten rounder between two little guys that were in excellent shape. Both guys stayed busy the entire ten, each giving as good as they got. There wasn’t much power involved, nothing close to a knockdown, just a busy fight with not a lot to choose from. Actually it was so close the crowd was nervous when one judge gave it to the visitor. Restoring sanity, though, the other two officials scored it for Gonzo. Commentating at ringside (and doing a good job) was once beaten Jo-Jo Diaz who had given Rivera his first loss.

7/14/2018-NOLA-  The most impressive guy I saw tonight was the brash, cocky AND talented Teofirmo Lopez (9-0-7K) facing the dangerous William Silva (25-1-14). This to me, seemed like risky business for Lopez, just 20 years old and in his first ten rounder after just 9 fights. I wonder what’s the hurry with some of these people. Turns out, Lopez can handle himself. He, along with Devin Haney and Ryan  Garcia, all young and unbeaten are the future of tha’ game. After seeing how Lopez pretty much made Silva his honey, stopping him in six rounds, I’d say he’s ahead of the rest. He dropped Silva with a sizzling left hook in the opening round and from that point on, he had no problems. Lopez started clowning in the third, knowing what he had in front of him, showing great reflexes and defensive skills. He said he was “something different” and he wasn’t far off. He stepped it up in the fifth dropping all sorts of shit on the vet, showing ZERO respect. He proved to be a good finisher as well, when after dropping Silva at the end of round five, came out in the sixth to close the show and did just that, trapping Silva in a corner and terrorizing him with big shots, dropping him with a left to the body, closing the show. I don’t know what the weight difference is between him and the mouthy Haney, but they need to fight. It would be interesting, all the pre fight b.s. that would take place.  If Haney fights Lopez the way he fought that last lead footed dude, he’ll get chased outta’ the ring. Lopez is fast and punches hard and has that killer attitude.

In the main event, explosive, hard punching Regis Prograis (21-0-18K), ranked number one at Jr. welter, patiently stalked and disassembled what was supposed to  be a test, Juan Jose Velasco (20-0-12K). This was no contest, as Regis, with his herky-jerky upper body movement seemed to be more interested in punishing Juan than knocking him out. The southpaw Prograis KNEW he had a gimmie and treated it more like a sparring session, trying to prove he could “go rounds”. His people need to remind him the pay’s the same whether he wins in one round or twelve. After marching through whatever little resistance Velasco offered, Regis finally landed a vicious body shot that ended matters in the fifth. Afterwards, he called out everybody, including Mikey Garcia, who seems to be on everybody’s bucket list. For sure, he’d get shutout by Garcia if he works at the same rate he did tonight. He should’ve gotten this guy outta’ there sooner. There’s a TON of action for this guy in the ‘40’s. He reminds me of Tank Davis who he might face in the future. So far, he seems to fight to the level of his compitition, that will have to change.

Didn’t order the Paquiao-Matthyesse fight but I think Manny’s done and he may have picked the wrong guy in the heavy handed Argentine. I see Manny beaten badly and possibly stopped late.

Tough Enough For Ya’ Abel ?

6/30/2018 OKC- Prior to what occurred in the ring last night between homeboy Alex Saucedo (20-0-17K) and Lenny Zappavigna (37-3-27K), trainer Abel Sanchez said he “wanted to see his boy (Saucedo) in a “hard fight”. As they say, ‘be careful what you wish for’, because his boy got every INCH of that, last night. I’ve been watching fights all my life and have not seen too many that matched last night’s savage blood bath. Anything with with Marvin Johnson or Matt Franklin comes to mind, maybe the trilogy between Rafael Marquez and Israel Vasquez. For seven brutal, savage rounds these two men put everything on the line that even had THIS ‘ol  guy hoping for a break in the action. That was not to be.

From the  instructions, these to ‘carried on’. It was as if somebody had patted somebody’s wife on the ass. Zappavigna a known bleeder  proved that as early as the second round. The punishing shots from the hard hitting Saucedo opened up a cut and caused bruising around Lenny’s right eye. Obviously, this didn’t mean a DAMN thing to Lenny as he returned fire as long as he was erect. Alex was landing short,  hard right uppercuts on the inside and Lenny was landing overhand rights. Defense really wasn’t that important tonight. A beauty of a short right dropped Lenny in round three but if that was supposed to slow Lenny’s roll, guess again. At round’s end he was blasting Alex with both hands driving him into the ropes, damn the blood flow. Round four was a hell storm for the favored Saucedo as Zappavigna drove him across the ring firing both barrels and had me wondering how in the hell is he still upright? This fight could’ve been stopped on several occasions. There was more than one round that could qualify as round of the year. Folks, I LOVE this game but there was a time I wanted to see this thing stopped. The human body was not MADE for this type of activity. It was as if these guys had NO feelings for pain.

Saucedo was cut as well and his blood was all over Lenny’s back. I’m sure Abel was saying, this was “tough’ enough. The fifth and sixth rounds saw both guys going for the kill with neither looking to retreat, it was savage folks, SAVAGE. Lenny barely made it to his stool at the end of the sixth but quit was NOT a word he understood. In the seventh, after another series of brutal exchanges, Lenny’s corner found it’s heart and waved it off. Alex noticed the guy on the ring apron and pointed it out to the ref and Lenny and he seemed glad this thing was finally over. Lenny reportedly retired afterwards, citing his history of cuts and bruising. Talking head former champ Tim Bradley said, “Saucedo, work on your  defense, son”. I’m sure this churned up memories of his fight with that Mad Russian Ruslan Provodnikoff (sp). Only it wasn’t THIS bloody. The Red Cross people should’ve been stationed at ringside tonight. Time of the stoppage was 2:31 seconds.

Needless to say, this fight saved the card and should have been the main event. The in between fight between a 29 year old former Brazilian Olympian with SEVEN fights, Robson Conceicao (7-0-4K) trashed some guy ( I don’t wanna’ call the guy a bum) named Gavino Guaman (5-2-1K). The only noticeable thing in this beatdown was the cool haircut Guaman had. Robson seems like a decent fighter, throws lots of hard shots downstairs and uses his height and reach well. Something must be amiss for him to be at this level.  Poor Guaman acted like this was the first fight he didn’t have to PAY to see a fight. He had NO skills to speak of (unless he’s his own barber) and simply had NO right wearing a pair of boxing gloves. The only thing he used them for was to push his ass up off the canvas about five times. He was stopped at  :56 seconds of the third round. I wanna’ see Robson fight a ‘real’ fighter, he’s a good fighter.

In the maine event, WBO 168 pound champ, Gilbert Ramirez (37-0-25K) didn’t impress as he struggled to a points win over a guy named Alexis Angulo.  Angulo has heavy hands and came in with a 23-0-20K slate but didn’t look to be all that. He buzzed the champ a few times and gained respect early and turned this into a bit of a stinker. He only threw about three meaningful shots a round but that was enough to keep the champ from looking for a ko. Maybe it’s me being too high on WBC champ David Benavidez, the guy Ramirez claims he wants next  but I see that as a mismatch. Ramirez was too patient (wary) to be considered a real threat.

A few things I wanna’ discuss before signing off. People know I was a big Floyd Mayweather  fan when he was ‘Pretty Boy’ but jumped off the train when he became ‘Money’. Mayweather (49-0), that’s right, I’m NOT counting that last so-called bullshit with Connor and NEVER will. Anyway he may not be able to read Cat in The Hat but he DAMN sure can read, ‘Money in the Bank’ as he became the third and YOUNGEST athlete to make a BILLION dollars during his career. Shit, I’ll stop reading for THAT type of cheese. I’ve been getting shit from fans because I don’t see young Devon Haney as a coming superstar. Sorry. I read where he says he’ll fight the winner of the Mikey Garcia-Easter fight. Now, I know this guy has a rolls and Mercedes and all the bling and is unbeaten but he needs to be drug tested, talking like THAT. He’s won 19 fights against guys that aren’t household names in their OWN homes. His last fight was against a guy with some pop, and he back pedaled for the whole fight, tiring the guy out and making his corner call it off. He’s gonna’ have to change things to ever become a PPV fighter. He’ll learn that bullshit will only take you so far. There are LOTS of guys out there he’d have issues with.

I see where Dom Brazeale is talking shit about what he’ll do to Deontay Wilder when they fight. I’ve seen mediocre guys wobble Dominic more than once and the first time Wilder lands on his ass,  that fight’s over. I see it going 4-5 rounds, IF Wilder wants to LET it. Another  prediction, Benavidez is gonna’ put Dirrell’s dick in tha’ dirt.

 

Classless Claressa Wins Again

Detroit’s talented, unbeaten Claressa Shields (5-0-2K) seems hell-bent on becoming the female Adrien Broner. Tonight, she won a tough, hard fought battle against the more experienced Hanna Gabriels (18-1-1D-11K). Tonight was a night of ‘firsts’ as the two time Olympian was dropped and cut for the first time as a pro. The knockdown came in the opening round, courtesy of a short right uppercut during an exchange. More shocked and embarrassed in front of her home town, Shields got up and went on to pretty much dominate the rest of the fight. Gabriels had her moments but Claressa as usual, was too big for her opponent. Now training in Florida with new coach John David Jackson, Shields showed poise and confidence and a nice arsenal of punches.

With the great former multi champion Thomas (Hitman) Hearns sitting ringside, Shields handled her business. I’d like to have a dollar for every suit Hearns  has. He looked fit. Shields always talks about becoming the “face of women’s boxing”. Well, if so, she’s gonna’ have to turn down that ghetto-ass attitude of hers. Almost every interview I’ve seen of her, that mouthy attitude surfaces. She seems to relish having that attitude, bragging about being from Flyht, blah, blah. In fact a while back Andre Dirrell’s trainer sucker punched a fighter that had just beat Dirrell. There are a couple of Dirrells that fight, one is about to get his ass kicked by David Benavidez in September. When the punk coach sucker punched that fighter (who should’ve flattened his ass), Shields said, “damn right he did the right thing, I would’ve done that, too”. Go, Ghetto girl. After  she  won  tonight, unanimously, the interviewer said, “Hammer’s here and said…. and before he could finish his comment, (Hammer had just  beaten some 41 year old to earn a fight with Sheilds) the former Olympian and ‘face of women’s boxing went fkn berserk. “where she at, I’ll beat her ass right now”, screeched Shields. Later she charged at Hammer and was seen throwing punches and had to be forcibly restrained, more than once. Now, I’m about promoting fights but Shields was absolutely Ghetto, cursing and going nuts. Even my wife said, “dang, why’s she doin’ all that?

So, Ms. Shields, if you’re planning to be the “ face” of ANYTHING, you need to to do something about that attitude sista’. I’ve seen clips of her talking to the kids, supposedly encouraging them to “be all they can be” and never give up. I wonder if she said anything about conducting yourself as a professional, win, lose or draw.