Borizteca Boxing’s fight of the night: Ricardo Flores vs Reyes Manon
With their size difference, Bout #2 between Reyes Manon (r) and Ricardo Flores (l) could be likened to a David versus Goliath battle. If Flores hadn’t been able to stay in close and work over the body, he would most certainly have been easy pickings for Manon with his faster hands, height and reach advantage. This “Bout of the Night” was declared a Mixed Decision Draw.
On Friday evening, May 13, the Borizteca Boxing Management Group was at it again hosting their latest show at the Salon Mezzanine in Tijuana. As far as the headliners on this impressive fight card, we begin with the Pro Debut of Hector “Torero” Lopez’s sons featherweight Adam Lopez who had no problem handling Hector Garcia while his older brother Hector Lopez Jr. ended Juan Delgado’s night early in their super featherweight contest.
With the brothers having such an extensive Amateur career and being trained by Eddie Levine at the Pullman Boxing Gym in Burbank, Calif., their victories came as no surprise.
The conclusion of the featherweight bout between Adam Lopez and Hector Garcia came at 1:51 of round one. With Lopez dominating, it wasn’t long before Garcia was issued one 10-count after another. The bout ended after Garcia complained that his right hand had been fractured. (bottom, left) Lopez has his arm raised in victory by referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee.
From the opening bell, Juan Delgado (red trunks) was battered from one corner to the next by Hector Lopez Jr., Adam Lopez’s brother, who was also making his Pro-debut. By the :48 second mark of round #3, all parties could see Delgado was finished and had nothing left in the tank.
Like his father and brother before him, Hector Lopez Jr. of Glendale, Calif. wins easily in his Pro Debut.
After the brothers, Hector Lopez Jr. (l) and Adam Lopez (r) won in their professional debut we just had to have this commemorative photo of the event. To the far left is their coach Eddie Levine, to the far right former boxing great Gabriela Ruelas and in the center the concerned co-promoter/Dir. of Operations Lou Messina of Borizteca Boxing.
As mentioned above in our lead photo, the surprise of the evening was the way Ricardo Flores (0-1) of Tijuana battled the much talked about Reyes Manon Sosa of Oakland, Calif. by way of the Dominican Republic. Manon, the younger brother of former NABF Light Heavyweight champ Merqui “El Corombo” Sosa, is trained by Tony Hirsch who heads the Athletic Dogtown Boxing Program in Oakland, Calif. Even though Hirsch, the current WBC NABF middleweight champ, had Mr. Manon finely tuned, Flores implemented the perfect strategy. After ducking under one of Manon’s stiff jabs, he’d then quickly dart in and out to get in close.
The two young men went toe-to-toe unloading these scary, home-run punches that would have not only KO’d Amir Khan, they would have put Khan in a coma. With its many momentum swings, this bout was surely “the Bout of the Night.” After the ring announcer, Pablo Flores announced that the bout had been declared a draw, you didn’t hear a peep from either side or from the enthusiastic crowd who spent the entire four rounds applauding their amazing performance.
Ricardo Flores is shown ducking under one of Reyes Manon’s powerful right crosses.
As you can see both boxers were in this seesaw battle of landing their fair share of powerful blows. (bottom, left) Manon delivers a left uppercut to Flores’ chin. (bottom, right) Flores is on the attack with the straighter and more powerful blows.
Before Ricardo Flores could return to the dressing room after his bout with Manon, family and friends made certain they had a photo with their hero.
(top) Prior to Friday’s show, the bi-lingual announcing team of (l to r) Marcelino Avila Sosa, Fernando Paramo and Liz Diaz are seen going through their preparation. The ring announcer duties are handled by Pablo Flores.
Next, from the House of Boxing in San Diego, it was rookie super middleweight Simon Torres making his successful Pro debut against Juan Beltran of Tijuana who was hoping to rebound following a loss in his debut. In this one, Torres’ power shots to the head and body simply overwhelmed Beltran and referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee was quick to step in at the 1:45 point of round one to stop the carnage.
Super welterweight Simon Torres of San Diego knocks his opponent, Juan Beltran, out in the very first round. What can I tell you, after only one minute and 45 seconds? All the hard work was done in the gym. This turned out to be a piece of cake. The hard part is not forgetting to acknowledge all the people who helped me get to where I am.
At the conclusion of his bout with Juan Beltran, Borizteca Boxing’s color commentator Fernando Paramo interviewed the very happy Simon Torres.
Borizteca Boxing Promotions color commentator Fernando Paramo just had to address the rumor. “So, Mr. Torres, who did you spar with to get ready for tonight’s fight?” Torres’ reply, “The guys who helped me the most were my coach David Barragan and a fellow you might know, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.”
Bout #6 featured Amateur standout middleweight, Kevin Ottley from Baltimore, Maryland, who only recently moved to San Diego and now trains with Berlin Kerney IV at the Bomber Squad Academy in El Cajon. Ottley was making his Pro debut against fellow debutant Antonio Navidad of Tijuana. After Ottley gave his opponent a good thrashing, the referee stepped in to halt this one-sided bout at 1:36 of round two. It’s possible that Fernandez never laid a glove on the polished Ottley who was oh so impressive in his debut.
Kevin “KO” Ottley is seen standing over the fallen Antonio Navidad who went down after a blow to the midsection. All photos: Jim Wyatt
(photo, bottom, right) one can only imagine what Navidad is telling his coach. “What can I tell you, coach? He hit me so hard I almost lost my lunch.”
After the early stoppage, Kevin Ottley is joined by the lovely ring card gals plus his support staff from the Bomber Squad Boxing Academy of El Cajon. All photos: Jim Wyatt
Also from the House of Boxing was the oh-so-popular lightweight Armando Tovar (2-1), who was returning to the Salon Mezzanine after a horrendous decision left him with his first loss. In his last fight, Tovar was hit repeatedly by rabbit punches and was even hit while down on the canvas. On Friday night, the unsuspecting Ramón “Muneca” Palma of Tijuana, had the dubious distinction of facing Tovar after that robbery. As a result, Palma was like one of those logs you see at the saw mill headed for the splitter. Within seconds, Tovar’s punches were splitting Palma in half.
Boxers Ramon Palma (top, right) of Tijuana and Armando Tovar (left) of San Diego’s House of Boxing make their way to the ring. (bottom, right) After just 43 seconds, Palma lays flat on his back and is being attended to by the fight doctor, Dr. Angel de La Torre (r), after being knocked out by Tovar.
At the conclusion of his bout versus Ramon Palma, referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee raises the arm of the victorious Armando Tovar. Photo: J. Wyatt
During intermission, the master of ceremonies Fernando Paramo (l) made mention of the noteworthy people who were in attendance: (r to l) former WBC Super Featherweight Champion, Gabriela Ruelas who on July 23, will turn 46, next, 38-year-old Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez, the three time IBF/WBC Super Bantamweight Champion who has a record of 8-1 in World Title fights and finally, Julius Ballo. Ballo is a current USA Boxing Amateur Champion (13/14 year-old age group) who holds numerous National Titles.
Like Tovar, Vincente “Suavecito” Portillo (3-0, 1 KO) of Tijuana by way of Johnstown, Colorado, had no problem finishing off his opponent, the shop-worn Ivan Reyes (4-9, 4 KOs) who has now lost eight straight.
In the opener, we see Vicente Portillo Diaz (2-0) of Tijuana by way of Johnstown, Colorado (top, right) making his entrance. (bottom, right) Within the first minute of action we see Diaz going hard to the midsection of the veteran Ivan “Titan” Reyes (4-8) of Tijuana.
Before long, Diaz had his opponent in trouble and Reyes was finally counted out at the 2:41 mark of round one.
At the conclusion of his bout with Ivan Reyes, the victorious Vicente Portillo Diaz is shown celebrating with his father (r), coach (l) and stablemates.
Another one of the show’s headliners, Alfredo “Pepe el Toro” Ledezma of Tijuana (now 5-0) went full blast at the game Dario “Chaman” Cervantes (0-7) a super lightweight from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. It didn’t matter that Cervantes was landing some really hard shots, Ledezma deflected them and kept pressing forward like one of the Marvel Comic superheroes.
The Alfredo Ledezma (yellow trunks) versus Dario Cervantes (black trunks) was another free swinging, non-stop slugfest which eventually had Cervantes sitting on the seat of his pants and gasping for air. The center photo, showing Cervantes being clobbered on the side of his head by Ledezma, was far and away the most dramatic punch of the fight. Photos: Jim Wyatt
The continual pounding of Dario Cervantes by Alfredo Ledezma finally took its toll and referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee stepped in to stop the bout.
Another standout amateur who was turning Pro on Friday night was Roberto Meza of the Temecula Boxing Club, Temecula, Calif. Like Reyes Manon, Meza featured this chiseled body with zero body fat, the kind of body you only get after a rigorous and a wide range of training regimens. Meza’s opponent, super featherweight Dilan Valdez (0-2) from Tijuana was one of those battlers who never stops coming at you. Bleeding and soundly beaten, Valdez showed remarkable courage by continuing to battle until the final bell. All three judges had Meza winning: Juan Carlos De La Rocha 40-36, Max Zuniga 40-36 and finally Francisco Pacheco 39-37.
Just prior to his Professional debut against Dilan Valdez, we managed to get a photo of Amateur standout Roberto Meza of Temecula, Calif. with his proud father (l), Jack Ballo, his manager (r) and the rest of his support staff.
The fierce battle between Roberto Meza from the Temecula Boxing Club, Temecula, Calif., who was making his pro debut, and the hometown favorite Dilan Valdez, was another ‘Bout of the Night’ nominee. With Valdez having such a large contingent of supporters present to cheer him on, there was no way, aside from being carried out on a stretcher, that he was going to let them down. Each of his punches had mean, knock-you-out intentions.
Even though Meza had won and quite handily, Dilan Valdez’s coach raised his fighter up on his shoulders as the crowd cheered their local hero.
Before leaving we had the very proud Roberto Meza family pose for a photo.
Light heavyweight George Escalante of San Diego (now 5-0-1, 3 KOs) returned to the Salon Mezzanine for a rematch with Juan Carlos “Zurdo” Romero. Last time out, they fought to a draw. This time, Escalante never stopped coming and pressed the action throughout. As they say, he never took his foot off the accelerator and as a result earned himself a unanimous decision victory. 
In the Main Event, it was 22-year-old Alimkhan Jumakhonov (now 4-1-1, 3 KOs) from Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley by way of Tajikistan, getting the best of Miguel Villalobos of Tijuana. With the loss, Villalobos drops to 2-4, 2 KOs. Like the other top prospects in the talent-laden super-featherweight division, Jumakhonov continues to impress with both his speed and power.
(top) The boxers make their entrance, first, Alimkhan Jumakhonov of Los Angeles (left), then Miguel Villalobos of Tijuana (r). After a chaotic first minute, Villalobos goes down. He gets up and once again Jumakhonov goes on the attack to make certain Villalobos can not finish round one.
Referee Juan Manuel Morales Lees steps in to stop the carnage.
This fight card is part of the World Class Boxing Series, produced and distributed by PAP Sports. Friday night’s event will be a tape delayed telecast to air in Baja California, the United States via LATV Networks, and worldwide over the Internet through Global Sports Streaming. Beginning on Friday, May 20, 2016, LATV will be showing the first half of the February 26th show and then the second half of that same show will air on the following Friday. The first half of this May 13th show will air on June 3rd and the second half on June 10. The tentative date for Borizteca’s next live show is July 15th. Beginning in June, they’ll also have these contests going out live through Global Sports Streaming.
