Boxing at its best, Bound Boxing Show, Friday, April 29, 2016

Usually, it’s the host gym, the Bound Boxing Academy dominating their shows, but on this night, it was The Arena cleaning up on the championship belts. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Well, it’s a given, Juan Medina Jr., the owner of The Bound Boxing Academy in Chula Vista, Calif. is unflappable. With so much on his plate, not to mention his extended trips to Los Angeles to be in boxer Amaris Quintana’s corner as she prepared, then fought in the most important fight of her career, Medina has remained calm and cool. As Stuart Scott, the long-time anchor of ESPN used to say, “He’s as cool as the other side of the pillow.” Cool enough to host another top notch “Friday Night Fights” show at his new and much larger location at 675 Palomar Street in Chula Vista. This time around he even added a well-received Mariachi, Jesus Moreno, to sing during Intermission.

Friday evening’s lineup included boxers from near and far:

At the conclusion of their close contest, it was Diego Luna (r) of the host gym Bound Boxing Academy getting the win over Jonathan Recio. All photos: Jim Wyatt

In Bout #1, it was 11-year-old Diego Luna (84.4 lbs., 11-years-old) of the host gym, the Bound Boxing Academy, going up against Jonathan Recio (84 lbs., 12-years-old) of the Ponce De Leon gym of Montebello, Calif. Aside from the many actors eg. Michael Trevino and actresses like Deborah Foreman who were born in Montebello, it may be a little-known fact that Oscar De La Hoya was also born there. Montebello is a city in Los Angeles County located in the southwest corner of the San Gabriel Valley, eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles. As it turns out, not one of his celebrity friends made the trip. It’s a good thing that they didn’t because Recio, a southpaw, who had 60 bouts and only six losses, was caught off guard by Luna, a righty who knows that his quicker, straight right hands will defeat a lefty. That being said, the first two rounds were almost dead even. Luna did his best work in the final round to get the win.In Bout #2, they had 10-year-old Alejandro Bastidas (red trunks, 2-0, 82.2 lbs.) from the Bound Boxing taking on 9-year-old Antonio Padilla (white trunks, 0-3, 83.4 lbs.) from the Legacy Training Center, Vista, Calif. The shorter of the two, Padilla, 0-2 versus Bastidas, ran right smack into the same problem. At this juncture, it appears Bastidas’ height and reach advantage is too much for Mr. Padilla to overcome.

Bout #3 was very entertaining and in the end it was Jason Meza (l) having his arm raised in victory by referee Hondo Fontane.

Bout #3 featured 16-year-old, righty Jason Meza (129.8 lbs.) from The Arena, Point Loma, San Diego, Calif. going up against a 17-year-old, lefty by the name of Abraham Lopez (7-5, 126 lbs.) from the Jackie Nava Academy in Tijuana, B. C., Mexico. With the boxers having so much experience, both throwing punches from every angle, this turned out to be a tremendous duel. After Meza closed out round one with a thunderous right followed by a beautiful uppercut, it’s for certain he had won the round. With round two featuring more strategy and better defense, it was difficult to score. To close out the bout, both boxers were back to matching each other’s output and letting the hands fly. In the end, all three judges had Meza ahead in the very competitive bout. 

(top, left) We see Jose Salas landing one of his stiff left jabs to Julian Rojas’ face. (below, left) Referee Hondo Fontane raises the arm of the victorious Jose Salas.

Photos above are of the Super Bantamweight World Champion Jackie Nava at her gym in Tijuana. On Friday, her husband/trainer Mario Mendoza took their boxing team north to Chula Vista to compete. In 2011, the Nava family took possession of this abandoned warehouse, a former auto body shop, and made it into a top-notch boxing facility to uplift this blighted area. Back in 2008, in that same neighborhood, rival gangs used to fight each other for control of the drug trafficking business. Before that violence ended 2,327 people had lost their lives. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Bout #4 featured 14-year-old Jose Salas (90.4 lbs.) from the Jackie Nava Academy of Tijuana taking on 13-year-old Julian Esteban “The Mexican” Rojas (92.2 lbs.) from the Bound Boxing Academy. Even though this was another great match-up, it was clear Salas was more adept at slipping punches and then countering. By landing the harder punches and more of them, the decision was never in doubt.

In Bout #5, Alejandro Herrada learned the hard way how difficult it is to fight a southpaw. After two 8-counts, referee Hondo Fontane called a halt to his match with Cesar Loeza who had a field day landing his powerful left hooks to Herrada’s head.

Cesar Loeza (r) has his arm raised in victory after defeating Alejandro Herrada (l).

In Bout #5, we returned to the lefty versus righty theme, as 20-year-old, righty, Alejandro Herrada (169.8 lbs., unattached from Santee, Calif. and making his debut) faced southpaw Cesar Loeza from the Alliance Training Center, Chula Vista, Calif. (also weighing in at 169.8 lbs.). With both styles being very different, the difference maker was Loeza’s powerful left hooks which found their target with regularity. With both men throwing bombs at each other, it was just a matter of time before we’d see a stoppage. In this one, it was Herrada on the receiving end of back-to-back 8-counts which in due course led to an early stoppage. Even with his nose bleeding, Herrada and his corner had no intention of throwing in the towel and were a bit upset at the early stoppage. As in the Monty Python movie, The Return of the Holy Grail, some people, namely the Black Knight, will always fight on, no matter what the circumstances. You never tell the Black Knight he’s finished, even after severing every limb. Even at that stage, it’s questionable whether he’d settle for a draw.

(top, left) To prevent Jewelia Montijo from mounting any kind of serious attack, Citlali Ortiz made it a point to stay right there, as they say, right there in Montijo’s grill.

(below) At the conclusion of her bout versus the victorious Citlali Ortiz, Jewelia Montijo is escorted from the ring by her boxing coach at North County MMA.

Half-time show, less Janet Jackson, included Mariachi singer Jesus Moreno.

In Bout #6, they had 16-year-old Citlalli Ortiz (155 lbs., an inside brawler with success) from the Lee Espinoza Coachella Boxing Club of Coachella, Calif. going up against the much taller, 15-year-old Jewelia “Ju-ju” Montijo (155.8 lbs.) from North County MMA of Escondido, Calif. Even though Ortiz had more experience in the ring, we can’t discount the fact that Montijo had fought twice in the cage and been successful in both contests. On Friday night, Ortiz did what she had to, she stayed in close and banged away at Montijo’s midsection. The final round went to Montijo who more than once found her range and landed some solid shots at Ortiz’s head.

At the conclusion of Bout #7, referee Hondo Fontane raises the arm of the victorious JanCarlo Meza (r).

After his victory, the victorious JanCarlo Meza (c) gives a hug to his Grandmother and then poses for photos with his cousin Jason, Grandmother, and Father.

At the conclusion of his battle with Jan Carlo Meza, Mario Garcia rejoined his coaches  (l to r) Joni Alba and Ivan Martinez from Intensity MMA.

Bout #7 featured 11-year-oldd Jan Carlo Meza (3-2, 77.6 lbs.) of the Bound Boxing Academy going up against Mario Garcia (88.2 lbs) from Intensity MMA in South San Diego. This was another great matchup with its constant momentum swings. You’d have to give the edge to Meza in round one but from there on out it was close. Plus, there is no doubt Garcia was the dominant slugger in round three.

At the conclusion of Bout #8 it was Tom Watson (l) from The Arena having his arm raised in victory by referee Hondo Fontane after defeating Luis Ramirez (r).

Bout #8 featured 17-year-old Luis Ramirez (3-1, 164.2 lbs.) from the Mascal Boxing Club, Tijuana going up against 25-year-old Thomas Watson (3-2, 166.6 lbs.) from The Arena. Watson, an undefeated CAMO Welterweight champ, made the transition over to boxing look easy. Even before the first minute ended, he was throwing and landing these monstrous blows to Ramirez to earn the easy win.

(bottom, right) Early on in the contest, we see Matthew Knight being issued an 8-count after getting hit by two solid blows to the head.

One thing fight fans appreciate is when a boxer is willing to take a blow to the head in order to give three in return. It was in the third and final round when Ulises errored big time and hit his opponent Mathew Knight below the belt for the second time. With this infraction, Ulises Bastida had a point deducted.

At the conclusion of bout #9, we see Ulises “Gallo” Bastida (l) having his arm raised in victory by referee Hondo Fontane after he defeated the always tough Matthew Knight.

Bout #9, the “Bout of the Night” was a slugfest between two bangers, 17-year-old Ulises “Gallo” Bastida (143.6 lbs.) from The Arena in Point Loma, taking on 28-year-old Matthew “Good night now” Knight (3-0, 2 KOs, 145.2 lbs.) from The Bound Boxing Academy. Not only was Bastida willing to go toe to toe with an older, taller boxer, Knight had those credentials of two knockouts, plus he was one of the instructors at Bound Boxing.