Friday’s Bobby D Presents Boxing Show features some intriguing match ups
The most intriguing match ups of the night, (l to r) Scott Alexander vs Rodney Hernandez and San Diego’s Ernesto “Chato” Martinez versus Jose Alvarez. All photos: Jim Wyatt
On Thursday, March 19, the weigh-ins were completed for the Bobby D. Presents boxing show “Road to Redemption” a five-bout fight card featuring a heavyweight matchup that guarantees to be cataclysmic. Sorry about the use of such a hyperbole, but this heavyweight clash has the makings of being one of those fights the fans will be talking about for a long time.
(l to r) Charisma plus – Scotty Alexander and Rodney Hernandez.
In Friday’s Main Event, they have 25 year-old righty, 6’3” Scott “The One” Alexander (9-0-1, 5 KOs) of Santa Monica, CA who weighed in at 232 lbs. going up against 26 year-old southpaw Rodney Hernandez (6-2-1, 1 KO) of Modesta, CA who weighed in at 245 lbs.
As they say, sometimes your reputation precedes you. Back in his wild and wooly days, Alexander, tougher than most, ended up going to “eight high schools.”
More facts to ponder: Hernandez may be an inch shorter then Alexander, but he’s also an inch wider. Since both young men like to bang and put on a good show, they have serious people backing them. Both have already faced some of the best heavyweights in the sport, either as an Amateur, as a Pro or in their regular training.
Alexander, who was signed by the Sheer Sports Management group, cut his teeth in that All American Heavyweights Series, where he faced 2012 Olympian Super Heavyweight Dominic “Trouble” Braziere. Like a mother hen, his management group watches over their stable of five talented boxers which includes super middleweight Ronald Akeem “Flatline” Ellis, Irish middleweight Jason Quigley, lightweight Everton Lopes, featherweight Edwin “The Hitman” Sandoval and of course Scott “The One” Alexander. Alexander’s trainer/mentor is none other than South African native and ex-heavyweight contender Courage Tshabalala (26-4, 22 KOs).
With each exploit, Hernandez’s support group keeps touting him with a new nickname. He’s gone from “Raw Dog” to “Bad to the Bone” to the current “Big Rodney.” Big Rodney has three children and as mentioned comes from Modesta, CA the same town where George Lucas the director/producer of American Graffitti and Star Wars grew up. Same town where Mark Spitz, Jack Elam, Carol Channing and Ernest and Julio Gallo grew up. The same town that recently slipped from being rated #1 to #3 in the U. S. in car thefts and hasn’t seen any improvement in the number of new gang members now estimated between 7 to 10,000. Not to state the obvious, but Modesto is a tough town.
Even though Hernandez had only had 8 amateur bouts, he’s already faced several top pros like Michael Hunter (7-0-0, 4 KOs), Razvan Cojanu (13-1, 7 KOs) and Javier Torres (6-0-1, 3 KOs) and yet he’s only been knocked off his feet once and like Alexander, he’s never been stopped or knocked out.
Alexander’s take on his matchup with Hernandez: “Somebody said we should have a pillow ready when Hernandez’s head hits the canvas. Forget the pillow, bring a mop and bucket.”
Hernandez’s take on his skirmish with Alexander, “After seeing me in the ring, you’re going to say, “God d…!”
Ernesto Martinez (left), Jose Alvarez (top, right)
Another of the fights that everyone seems intent on watching is the Ernesto “Chato” Martinez (10-8-1, 5 KOs) versus Jose Alvarez (3-3) from Sanger, CA which is up near Fresno.
The soon to be 39 year-old Martinez has been a well known boxing trainer at The Arena Gym in Point Loma. His many students are eager to see how he will do after such a long layoff. As a pro, Martinez fought consistently from July 8, 1996 to September 1, 1999 losing his last five fights and then made a mini comeback attempt in 2013 losing an unanimous decision to Alberto Ocampo (7-0-2, 3 KOs). At the start of his career (July 1996 to July 1998), he came out of the shoot strong going (10-2-1, 5 KOs). And as of yesterday, Martinez was right back to looking slim and trim at 167.5 lbs. as if he were 25 years young.
Martinez’s opponent, Jose Alvarez is only 26 years of age and weighed in at 170 lbs. Like Martinez, he’s had a layoff too. His last fight was back on November 16, 2013, a unanimous decision loss to Andrew Hernandez (4-0-1). In his six fights, Alvarez has been out-pointed but never been stopped. Martinez has been stopped three times, once by TKO and twice he was knocked out.
In the co-Main event, they have the miss-match of Leon Spinks III (l) versus Cesar Garcia (top, right). All photos: Jim Wyatt
Next, they have the grandson of former heavyweight champion “Neon” Leon Spinks, lightweight Leon Spinks III (10-1-1, 6 KOs) in a four rounder against Cesar “Mayu” Garcia (11-17-1, 5 KOs).
From May 24, 2013 till September 20, 2014, Spinks, a 27 year-old southpaw, has fought five straight fights against boxers with a winning record. Since that time, it seems he has reverted back to fighting boxers with a losing record. After 29 professional fights, Garcia has been knocked out 8 times and has yet to beat a boxer with a winning record. Chalk up victory #11 for Leon Spinks.
On the undercard you have Ngoc Truong (top) versus Miguelito Marti (bottom).
Also on the undercard, you have Ngoc Truong who at one time did quite well in track and field. He then decided to move on to boxing. At Thursday’s weigh-in, Truong (0-1) weighed in at 140½ lbs. while his opponent Miguelito “Blue Eyes” Marti (0-3) of Riverside, CA weighed only 133. Being that they were so far apart, Truong, a welterweight, and Marti, a lightweight, both were given an opportunity for one to come up in weight and the other to go down in weight to reach a happy medium. Truong would have been closer to the catch weight but he took the fight on just one day notice. In all three fights that Marti had, he was knocked out.
In the fifth and final bout you have Isaac Freeman (r) facing Jeff Tabrizi (l).
The fifth and final bout features two gents making their pro-debuts 26 year-old Isaac “Puma” Freeman from the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles who trains at the LA Sands Gym going up against the 24 year-old Jeff Tabrizi who lives in Reseda (a neighborhood on the west end of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley). Tabrizi is originally from Ontario, Canada. Both boxers weighed exactly the same 150 lbs. Tabrizi, who started training about three years ago at the Power House Gym in North Hollywood, had 20 amateur bouts while Freeman has had considerably more USA Amateur experience.
You talk about peer pressure both Truong and Tabrizi are from the same gym as James “Lights Out” Toney, the Power House Gym in North Hollywood. Those familiar with this gym and its clientele call it, “the Whack House Gym.”
The venue for Friday’s fights is the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel San Diego located at 8110 Aero Drive in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego. For more info and tickets, you can visit www.SanDiegoFights.com or (619) 420-8866.
