Friday’s boxing show at Crowne Plaza features Bojorquez vs Fuentes

Christian Bojorquez (second from the left) is shown here with his support staff which includes his brother, father, trainer and cutman. Its been almost a year, just 16 days shy of a year, since he last fought. Photo: Jim Wyatt

High hopes of a great boxing card at the Crowne Plaza Hanalei on Friday night were dashed Thursday afternoon when the latest Bobby D Presents Boxing Card suddenly started deteriorating.

First up, it was reported the trainer/coach of the young lady scheduled to fight Amaris Quintana of San Diego suddenly suffered a mild stroke and as a result, their match had to be cancelled. Since they couldn’t find another opponent on such short notice, the Main Event was cancelled. At this point, the next fight date for Quintana is June 27.

Also on Thursday, the fighter scheduled to face San Diego’s Adrian Vargas (8-0-1, 6 KOs), Jesus Vallejo from Billings, Montana (6-9-1, 6 KOs), failed his MRI test. After taking the fight on short notice, an unprepared Vallejo and his trainer flew the 1,300 plus miles without the proper medical requirements. It was then up to the promoter’s people to scramble about Southern California (for 11 hours plus an additional 166 miles) trying to get the tests done.   

In trying to save the bout, the promoter most likely spent over $1,000 and yet in the end, the fight fell through. With two bouts down, it was then necessary to either increase the rounds for the other fighters or pay a hefty fine to the California State Athletic Commission.

Stumbling block #3, Christian Bojorquez (11-0-0, 2 KOs) of Tijuana, who’s scheduled to fight Fernando Fuentes (3-2-0) from Hemet, CA showed up for the weigh-in at 125½ pounds which was 4½ pounds over the agreed upon 121-pound catch weight. To save the fight, Fuentes had to agree to go ahead with this unfair advantage. As a result, Bojorquez will be fined 20% of his purse with 10% going to the California State Athletic Commission and the other 10% going to Fuentes. 

In the lighter weight divisions that 4½ pound weight differential can be a major factor, a scary one for Mr. Fuentes.

(right) Fernando Fuentes of Hemet, Ca is in town to face Christian Bojorquez in what promises to be a great match between two great boxers as opposed to the more chaotic, one punch brawlers.   

The other interesting match-ups on the docket 

How about the rematch between Joe Perez (4-0-1, 3 KOs) and Victor Capaceta (3-6-3. 2 KOs)? Their last match ended in a draw back on November 21, 2013. Since that time, Capaceta has remained busy and fought two tough fights against gents who at this time have a combined record of 19-1. His trainer likes his chances on Friday night because he has learned much and certainly matured with the stiff competition.

(top) Smokin’ Joe Perez (l) and Victor Capaceta pose for a photo at Thursday’s weigh-in at the Crowne Plaza Hanalei Hotel. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Only problem, Capaceta now has only one win in his last 10 fights. That one win was over Miguel Mendoza at the Las Pulgas Night Club in Tijuana, his hometown. The Mendoza, who he beat, now has a record is 0-7-0 and he’s been knocked out in 6 of those 7 losses. So how much credit, if any, should we give Capaceta? I’d say his chances of winning are in that category of slim to none. Another question comes to light – why did it take Smokin’ Joe Perez six months and nine days to get back in the ring?

Below we see Perez working the mitts with his coach Basheer Abdullah at The Boxing Club in La Jolla, CA.

Another fight drawing some interest is the bout between Ulises Sierra (6-0-1, 5 KOs) from San Diego and Cromwell “Silva Bullet” Gordon (4-9) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Los Angeles, by way of Belize. 

Their comments concerning the 165 lb. catchweight:

Sierra: “I’m now at 165 but I’d like to go all the way down to 160 and fight as a middleweight.”

Gordon: “I could go all the way up to 184 or down as low as 154. No problem.” 

If you check the weights of Sierra’s first six fights you’ll notice he’s been fighting as a light heavyweight in all but one fight. Now that he’s come down in weight, he should enjoy an advantage come fight time after rehydrating. 

Unlike Sierra, who paid his dues in the Amateur ranks, Gordon never fought as an Amateur. He said he’s taking an entirely different approach. “My first 20 pro fights will be my Amateur initiation.” 

In one of his earlier losses, we see Cromwell Gordon (red with white waistband) getting schooled by his opponent Ronald Johnson.

Gordon has now lived in Las Vegas for seven years, prior to that he lived in Los Angeles for 17 and the first 10 years of his life were in Belize, the top English-speaking retirement haven in the Caribbean.

While we talked, Gordon’s phone, which has a most unusual ringtone, kept barking like a dog. Gordon owns and operates a 6,000 square foot boxing gym, the largest boxing gym in Las Vegas. Since he opened the gym in 2012, he claims his Amateur boxers have yet to lose a match. 

Gordon said he continues to fight to prove to his students that he can not only talk-the-talk, but walk-the- walk.  

Like that gent in the Dos XXs commercials, Gordon is a very interesting fellow and from time to time he does run into Floyd Mayweather Jr. Even though he admires Mayweather, he’s often one of his biggest critics.

In high school, Gordon played football, track and set a high school record for bench pressing 415 pounds.

(top, right) Guillermo Castillo (r) poses for a photo with his good buddy and sparring partner Christian Bojorquez.

In the final contest, we have Guillermo Castillo (1-0) taking on 28-year-old Brahmabigi Montgomery of Victorville, CA who is making his pro-debut. Montgomery prefers to be called “Rowdy,” just Rowdy. While in high school the 6’1” Rowdy, ran track and played basketball.  

Rowdy’s opponent, Castillo is from the Undisputed Gym in Downtown San Diego. In his debut, Castillo fought Juan Carlos Moreno (0-3), and despite an intentional head butt, he survived long enough to win by a unanimous decision. In his second outing, against a fellow by the name of Hector Alvarez, his opponent entered the ring, then before the opening bell decided not to fight and then climbed right back out of the ring. Guys like Rowdy would never even consider such a stunt.

By tomorrow night, the organizers are hoping to add an additional bout so the fight card will come up to the 24 round California State Athletic Commission minimum round requirement for each show. Lord knows, they’ve already been hit with enough unexpected expenses.