Results from Saturday’s Boxing Extravaganza in Tijuana
Antonio “Canitas” Lozada Jr. has his arm raised after defeating Hugo Hernandez to retain his WBC Fecarbox Championship belt, July 24, 2010 in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico.
Lozada’s Baja Boxing was the host of this jam-packed “Full Impact” fight card, part of the TECATE BOXING TOUR taking place at the Caliente Hipodromo on Agua Caliente Boulevard in Tijuana, Mexico. The fight card, headlined by four regional title fights with each participant battling for their division’s WBC FECARBOX belt. All four of these bouts were televised nationally by Televisa.
In the first of four title bouts, Antonio “Cañitas” Lozada Jr. was able to defend his Fecarbox super-lightweight title by out-slugging Hugo “Nocaut” Hernández. In his first title defense, Cañitas (23-0-0, 20 KO’s) dominated from the outset using his superior boxing acumen to control distance with head snapping jabs and straight right hands. As the bout continued, he opened up his full repertoire, pounding his opponent with left hooks and fierce uppercuts. Never the less, Hernández (10-2-1, 9 KOs) hung in there until the closing minute of round four. With Cañitas hounding his opponent and connecting on so many of these combinations, referee Juan José Ramírez finally stepped in to stop the bout at 2:54 of round four.
Next, it was David “Morita” De La Mora defending his newly minted Fecarbox Bantamweight title by gaining a unanimous decision victory over the hard-working Elvis García (9-7-3, 5 KO’s) who took everything De La Mora could throw at him and yet stood there like an indomitable tree stump. The crowd favorite battered, but could not destroy the spirit of Garcia who hung tough till the closing bell. At times you could see the frustration on De La Mora’s face as he must have been thinking, ‘What in the world is it going to take.’
When we last saw De La Mora fight at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Calif. against San Diego’s Benji Garcia, he was more of a stand-up fighter who patiently waited to counter. On Saturday night he demonstrated that he’s now the entire package.
Marvin “Cachorro” Quintero, now 20-2-0, 16 KOs was far too much for Jean Javier Sotelo to handle. After one barrage, Sotelo took a knee in a neutral corner and then tried to get back on his feet but couldn’t as referee Juan Morales Lee counted him out at :43 seconds of the fifth round. Quintero’s constant barrage of power shots to Sotelo’s midsection was what won him the contest. Quintero, who now wears the Fecarbox super-featherweight belt, is ranked #14 by the IBF and #18 by the WBC.
The last time we saw Quintero fight was back on July 31, 2009, a year ago, when he fought Tyrone Harris at the Pechanga Resort & Casino. On that night he appeared to be winning the fight right up until the point when he hurt his hand. Regardless, it appears he is now back and should be a real force within his weight class. Especially after manhandling this tough Colombian. The 35-year-old Sotelo had been in against four former world champions (Ricardo Cordoba, Jorge Linares, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jhonny Gonzalez) and had 30 plus professional bouts, 10 years as a fighter for pay, and had participated in six international title fights.
In the 10th and final round of the Antonio “Bazooka” Cervantes versus Alain “Konnan” Hernández bout, it all came down to this one final point where Cervantes had Hernandez pinned against the ropes and was continually pummeling him. Since Hernandez wasn’t fighting back with the same intensity he had earlier, the referee decided to call for the stoppage. The ruling angered Hernandez who still had all of his faculties. If it be any consolation to Hernandez, it was clear that he was well behind on the scorecards. As a result of this 10th round TKO, Cervantes became the interim Fecarbox lightweight champion and with the win he upped his record to 19-5-5 with 13 KOs, while Hernandez now drops to 17-8-2 with 10 KOs.
On the undercard, Julio César “Gatito” Félix scored a second round TKO victory over Jesús Antonio Valenzuela. Felix was magnificent, landing accurate, lightning fast shots from every angle. After winning, Felix did something boxers have been yearning to do for years. He surprised both of the lovely Tecate Beer ring card ladies by kissing them on the cheek.
Jorge De Alba easily won his bout, a second round TKO victory over Manuel Armendariz. Under the tutelage of former world champion Raul “Jibaro” Perez, DeAlba has become special. While an amateur, he earned gold medals in the Mexican National Olympics in 2007 and 2008 and now as a pro his ledger reads four wins against zero losses and all four wins came by way of knockout.
Next, it was the bewildering match-up of Rubén “Canelito” Tamayo (13-0-1) facing Jesús “Chino” Badillo (2-0). From the outset, Badillo decided he was going to fight this fight from long-range. That meant it was up to his opponent to cut off the ring or somehow slow him down. Well, Tamayo, a southpaw, did his best, but he just couldn’t slow down the merry-go-round. Several of the people in the audience began to refer to Badillo as “the runner.” Then, after the final bell, the patrons became further perturbed, dumbfounded when the judges ruled the bout was a Mixed Decision Draw. You could hear the rumblings: “How can you come up with a draw when one guy spent the entire fight running?”
In the Edibaldo Ortega victory over Mario Cruz, it was all about landing that big left hook and keeping the pressure on to have his opponent fight while backing up. The fight ending knockdown came by way of a powerful left hook which sent Cruz to the canvas.
Alejandro López prevailed over Víctor Rodríguez by securing a TKO victory in the very first round. Alejandro Rangel did the same to Aaron Apolo by refusing to allow his opponent to get started. Apolo then made a quick exit with cotton still stuffed up his nose. Diego Cosme ko’d Juan Leyva; Jovan “Vaquero” Muñoz knocked out Edgar Quiroz; and Juan Pablo “Che Che” López kayoed Carlos Luzanía. Again, all of these matches ended in the very first round. Enrique Tinoco managed a quick second round TKO victory over the outclassed Alejando “Mantequitas” Rubio.
Many of Mexico’s top pugilists were present to watch this show. To mention just a few: you had Erik Morales, the current WBC International Welterweight Title holder and arguably the best boxer ever out of the Tijuana/San Diego area, Manuel “Mantecas” Medina the five time world Featherweight Champion plus Humberto “Zorrita” Soto, a three time world champion.
As you can imagine, there was a very long line of fans lined up to get a photo with Erik Morales. One gent had waited so long for his opportunity to get his photo taken that when he finally got in front of his hero, he turned around and his buddy who was supposed to snap the photo had vanished.
