Mexican fighters rule from the Grand Hotel Tijuana to Madison Square Garden, N.Y.
When there are so many exciting things happening at once, it’s often necessary to take a step back to take it all in and give each performance its proper due. We’ll begin with the Mayen Promociones Fight Card of Friday, 5-31-19 at the Grand Hotel Tijuana in front of another packed house. That will be PART 1. Our PART 2 is our coverage of that heavyweight title fight which aired Saturday evening, June 1st, 2019 on DAZN plus Azteca TV from New York’s Madison Square Garden featuring a local favorite heavyweight contender Andy Ruiz Jr. from Imperial, Calif. who according to reports surprised the entire Boxing World.
Below is our cheat sheet (a Sign-in form for the competitors) asking them for the majority of info we’ll need, plus remember we will have already posted (changed) the boxers’ records to make certain they are in agreement with the official record keeper Box Rec.com.
Steve “Manos de Oro” Villalobos versus Odilon “Odi” Rivera Mesa
We’ll call Bout #1, “the Courage of “Odi” Bout”: How the shorter Odilon “Odi” Rivera summed up the courage and staying power to last as long as he did against a possible future Champ like Steve Villalobos is amazing. Bottom right photo was taken at the outset of round one and with Villalobos’ eyebrows furled, he sure looked intimidating. The undefeated Steve Villalobos battered his opponent from pillar to post.The end came early. Here we see the lovely Daniela Mojac dutifully raising the arm of the victorious Steve Villalobos after the early stoppage.In Bout #2 they featured two solid up and comers Jessie “El Cuate” Nares from Oxnard, Calif. (r) who is trained by former boxing great Joel Diaz (r) facing another banger Diego “Zurdo” Rivas who is trained by the much respected Juan Jose Ramirez. You talk about big bangers, these gents not only took it, they handed it out.At the end of their all-out war, it was Jessie “El Cuate” Nares (r) coming away with the well-deserved, undeniable victory in his Pro debut.With all his fans present, we just had to include this photo of the happy warrior.In Bout #3, you had another top prospect, Jose “As Negro” Guzman (l) (awaiting his shot at a title) facing one of the former gatekeepers of his division Jose Luis Araiza (r).
After the veteran Araiza (r) finished the six rounds with the quicker and more powerful contender, Guzman then looked across at Araiza showing his respect. Regardless of the sport, it often becomes impossible to hide your mutual respect.
Sometimes people end up working too long and too hard at a profession. Case in point: on Friday night, there was the 36-year-old Miguel Villalobos entering the ring to face another tough assignment, a man twelve years his junior, Jorge “El Chihuas” Brito. As you might imagine, this fight did not go well for the much shorter Miguel Villalobos. Plus, many have said, the way Brito punches, he’s already a top contender within his division. And even more notable, this was Villalobos’ third pro fight within the month of May. He fought John Leo Dato on May 3rd, Andra McGowan on May 17th and now here he was fighting the toughest opponent of the three, Jorge Alberto “El Chihuas” Brito on May 31st. As you might imagine, the fight did not go well for Miguel Villalobos.
Pre-fight, Jorge Alberto Brito (right) and the veteran Miguel Villalobos (left) met in the center of the ring to receive their final instructions from referee Daniela Mojac.
As you might imagine, the referee was kept busy as our hero had a rough time of it and landed on his back several times, until finally the referee had to stop the bout. In the end, we see the victorious Jorge Alberto “El Chihuas” Brito (r) having his arm raised in victory by referee Daniela Mojac, while the defeated Miguel Villalobos puts on a good face and politely poses for the cameras.
Plain and simple, some people just love the sport of boxing. Case in point are the next two gentlemen on the fight card, super welterweights Romario “Little Boy” Ovalle (black trunks, white trim) and Juanito Rodriguez (black trunks with red trim).
At this point in the contest, you could almost hear Romario “Little Boy” Ovalle humming his victory song as he confidently strolled about the perimeter of the ring, ‘This is how we do it’. “Not so fast”, chimed the tough as nails Juanito Rodriguez who got back to his feet in record time.
With Ovalle’s confidence growing, it wasn’t long before he made an all out attack which no doubt held everyone’s attention in the Grand Hotel Tijuana Ballroom. It became obvious to Rodriguez, who no doubt is familiar with the game of American football, that he needed a way to stop Ovalle’s assault. So, what did he do? He ended up doing the unthinkable and made this head first tackle of his opponent. A
Different rules for different fools: After Rodriguez’s tackle of Ovalle, the normally congenial ref Daniela Mojac stopped the bout and issued Rodriguez a stern warning, “Under no circumstances can I allow you to tackle an opponent. You hear me?”
In the end, it was the unstoppable Romario “Little Boy” Ovalle (c) of Tecate, B. C., Mexico coming away with his fourth TKO victory.
During a 15-minute intermission, the triumvirate of Boxing Promoters: “Promociones Mayen”, “Marron Promotions” and “Bobby D Presents” presented former trainer A. Ramirez Chavez a commemorative belt for his tireless work, not only as a trainer of Champions for many, many years, but his overall support of boxing.In Bout #6, it was Sammy Almontes Aguilar (right) from Tijuana making his Pro Debut against Luis Parra Medina (left) (1-0) from Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico and refereeing this match was the veteran Fernando Renteria.With every round hotly contested, this one went to the scorecards and in the end the judges had Samuel Almontes (r) winning the hotly contested victory.Combatants in Bout #7, Francisco Javier Lopez Chavez (l) and Elias Diaz (r) come to center ring to receive their final instructions from referee Fernando Renteria.In a very short time, Elias Diaz (right) had established his superiority over his opponent and had Bout #7 resembling target practice.
The only period in this bout when Diaz’s victory could have been jeopardized was when his opponent Francisco Javier Lopez Chavez, perhaps reacting to an earlier blow, suddenly dropped to one knee (photo bottom, center). We also have the same photo but enlarged. At the very instant Elias Diaz had set in motion a devastating uppercut intended to close the show. Before making impact, Diaz, realizing his opponent had dropped to one knee, did manage to hold back on the force of that blow and just brush along the side of his head.
In the end, everything turned out as planned for the Diaz camp and their fighter Elias Diaz picked up victory number six without a defeat, his fourth win by stoppage.Elias and his Dad feel they have an ideal support group as they begin their quest for a title: (l to r) LATV Sports’ Fernando Paramo, Promoter/Matchmaker Jorge Marron, Father/coach Greg Diaz, Cutman for Hire Juan Ramirez, plus close friend and soon to be turning Pro himself Lazaro Lorenzana. Mother Eva Diaz was also present.
In Bout #8, they had 22-year-old Noe Larios Jr. (left) from Ramona, Calif. going after his 10th straight victory. His opponent was 24-year-old super middleweight Jesus Andres “El Fresa” Valdes Armenta (0-15) from Tijuana.
In this one, Noe Larios Jr. (l) dominated his opponent Jesus Andres Valdes from the opening bell to easily secure his tenth victory without a defeat. After receiving their final instructions from referee Fernando Renteria, it was time for Jesus Manuel Vaquero Sandoval of Mexicali (left) and the undefeated Carlos Flores (16-0, 9 KOs) from Tijuana to go at it. And even though Flores is just 18-years-old, he spent the majority of this fight in almost complete control. It was another good scrap but the 18-year-old Flores, far and away did more to impress the judges and come away with his 17th straight victory without a defeat.
And now for our Main Event of the evening with David “Walking Dead” Godinez (left)(13-5, 5 KOs) attempting to knock off the more seasoned and celebrated Rafael “Big Bang” Rivera (right)(26-3-2, 18 KOs) who no doubt has been fearless when it comes to facing the toughest competitors in his division, gentleman like the current WBA World Champ Leo Santa Cruz. His toe to toe battle with Santa Cruz on February 16, 2019 will be long remembered.
Rivera’s final blow, a big overhand right came when Godinez’s hands were down.
With all eyes on that far off neutral corner, it had to be the longest 10 count in the history of the sport.
It was a case of Rivera’s punching power proving to be too much for Godinez who was eventually worn down by the heavier blows and went down for good in that far off neutral corner.
Our picture within a picture of the gentlemen of the hour.These days everyone and their brother is a photographer. After almost a full hour of people snapping photos, our congenial and at one time effervescent referee was finally gritting his teeth. Apparently these outward signs, were a tell that his arm was getting tired. ‘Alright already, enough is enough of the picture taking.’Another show goes in the books from the polished World Class Boxing of LATV broadcast team of (left to right) Brenda Flores (interviewer/World Class Boxer), lead announcer plus CEO/Founder of Paramo Productions Fernando Paramo and finally color commentator/presenter Nayeli Franco.
