For the boxing junkie, Tijuana on Thursday, Tucson on Friday, Houston on Saturday
The Showtime Promotion of Diego Magdalena versus fellow southpaw Fernando Beltran Jr. of Tijuana on Friday night in Tucson, Arizona is a must see.
To show your support of local boxers and take care of your regular idée fixe, obsession with watching live boxing, we want you to drive 25 minutes south to Tijuana, Mexico tonight to see Pablo Armenta get his eighth victory. In the morning get on a commuter flight to Tucson, Arizona so you can see the Diego Magdalena vs. Fernando Beltran Jr. bout at the Casino Del Sol Resort and Spa. The following morning, head up to Houston for the Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia and the Chris Chatman vs Jermell Charlo fight.
Top prospect Edibaldo “Sobre Ruedas” Ortega (12-0-1, 6 KOs) of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Local favorite, Pablo “Bronco” Armenta (7-1-1, 3 KOs) of South San Diego. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Let’s go over that one more time. Tonight at 8 p.m., March 22, 2012, you should be at Las Pulgas nightclub on Avenida Revolution in Tijuana’s downtown, B. C., Mexico. They are once again featuring super bantamweight sensation Edibaldo “Sobre Ruedas” Ortega (12-0-1, 6 KOs). Last time out, on November 19, 2011, Ortega wore down his opponent Loreto “KO” Medina (5-2, 5 KOs) of Mexicali to get the early stoppage. Tonight, he’ll be meeting his toughest opponent to date.
In the Co-feature, they have another local favorite, Pablo “Bronco” Armenta (7-1-1, 3 KOs) of South San Diego, Ca. Armenta is trained and managed by David Gutierrez of the Gutierrez Gym in South San Diego. In his last outing, January 27, 2012, Armenta defeated Omar Sanchez by TKO in the second round at the Gonzalez Sports Academy.
Diego Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas works the speed bag during a workout Wednesday. The talented world-ranked super featherweight will face fellow southpaw Fernando Beltran Jr. (36-7-1, 20 KOs), of Tijuana, Mex., in the 130-pound main event Friday, March 23.
In a battle of unbeatens, former 2008 Cuban Olympic Bronze Medalist Yordenis Ugas (11-0, 5 KOs) of Miami, will be opposing Johnny Garcia (11-0, 8 KOs), of Holland, Michigan.
Diego Magdalena (L) and Fernando Beltran Jr. (R) pose for a photo after their weigh-in for Friday night's fight. Tom Casino/Showtime Promotions
Yordenis Ugas (L) and Johnny Garcia (R) pose for a photo after their weigh-in. Tom Casino/Showtime Promotions
In the morning, you’re on a commuter flight to Tucson, Arizona. Once there, you head out to the Casino Del Sol Resort, Spa and Conference Center. They’re hosting Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generation, March 23 at 6 p.m. at their Event Center. The event, called “Firepower” is to feature 25-year-old Las Vegas super featherweight Diego Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs), taking on heavy-handed Miguel “Barreterito” Beltran Jr. (26-1, 17 KOs), out of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico for the North American Boxing Federation Super Featherweight title.
One of their supporting bouts features a battle between two undefeated light welterweights, Cuban standout, Yordenis Ugas (11-0, 5 KOs) taking on Michigan banger, Juan “Johnny” Garcia (11-0, 8 KOs), in an eight rounder, with both hoping to remain undefeated.
On the undercard they have another undefeated star-in-the-making, super flyweight, Hanzel “El Tornadito” Martinez (15-0, 12 KOs), brother-in-law of the Tijuana Tornado, Antonio Margarito. He returns to Arizona to take on his toughest test to date Alex “Chino” Rangel (13-1, 7 KOs), from nearby Ciudad Obregon, Sonora.
Also in action will be undefeated Arizona junior middleweight Juanito Gonzalez (4-0, 3 KOs).
Who's more popular than Erik Morales? If you ask the boxing fans in both San Diego and Tijuana they'll tell you, “No one!”
Danny "Swift" Garcia is shown working the mitts with his dad.
Back on February 25, 2011, Danny "Swift" Garcia had success in San Diego over John Figueroa. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Then, on Saturday you have to be at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. Erik Morales is making his first defense of his WBC title against unbeaten Danny “Swift” Garcia of Philadelphia, PA (22-0, 14 KO’s). You might remember Garcia, he visited San Diego back on February 25, 2011 to take on John Figueroa at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel. Figueroa was knocked out in the second round. If Morales looks anything like he did in that struggle to beat 22-year-old fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano last September for the vacant WBC 140 pound title, then we could see Morales get badly beaten by Garcia. Garcia, who is ranked #6 in the world, is rated much higher than Cano.
Morales has been telling everyone that he feels rejuvenated. “I needed to take some time off to decide what I wanted to do. Now I know I’m 100 percent committed to boxing.”
Insiders believe Garcia, not only has the speed, power and youth to give Morales problems, they’re predicting he will stop Morales inside the distance. This isn’t a good match-up for Morales, who would have been better off vacating the title and moving back down in weight to lightweight. It’s likely he can no longer make that weight. The WBC made it easy for Morales to pick up a title when Cano was found to replace ill Lucas Matthysse last September. The savants of boxing believe Morales would have struggled against a fighter like Matthysse.
After his win over Lester Gonzalez at the Town & Country in Mission Valley in San Diego, Chris Chatman (C) had his support group gather around. (L to R) coach Vernon Lee, coach Jesus Jimenez, boxer Chris Chatman, manager and City Boxing owner, Mark Dion, MMA instructor Carlos Baruch. Photo: Jim Wyatt
After one of his big wins, Jermell Charlo (L) has his arm raised by the referee.
And finally we have light middleweight Chris Chatman (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of San Diego’s City Boxing Downtown facing the 21 year-old Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo from Richmond, Texas who now lives and trains in Houston. Jermell has a twin brother who boxes, Jermall. Isn’t that clever, they changed just one letter.
Jermall will be fighting Sean Ryan Wilson in a six-round super welterweight bout, while Jermell is scheduled to go 10 rounds with Chatman, his first-ever 10-rounder. Makes you wonder if they’ve ever switched opponents.
Since Richmond, Texas is just down the road from Houston (more or less 45 minutes away by car), Chatman is definitely going up against a hometown favorite, a hometown favorite who had 64 amateur bouts in the Houston area but only three professional fights.
Light middleweight James Kirkland, ranked #5 in the world, is shown working the mitts in preparation for his fight against Carlos Molina ranked #4 in the world. Kirkland definitely has the power to negate Molina's boxing skills.
Like the Klitschko brothers, the Charlos don’t plan to fight each other. Their trainer, the highly regarded Ronnie Shields, won’t even allow them to spar. The last time the brothers sparred, it was too intense so Shields won’t allow it anymore. “We are each other’s motivation, not competition,” said Jermell. “We started boxing because our father was an amateur boxer and because it’s hard. It’s a difficult arena to be in. You got to be ready, equipped. You have to dedicate your whole life to it.”
Jermall Charlo trained for his fight in Big Bear, CA with former world champion Sugar Shane Mosley, who serves as his advisor.
Jermall made this plea to the Houston crowd to turn out early to watch him and his brother, because he said the fans are in for a treat. “It’s a homecoming for us, so please everybody, please show up and be prepared for a rumble, because it’s going to go down. We’re going to be the next world champions out of Houston!”
We must also take into consideration that Charlo is signed with Golden Boy Promotions. Golden Boy Promotions once held the Luis Grajeda contract and then they dropped him. Next, they had Charlo fight Grajeda who is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. As it turns out, of all the people Charlo has faced; Grajeda is perhaps the only respectable boxer on his resume.
The list of fighters Chatman has faced is certainly superior to the list Charlo has faced. Chatman went up against Lester Gonzalez, Demetrius Andrade, Alberto Herrera, and Charles Hatley. At the time he faced them, they had a combined record of 39 wins and only 3 losses. Chatman’s record against these four fighters, 2-1-1. In other words, this fight should be a good one.
So, there you have it. Three exciting nights of boxing. Go to it fight fan!
