Boxing Shows aplenty as the upcoming Labor Day nears
The 5’4″ tall, 29-year-old Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada, (now 40-3, 27 KOs) successfully defended his WBC Super Flyweight title with another extremely busy TKO victory over Dewayne “Mister Stop Running” Beamon (now 16-2-1, 11 KOs). The end came in the 9th round of this scheduled 12 round title bout taking place at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Estrada’s hometown of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, Saturday, August 24.
Pre-fight Analysis: If you’ve been following Dewayne Beamon’s career, you know he has some similarities with his latest opponent, Juan Estrada. Being a true professional, Beamon has always been in excellent shape and no doubt was ready to go nonstop for the full 12 rounds of Saturday’s Championship bout. Pre-fight, both men trained at the same altitude and dealt with the same weather conditions (Beamon in Las Vegas; Estrada at home in Hermosillo). Estrada fans were claiming it would be Estrada’s relentless pinpoint accuracy that would ensure his victory. With his background as a longtime amateur and 43 Professional fights over an 11-year career, surely he would have an edge in experience over Beamon. Beamon had 17 Pro bouts over a career spanning just four years. In other words, it’s likely Estrada would know how to better control his energy level. Plus he’d know how to better use those tactics that give a veteran an edge. Example? The placement of numerous blows to the back of your opponent’s head which can certainly slow an opponent down.
Was Beamon ready for someone like Estrada? Beamon’s tactics involved pressing forward with his legendary high punch output to land his knockout blow. While Estrada backers, namely all of Mexico, believed their guy, was quicker, more agile, more accurate and mobile, more experienced, plus he would certainly remain cool under fire and eventually land enough blows to outscore a late bloomer like Beamon.
Then, after six hard-fought rounds with this rambunctious crowd of 12,000 Estrada fans cheering on their hometown hero, came this controversy in round seven. Call it what you will, a travesty of poor officiating that needs to be corrected or the not uncommon protest which after investigation turns out to be a pipedream.
After Dewayne Beamon had already been affected (equilibrium wise) by earlier rabbit punches (four), there was no doubt that Estrada wanted to put the finishing touches on his pending victory by landing yet another blow to the back of Beamon’s head. As a result of this fifth illegal blow in round seven, a glazed Beamon appeared to be headed, in slow motion, to the canvas. First, his left knee touched the canvas and then you could clearly see his left glove touch the canvas as well.
At this point, the excited Estrada loaded up to deliver another blow to the back of Beamon’s head. The question is “Why were these fouls being permitted over and over again by the referee who no doubt had a clear view of these fouls?”
At this point, Estrada could have been compared to a maniacal gunman with an assault rifle. If DAZN or Mexico Azteca TV were able to show viewers a slow-motion replay of the video they had, for all to see, including the head of officials /inspector Carlos Ruben Arrieta Rodriguez from the local Boxing Commission, Comision de Box CD Hermosillo, then the Estrada fouls would have been obvious. And, if Beamon’s knee or his glove, had indeed touched the canvas before Estrada landed his second of two illegal blows, then the Beamon camp has sufficient grounds to ask the local Boxing Commission for either a “No-Contest ruling” or even ask that local Boxing Commission to do as they did in the Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham bout, disqualify Estrada as they did with Arthur Abraham who struck Dirrell after the latter had slipped to the canvas in round 11 in that Showtime Super Six Tournament and then after much consideration, they went on to award the victory to Andre Dirrell.
After being pummeled in Round #7 with those rabbit punches, a rather disoriented Beamon got pounded again in round #8. However, due to his amazing durability, the fight didn’t officially end until 51 seconds into round #9 after Estrada once again backed Beamon up against the ropes. At that point, Estrada wailed away, first, with a hard left to the midsection followed by two unanswered left-right combinations. The 6th punch in this barrage of punches, a short, hard left uppercut to Beamon’s face, gave referee Abdiel Barragan more than enough justification to call for a stoppage of the bout.
In our second bout of interest, we witnessed the tough as nails Croatian “El Animal” Filip Hrgovic showcase his toughness against the popular Mexican heavyweight Mario “Chabelo” Heredia (16-7-1, 13 KOs). Like Beamon, Heredia has trained locally at The Arena Gym in Point Loma, San Diego, Calif. with their well-respected head boxing coach Joe Vargas. In this bout, the end came early, 43 seconds into round #3, after Heredia went down from a big, overhand right to the temple. After rising on unsteady legs, the referee called a halt to the match. With his ninth victory, Hrgovic retained his WBC heavyweight International Title, plus his promoter Nisse Sauerland has Hrgovic lined up to fight on the undercard of that Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. rematch in Saudi Arabia. On Friday, August 23, 2019, it was announced that rematch will be held December 7, 2019, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
As you might expect, the decision to stage this rematch in Saudi Arabia has drawn heavy criticism from that part of the world’s population who still has a heart and an awareness of the inhumane actions of this country’s leadership. Saudi authorities can’t suddenly whitewash a horrid reputation by hosting all these thrilling sporting events and throwing their money around. Not after all their horrific in-country crackdowns on human rights, the gruesome death of Jamal Khashoggi, plus the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen where these barbaric intruders have been carrying out indiscriminate attacks on homes, hospitals and market-places with horrific consequences for the starving people of Yemen.
Another top prospect, a Golden Boy Promotions signee, 24-year-old super lightweight Genaro “El Conde” Gamez of San Diego (now 9-1, 6 KOs), lost his first fight by unanimous decision to 26-year-old Luis Feliciano (now 12-0, 8 KOs) of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. by way of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This August 22, 2019 Main Event on the Golden Boy/DAZN Thursday Night Fights Series was a battle for the NABF Super Lightweight Title which had become vacant after Maxim Dadashev tragically passed away on July 23, 2019, as a result of injuries suffered in the ring.
On Friday, August 23rd, the versatile, 29-year-old Gabriel “Baby Bull” Hernandez (9-0, 8 KOs) from San Diego, a gentleman who has learned how to adapt and be ready to battle almost anybody (from super middleweight to heavyweight) traveled north to Corona, Calif. to face heavyweight Daniel Najera, a 27-year-old southpaw from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (9-4-1, 4 KOs) in a six-round contest on the Ken Thompson Boxing Show being held at Mr. Thompson’s Corona Warehouse. In this match-up, Hernandez won easily with scores of 59-55, 60-54, 59-55, to secure his unanimous decision victory and unlike his previous nine bouts which were all won by Knockout or TKO (Technical Knockout), this was his first decision victory.
Also on this busy weekend, there were three additional local boxers featured on the Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Show at the Viejas Casino & Resort in Alpine, Calif. On that fight card, the 6-foot tall, 29-year-old Connor Coyle (10-0, 3 KOs) from Pinellas Park, Florida by way of Derry, Ireland, a former amateur standout, went hard and fast in the Main Event at the 39-year-old Rafael Ramon “The Pride of San Diego” Ramirez, now (21-5-2, 4 KOs), from Spring Valley, Calif. Their scheduled 10 round middleweight bout ended early after a cornerman from the Ramirez corner threw in the towel just seconds before the bell to end round two. It may have looked premature but it wasn’t. Ramirez, who took this fight on short notice, had almost immediately suffered a hand injury.
Next, in a six-round welterweight clash, 24-year-old Adrian Gutierrez of Chula Vista, Calif. won a rather tough unanimous decision over 29-year-old southpaw German Valdez from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico (4-5-1, 1 KO). As mentioned, Gutierrez prevailed, but there were several cuts and lots of blood on the winner’s face.
After 23-year-old, junior featherweight Dilan “El Rey” Miranda of San Diego defeated Ming Freeman (1-4-1, 1 KO), from Northridge, Calif., the San Diego fans had their second victory of the night and Miranda improved his record to (5-2 with 4 KOs).
Also, on Saturday, August 17th, the Jab Gym in Chula Vista, Calif. hosted a show at the Auditorio Municipal of Tijuana with welterweight Esteban “El Chucky” Garcia from The Jab defeating Ramon Barajas (12-18) to improve his record to 13-0, 6 KOs.
In that same show, super lightweight Kevin Torres from Chula Vista, Calif. by way of Bellingham, Washington, improved his record to (14-1-1, 13 KOs) after knocking out Jesus Macario Cruz (4-4) in the second round.
