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Reynoso Dominates Serrano To
Win
WBC Latino Light Welterweight Belt
By Barbara Pinnella
The Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California played host to
Locked ‘N Loaded III, an event put on by Thompson Boxing
Promotions. This event was packed, and it appeared to be
standing room only. The crowd was enthusiastic, and everyone
seemed to be having a great time. And well they should, as
some of these fights, while they didn’t last a long time,
were really exciting.
The main event was a scheduled 10 round fight between Hector
Serrano (13-1, 5 KO’s) and Jose Reynoso (13-3-1, 2 KO), and
was for the vacant WBC Latino Light Welterweight title. The
“Hector” chants were loud and many as the fight began, at
least on my side of the ring. Apparently, on the other side
the crowd was behind Reynoso.
And it was Jose who was controlling most of the action in
the first two rounds and appeared to do the most damage.
That said, he was bleeding some from the nose towards the
end of the second round.
An extremely physical third round, with both men doing harm
to the other. This was a very fast-paced round, and it made
me wonder how long they could keep this up.
In the next round they were still going strong. Hector would
appear to hurt Jose, but then Reynoso would come back
tougher and stronger. Jose really seemed to be the biggest
hitter. Round five, and Reynoso still appeared to land the
better punches.
In round six Reynoso was on the ropes and bouncing off of
them, oh I don’t know, twice, or maybe eight times? Then he
would just explode with a flurry of punches that seemed to
come from nowhere. He would let the ropes help absorb
whatever power was behind the punches of Serrano and then
fight back. Towards the end of the round he went down, but
it was ruled a slip. The action had still not slowed down as
far as Reynoso was concerned. He might take a quick
breather, but his power remained the same as it was when the
fight started.
Round eight saw nothing but punishment inflicted on Hector
by Jose. Finally and mercifully, the fight was stopped at
1:58 of the eighth round. In my opinion, it could have been
stopped sooner. Serrano had no answers at all for the
onslaught. But what a great performance by Reynoso, and he
is the new WBC Latino Light Welterweight Champion.
Two undefeated Super Bantamweights faced off as Efrain
Esquivias (10-0, 6 KO’s) and Ephraim Martinez (4-1, 1 KO)
put those zeros on the line in a fight that was scheduled
for six rounds. This was also billed as the co-main event of
the evening.
Martinez might have had the smaller win record, but he came
to play, and landed several shots on Esquivias. Efrain
definitely got in some of his own, in a good first round.
Martinez did get a warning from the referee for hitting
behind the head.
In the second round, Ephraim was warned for the second time
about hitting behind the head, and was told that if he did
it once more he would lose a point. When the 10 second
warning was given, Efrain pelted the head of Martinez four
or five times in rapid-fire succession. It looked as if he
was hitting the speed bag.
Round four saw Martinez take a beating, and more than once I
though he would either go down, or the fight would be
called. But he is a brave one, and survived that round.
In the fifth round however, after another attack by
Esquivias, the referee had decided that Ephraim had taken
enough punishment, and the fight was waved off at 48 seconds
of round five.
Artemio Reyes (7-1, 5 KO’s) went up against Patrick Cape
(6-10, 4 KO’s) for a scheduled six rounder in the
Welterweight division. On paper this looked like an easy job
for Reyes, who came to the ring wearing a huge silver and
black sombrero. Almost before he could take it off, he
handed Cape two knockdowns. The second of which, a body
shot, put Patrick out of the game for good at 2:01 of the
first round. It was indeed, a fast and easy night for Reyes.
Another fight scheduled for six rounds saw two Lightweights,
Jose Roman (8-0, 7 KO’s) facing Jesus Garnica (3-1-2, 3
KO’s). Hard to miss Garnica, with his bright, and I do mean
bright, red hair.
But that didn’t colorblind Roman, who knocked him down twice
in the first round, before leveling him for good with a left
hook to the temple at 1:41. I almost wish the fight had gone
on a bit longer, because Jose is so exciting to watch it
would have been fun to get to see him for another round or
two. Keep your eyes on this fighter, he’s a good one!
A four round fight saw Junior Welterweights Jhon Ortega
(2-0, 2 KO) against Herman Bacho (0-2). Round one seemed
more like shadowboxing than an actual fight. There were very
few hits and a slow pace – not a good thing in a fight that
is only scheduled for four.
Things heated up in round two, and by that I mean that some
punches were thrown and actually connected, mostly by
Ortega. .
A body shot by Jhon put Bacho down in the third. Ortega
sensed the end and continued to go to the body, and another
hit put Bacho down for good at 1:59 of that third round.
While this fight started out slowly, Ortega looks to have
some power and might be a fighter to watch in the future.
Bantamweight Diego Madrigal made his professional debut
against Jose Garcia (0-2) for a scheduled four rounds.
Garcia was knocked down in the first with a hard left hook
from Diego.
Jose fought back in the second and scored several good shots
on Madrigal. In the third round both men were trying to
knock it out of the park, and both got in some good blows.
In the fourth and final the same action ensued. Both
fighters gave their all in an exciting little fight. In the
end it was a unanimous decision, all for Madrigal. While
this decision was soundly booed by most of those in
attendance, it did give Diego his first win as a pro. And I
apologize that I did not get the judges scores for that
fight.
So it was a very interesting night. Some really good fights
and some fighters to watch develop further, particularly
Jose Reynoso and Jose Roman. Only one fight out of the six
went the distance – a bit unusual. But it was a fun event
and I look forward to the next one.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
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