| |
|
|
Double(Tree) Your Pleasure
By Barb Pinella
This Friday night the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario,
California hosted one of the many fights each year for
Thompson Boxing Promotions. While it was cold and raining
outside, the standing room only crowd was excited and ready
for all the action to come.
In the main event we saw a fight scheduled for eight rounds
in the Light Welterweight division between Jose Reynoso
(14-3-1, 2 KO’s) going up against Santos Pakau (27-7-2, 10
KO’s). This fight was for the WBC Caribbean Boxing
Federation (CABOFE) Light Welterweight title.
Not the most active first round, as the men traded some
punches, but spent a lot of time gauging each other. Round
two was a total opposite, as they both came out to make a
statement. But it was Reynoso who got in the most
punishment, and at the end of the round he almost put Pakau
down.
Both men did some damage with left hooks in the third, but
it was a swooping right that caught Santos and nearly put
him through the ropes. He got up, and the bell came just in
time.
Pakau came back in the fourth trying to make up for that
10-8 round he had just come out of. Unfortunately for him,
Jose had different ideas, and while Santos was able to
connect, Reynoso wore him down with hard hits to the body.
A very hard hitting fifth round from both men. Santos was
able to land several hard punches on his opponent. But Jose
was not to be denied, and he continued his assault with body
shots. The sixth round saw the same physicality, as the two
men continued to punish each other.
In the seventh Pakua was really rocked by a left hand and
Reynoso kept trying to finish it off. But Santos was just
too stubborn to go down. The eighth and final round saw
Santos trying to attack. These two fought to the finish.
Pakua refused to give Jose an early evening, and looking at
the faces of both men you could see they were in a war.
In the end it went to the scorecards. The judges saw it
79-72, 80-71, and 80-71, all for the winner Reynoso. A good
fight for the main event, and a good showing by both men.
Efrain Esquivias (12-0, 8 KO’s) took it up with Shawn Nichol
(5-3, 5 KO’s) in an eight round dance in the Super
Bantamweight division. This looked interesting on paper,
since Esquivias put his undefeated record on the line, and
Nichol had all of his wins via knockout. Freddie Roach was
in the corner of Esquivias, and he was introduced before
this fight.
The first round saw Efrain eating a few lefts, but as the
round progressed he began his own attack. A decent round for
both men. Esquivias came out strong in the second, but
Nichol made a quick adjustment and was able to connect –
often. At the end of the round Efrain came back again.
Things heated up in the third. Efrain peppered Shawn with
punches, and rocked him a couple of different times. Nichol
held his own, but a very strong round for Esquivias. The
next round saw Efrain really using his combinations, only to
have Nichol come back at him later in the round. But so far
Efrain had been able to roll under those knockout punches
that have given Shawn all his victories.
Efrain had things go his way in round five. Nichol took
several hard rights and once again appeared to be at his
end, but managed to stay in the game. Round six was more of
the same, with Efrain continuing to connect with those
combinations of his.
The seventh round found both men once again getting off some
good shots. While Shawn had looked tired for the last
several rounds he still managed to hang in there. But when
Nichol took one hard right hand too many the referee jumped
in and stopped the contest at 1:07 of the eighth and final
round, with the crowd loudly booing in protest. After the
fight Shawn got up on the ropes and received huge applause,
along with many “rematch” chants.
In a Welterweight fight scheduled for six rounds, Artemio
Reyes (10-1, 9 KO’s) went up against Francisco Rios Gil
(17-16, 12 KO’s). If you had gone to get a drink you would
have missed this one. Reyes hit Rios with such a hard left
to the body that he folded like a cheap chair. What a hit by
Reyes! At 1:36 of that first round referee Jerry Cantu
reached the 10 count.
Bantamweights Jonathan Arrellano (7-0, 1 KO) and Francis
Ruiz (9-3, 4 KO’s) faced off in a fight scheduled for six.
As the local boy from right here in Ontario, the undefeated
Arrellano got a huge cheer from the crowd when introduced.
A fairly unremarkable first round which saw the men testing
each other a bit, but nothing too aggressive. In the next
couple of rounds that followed there were some punches that
connected, a lot of swings and misses, and almost as much
ring traveling.
Round four found both Jonathan and Ruiz connecting a bit
more, as the pace started to pick up. Round five saw more
action, and Ruiz was doing more of the chasing now. This was
by far the best round for Ruiz.
The sixth and final round saw both men doing their job, but
still another good round for Ruiz. While I might have
thought it might be a hard fight to call the judges did not.
It was a unanimous decision, 59-55, 60-54, 60-54, all for
Arrellano. His undefeated record remains intact.
Abraham Lopez (13-0, 10 KO’s) went toe to toe with Felipe
Almanza (18-22-4, 9 KO’s) in a scheduled six-rounder in the
Featherweight division. The first round was controlled by
Lopez. In round two there was a slugfest to start off the
round, and that occurred twice more. While no nearly as
polished or controlled as Lopez, Almanza was able to land
hard punches on Abraham.
The pace slowed down a bit in the third, with Lopez once
again maintaining the advantage. In the fourth, Lopez was
scoring at a rate of five and six to one, but just when it
looked as if Almanza was finished, he’d come back with a
punch or two.
Felipe had always liked to dance around the ring, but as the
rounds went on he was doing it more and more, eliciting boos
from the crowd in round five. Lopez was still the aggressor
and the more skillful puncher. The same was the case in the
final round, and all the judges saw the fight the same at
60-54 for Lopez. I can’t help but wonder if Abraham was a
bit disappointed that he could never actually put Felipe
away, but a win is a win.
The fight that started off the evening was one between Jhon
Ortega (3-0-1, 3 KO’s), who had to face Rudy Gamez (1-1) in
the Light Welterweight division scheduled for four rounds.
Really hard-hitting action in the first round from both men,
with each of them handing out shots to the head and the
body. Ortega dished out a lot of punishment throughout the
entire second round, culminating with Gamez going down from
a well-placed right just before the bell.
After surviving that second round, Rudy went down again from
a right uppercut. He continued to absorb punishment until
the fight was waved off at 1:19, giving the powerful Ortega
the victory.
So we had many constants here at the Doubletree; loud fans,
a full house, and good fights. Congratulations to all the
winners and to Thompson Boxing Promotions for another good
event.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
|
|
|
