Thompson Boxing Promotions added an event, so we got to enjoy a boxing match from them in the month of May. Called Locked N’ Loaded, this event once again took place in Ontario at the Doubletree Hotel, and it was a good one – exciting fights that kept the fans involved.

The main event was a welterweight bout scheduled for eight rounds between Aron Martinez (17-1-1, 4 KOs) going up against Joshua Marks (8-4, 8 KOs). Yes you’re right; all of the victories of Marks have come by knockout, and he was trying to get another one on this night.

A weird kind of first round, with not a lot of punches thrown. Marks has an odd style, to say the least, sometimes dropping down really low, and at others waving his hands around and then running in at his opponent.

An accidental head butt punctuated the second round. Also in this round Martinez seemed to figure out how to fight Marks and was able to make an impression with his right hand. In the third both men’s punches were able to find their target, although the style of Joshua is still being somewhat of a challenge for Aron.

Martinez found his way in the fourth, as a right uppercut put Marks to the canvas shortly before the end of the round. In the fifth however, Joshua was able to chase Aron around the ring, keeping him on the ropes and in the corner for most of the round. He was connecting with hard body shots as well as blows to the head, although it didn’t seem as if the punches were making much of an impact on Martinez. But kudos to this underdog, who was giving it his all.

It kept going back and forth in the next rounds, but it was definitely Aron who was doing more damage. The big punch for Martinez all night was his right hand, but in the seventh a beautiful right-left combination caught Marks and put him down and out cold at 2:32 of the seventh round.
 

In the co-main event popular Sindy Amador (8-0, 1 KO) had a tough task ahead of her against another undefeated fighter, Amaris Quintana (6-1-2, 1 KO). This was scheduled for 6 two-minute rounds in the flyweight division. As they always say, someone’s 0 had to go.

As is the norm in Amador’s fights, she came charging out, and Quintana did the same. Both women stayed fighting the whole time. Round two saw the same thing. Just seconds into the second round, blood started flowing outside of Sindy’s left eye caused by an accidental head butt. The doctor checked and the fight continued. We saw absolute non-stop action in this round.

Once again these two attacked from the opening bell of round three. Sindy started to show a bit of dominance in this round, and in the fourth as well. But lots of punches were connecting from each side.

In the fifth Amador was still on the attack and accurate. The sixth once again had both women slugging it out to the final bell. We had to go to the scorecards in this very exciting fight that had the fans screaming the entire time. The scores were 59-55 twice and 58-56, all for Amador in this unanimous decision. Quintana suffered her first loss in this hard-fought war.
 

Super bantamweight Jhonatan Romero (21-0 12 KOs) faced off against Adolfo Landeros (21-25-2, 10 KOs). This fight was scheduled for eight rounds. On paper it certainly looked as if Landeros was over faced in here.

Round one saw the very quick Romero scoring early with his combinations. Landeros did not have an answer for them. In the second Adolfo did find a response a little and put a bit of pressure on Jhonatan. Still, Romero got in the cleaner shots.

Adolfo’s small advance was short-lived. He survived the third, but was getting hit at a five and six to one ratio.

Leading up to the seventh it was still all Romero. He was patient and controlled, and when he saw an opening he ran right through it. That continued throughout the rest of the fight. We went to the scorecards, 80-72 and 80-71 twice, all for Romero. This increases his win record to 21. And even though Landeros lost convincingly, he did last the eight rounds.

Romero already had a fight booked for next month against the crafty Rico Ramos (20-1, 11 KOs), so one must believe that this was a relatively easy tune-up fight for him. The Columbian showed that he is ready for the big-time.
 

Light welterweights faced off when Rigoberto Flores (4-1, 2 KOs) stepped into the ring with Pedro Arcos (8-2, 6 KOs) in a bout scheduled for six rounds. Rigoberto is always fun to watch, with his aggressive, come-forward style, and did not disappoint on Friday. These welterweights provided a lot of action in the first round, with each one of them connecting. This action continued into the second and third rounds, with Flores just attacking Arcos. But when it seemed that Pedro might be finished, he’d come back again.

The fourth saw much of the same. What a good fight going on here, with Flores continuing to stay on the attack. He did get a warning for hitting behind the head in the fifth, however. In the sixth and final Rigoberto was once again all over Pedro. And when Arcos didn’t act quickly enough, Flores chased him around the ring until he caught him. We went to the scorecards. The judges had the fight 58-56, 60-54, 59-55, all for Flores.

In a lightweight fight scheduled for six rounds, Sergio Nunez (6-0-1, 4 KOs) faced Ramon Flores (3-16-2, 3 KOs). Much like the Romero / Landeros fight, on paper this one was a mismatch. But it proved to be much more so than the aforementioned fight. After one knockdown and continuous punishment, the fight was stopped at 2:40 of the very first round giving the win to Nunez and keeping him undefeated.

Super bantamweights were set to go a scheduled six when Juan Reyes (5-1-1, 1 KO) battled with Pablo Cupul (6-6, 4 KOs). We saw a good back and forth round to start it off in round one. In the second however, Reyes really took it to Cupul, landing several combinations as well as short jabs. The closing 10 seconds saw both men just hammering each other.

These two were giving it their all in the third, but after Reyes landed a hard body shot on Cupul, followed by a combination to the head, the referee Dr. Lou Moret waved the fight off at 2:46. That decision was booed, but Pablo had taken an awful lot of punishment.

The fight that started off the night saw Isaac Zarate (3-0) and Gustavo Rojas (0-2) standing across from each other in a fight scheduled for four in the bantamweight division. Other than one punch that firmly connected from Rojas, Zarate dominated the first round. Rojas tried to step it up in the second round, but Isaac still out-worked him.

The third round was still controlled by Zarate, but Gustavo was hanging in there even though he was taking some hard shots. Nothing changed in the fourth and final. It was a surprise that Rojas wasn’t knocked out with as many solid shots he took – a testament to his determination. We went to the scorecards and all the judges saw it the same way, 40-36, all for Zarate.

Thompson Boxing Promotions has completely redone both the ring and the lighting. It was quite different and looked really good. Unfortunately, there was some trouble with the lights, as they went out a few of times. Being that those were really the only lights in the room, that could have proved interesting had that happened in the middle of a round.

The next Thompson event at the Doubletree will be June 22 – come out and enjoy!


Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.