On Friday night Fantasy Springs Resort Casino played host to a televised Golden Boy Promotions event, which could be seen on FOX Sports Network, FOX Deportes, and FUEL TV. The main event was scheduled to be between Frankie Gomez and DeMarcus Corley, with hometown hero Randy Caballero against Miguel Robles as the co-main event. An injury to Gomez however, moved the Caballero fight into main event status.

Prior to the fight I chatted with Randy, who realized the importance of this fight. Being in a televised main event, he knew he needed to shine here to get the chance to move up the ladder in his chosen profession.

Caballero, at 18-0 with 10 KOs, took on the aforementioned Robles (12-3-2, 5 KOs) in a fight scheduled for 10 rounds, and was for the NABO bantamweight title. In the opening round neither man really wanted to commit too early, so they took their time. Each threw some punches and landed a few, but with nine rounds to go nobody jumped the gun.

They upped the ante in the second, as the men decided it was now time to fight. Both of them threw punches, but Robles did a lot of holding along the way. In the third, Caballero seemed to get in the cleaner punches, but Miguel appeared to be a hard opponent to fight. He loved to hold, and continued to do so in this round.

Robles got in some hard shots in the fourth, and even sent Randy back to the ropes near the end of the round. Caballero landed some as well, but he still seemed to be trying to find the answer to fighting Miguel.

The fifth was the strongest for Caballero. He hit Robles with some shots that hurt him a bit. The sixth round was a toss-up, as once again both fighters landed some good punches. During this round Robles was warned for hitting below the belt, as well as holding and hitting. This was tough fight for Caballero thus far.

In the seventh, and what would be the theme of the night, a body shot thrown by Randy put Robles down and out at 2:09. Randy remained undefeated, upping his record to 19-0 with 11 KOs, and hopefully will now move on to bigger and better opportunities.
 

In an excellent TV Swing bout, Eric Ituarte (5-0-1) looked to keep that unblemished record alive when he took on Humberto Zatarain (3-1-2). This fight was scheduled for four rounds in the junior lightweight division.

We saw a pretty scrappy first round with both of the men coming forward and throwing punches. A lot of action here to start off their fight. Round two was a slugfest from start to finish, with Ituarte doing most of the damage. He was all over Zatarain; upstairs, downstairs, whatever he chose to hit, he hit. Humberto was game and fought back, but so far it was all Eric.

The third round was the same – all action. This time though, Zatarain was able to do some damage himself. Both men threw and landed punches the entire three minutes. We went into the fourth and final round.

Nothing changed in the fourth. Both of the fighters gave it their all, throwing, connecting, and moving forward toward each other all the time. This was a very exciting fight, and we went to the scorecards. All three judges saw the fight the same, 38-38. This fight was a draw, and while most fighters are not happy with that, seeing what these two put on the table for us, it was not an unfair ending.
 

The extremely likable Olympian Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. (7-0, 4 KOs) joined the card and faced off against Luis Cosme (8-3-1, 3 KOs) for a televised bout. This fight was in the featherweight division and was scheduled for six rounds.

The fight started out slowly in the beginning of the opening round, as both fighters seemed to be measuring each other and being patient. But then Diaz began to come to life, and a well-placed body shot to Cosme put him out of the game at 2:09 of the very first round. Easy night for “JoJo”.
 

In the first televised bout, unbeaten Olympian Errol Spence, Jr. (7-0, 6 KOs) stood across the ring from Eddie Cordova (4-5-1, 1 KO). This fight was scheduled for six rounds in the junior middleweight division.

It might have been scheduled for six, but as with the previous fight, it took less than a round for Spence to show his dominance. It was one well-placed hard left to the body of Cordova that put him down, and he was never able to get up from that shot. The fight ended at 2:13 of that very first round. Time for Mr. Spence to move up the ladder a bit. He is way too talented to not have stronger opponents.
 

Another Coachella local Angel Osuna (11-3-1, 7 KOs) went up against Christian Nava (2-4-1) in a middleweight fight that was scheduled for six. There were some good shots landed in this first round, most of them by Osuna. Late in the round he rocked Nava, bloodying his nose, but Christian got out of the round.

Shortly after the start of the second, the two men stood toe to toe and just blasted each other. Blood was starting to really pour out of the nose of Nava, but he was still getting in some hard shots. Then Osuna started to unload with uppercuts and straight shots to the head, and it was that deadly right uppercut that finally put Christian down and out. Referee Jack Reiss put an end to the contest at 2:08. Angel gave a great accounting of himself.
 

In the curtain-jerker we saw two heavyweights making their professional debut, when Coachella’s Alex Rivera went up against C.J. Leveque. This fight was scheduled for four rounds. On the day of the weigh-in there was an 80 pound weight difference between the two, with that weight advantage going to Leveque. But we all know that the extra weight really means nothing.

That was proven in the opening round, when a couple of well-placed rights put C.J. on canvas, but he got up and tried to continue on. Seconds later Rivera was landing a barrage of punches. When another hard right hand hit its target, that was enough to make referee Jack Reiss step in and stop the fight at 2:07. Alex, yet another man on the card from Coachella, got his first pro victory.

Terrell Gausha (9-2, 3 KOs) was also supposed to fight on this card, but unfortunately his opponent Julio Garcia (8-4, 3 KOs) failed to make weight so his bout was cancelled.

I have been coming to Fantasy Springs for a long time now, and this was the biggest crowd that I can remember. It was sold out, and the fans got their money’s worth. They were loud and enthusiastic, and got to see a good fight card, even though some of the fights ended quite quickly.

The Coachella men rose to the occasion, with Caballero being the star of the show for his many fans. The Olympians delivered, and Ituarte and Zatarain gave a really great show. The crowd in attendance also got to see two amateur bouts with youngsters looking to eventually make their mark in boxing. All in all, a super night in the desert.