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Guerrero Gets Split Decision
Win In Carson; Darchinyan Stopped In Eighth
By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: German Villasenor
I will warn you in advance – this is a long report. Hey, we
had 11 fights to watch so it had to be that way. This card
was put on by Premiere Boxing Champions and took place at
the StubHub in Carson, CA.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) faced off
against Aaron Martinez (19-4-1, 4 KOs). This fight was in
the welterweight division and was scheduled for 10 rounds.
Guerrero seemed to have his way with Martinez in the first
round.
The power shifted a bit in the second, as Aaron was able to
stay in the pocket and put Guerrero on the ropes for a lot
of the round. As long as Martinez could keep Robert from
getting distance on him, he could stay somewhat safe. In the
third, whether on the ropes or in the middle of the ring,
these two fought in a phone booth the entire time. The
action switched back and forth for those three minutes as
well.
Martinez was on fire in the fourth, so much so that right
before the bell he dropped Robert with a barrage of punches.
Guerrero was literally saved by the bell. In the fifth the
tide turned a bit more towards Guerrero, as it appeared that
Aaron might have punched himself out a little bit. We moved
into the second half of the fight.
Neither man did much in the sixth. Martinez still looked to
be waiting on Robert, a tactic that was not in his best
interest. He needed to come to him like he did in the first
several rounds. Martinez finally started fighting in close
again in the seventh. Guerrero was able to land shots, but
so was Aaron. Knockdown aside, this fight was hard to score
thus far.
The eighth round was another uneventful one, as was the
ninth. We went into the tenth and final. Both men tried to
put it together in the last round. Even with the knockdown,
this fight was close, and we went to the scorecards.
One judge saw the fight 95-94 for Martinez, another had it
95-94 Guerrero, and the third, Jerry Cantu, saw it 97-92 for
Guerrero. The fans in attendance were very quick to boo that
score, which gave the split decision victory to Robert. In
my not-so-humble opinion the fight was much closer than that
final score reflected.
After the fight Guerrero said, “Aaron Martinez came to fight
and the fans got to see two warriors go at it. I don’t know
why I go to war so much, I just love to get in there and mix
it up. When I got up off the canvas I just told myself, ‘Get
up and win this fight.’
“We got the victory and now it’s time to move on to some big
fights and give the fans the warrior type fights they
deserve. I’m an action fighter and I’ll continue to be so.
“I just suffered the loss of my cousin. She passed away last
week and this fight was for her.”
Martinez had this to say after the fight.
“I’m very happy with my performance. I thought I won the
fight. I thought the third scorecard was way out of line. It
was a great experience fighting on NBC. I wanted to put on a
great fight for the fans, and me and Robert did that. I look
forward to being more active and fighting again as soon as
possible.”
Vic Darchinyan (40-8-1, 29 KOs) faced off against WBA World
featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar (27-1, 21 KOs) in a
fight scheduled for 12 rounds in the featherweight division.
The first round was all Darchinyan, as he stayed his normal,
active self throughout. Cuellar was able to find his target
in the second round and at one point really rocked Vic.
Darchinyan was still fairly easy to hit in the third, but no
real damage was done. Vic came back strong in the fourth
round and was able to catch his opponent with strong punches
from both hands.
The two men stayed active in the fifth but neither inflicted
any real damage. We saw much the same in the sixth, as we
moved into the second half of the fight. Darchinyan spent
the first half of the fight going backwards, much to the
chagrin of the fans that were here, but he did try to land
some punches in the second half.
In the opening seconds of the eighth round, a huge overhand
right hand by Jesus dropped Vic. When he got up, Cuellar
went in for the kill and referee Thomas Taylor jumped in to
stop the punishment and waved the fight off at 1:04. The
Darchinyan corner was waving the towel, but Taylor didn’t
see it. Mercifully, he put an end to the attack on his own.
Cuellar said, “I wasn’t hurt; it was more of a slip.
Darchinyan is a very tough customer and I’m glad to come out
on top. I want to fight again as soon as possible. I saw
Abner Mares sitting in the first row and I want to fight him
next.”
We saw a fight between heavyweights Dominic “Trouble”
Breazeale (15-0, 14 KOs) and Yasmany Consuegra (17-1, 14
KOs) in a fight that was scheduled for 10 rounds. We saw a
very active first round by these two big men. Consuegra is
by far the toughest opponent for Breazeale to date, and
Yasmany was very accurate with his powerful overhand right
hand.
Right before the bell in the second round Dominic was able
to drop Yasmany with a quick left hand that didn’t look too
devastating. Still, Consuegra hit the canvas. In the third
Yasmany was trying to even the score, landing some good
right hands of his own on Breazeale, but Dominic was able to
get in his own strong rights, dropping Consuegra twice in
the round.
The fight was stopped at 1:49 of that third round. Breazeale
wins another by knockout and handed Yasmany the first loss
of his career.
“It’s always a little different to fight in the afternoon,”
Dominic said. “The fans came out to support me and I put on
a big show and got the win. He was putting his hand on his
right side and I was hitting him with the uppercut. I
couldn’t ask for anything better.
“I’d love to be back in the ring as soon as possible. This
was only three rounds right here and let’s do it again in a
couple of months.”
Still a fan favorite, Alfredo “Perro” Angulo (23-5, 19 KOs)
stood across the ring from Delray Raines (19-11-1, 14 KOs)
in a middleweight fight that was scheduled for 10 rounds.
Raines looked to have the upper hand in the first, acting
faster and landing more punches than Angulo.
Alfredo stepped it up in the second and landed some punches,
but several that could have done damage missed. Delray was
also able to find his target on occasion. The third was a
slow round that didn’t find either fighter setting the world
on fire. The crowd was firmly behind Angulo, but he wasn’t
really feeding off of them yet.
Alfredo was able to make those fans happy in the fourth, as
he dropped Delray. But Raines got back up and continued on
until the end of the round. In the fifth, a swooping right
hand put Raines down again, and just seconds later Angulo’s
right put Delray down and out. The fight was waved off at
2:16 of that fifth round, and the crowd barked and yelled
“Perro” in celebration.
Raines was brought in to give the victory for Angulo. He had
fought once this year, and before that, not since 2012.
Alfredo did get that win by knockout, but how much he is
back remains to be seen.
After the fight Angulo said, “I have so many fans and I want
to thank them. They are here cheering for me – cheering for
the dog. This is my first fight coming back to my old
trainer (Clemente Medina) and it was great. A lot of people
said the dog is dead, but if you ask the people who saw my
performance, they will tell you the dog is alive and well.”
In a fight scheduled for eight rounds in the super
lightweight division, Alejandro Luna (18-0, 13 KOs) went up
against the former lightweight title holder Cristobal Cruz
(40-17-4, 24 KOs). There was a lot of action from the
smaller men in the first, particularly from Cruz. That
always makes for an exciting fight.
The second was good for both men. Cruz might have 60 fights,
but he can’t be taken lightly in here. Cristobal was still
the aggressor in the third and was once again accurate with
his punches. He was not making things easy for Luna. A left
hand near the end of the fourth round by Cruz wobbled Luna,
but he managed to get out of the round.
Luna had a pretty strong round in the fifth but Cruz wasn’t
giving anything up and continued to stay in there. Cruz
began to finally look a bit tired in the later rounds and
started to fade
We went to the eighth and final, and while Luna was in
technical control of the fight, Cristobal had given a good
account of himself. It was time to hear the scorecards. One
judge had it 79-73 while the other two saw the bout 80-72,
all for the winner and still undefeated, Luna. Alejandro
kept his win record and Cruz represented himself well here.
Fabian Maidana (7-0, 6 KOs) took on David Nelson (3-4, 1 KO)
in a fight scheduled for six rounds. It needed very little
time however, as Nelson went down twice early – the first
time by a left / right combination. Following that, Marcos’
younger brother was just punishing with his left hand, and
the fight was stopped at 1:19 seconds of that very first
round. Maidana stepped up to 7-0.
In a featherweight fight that was scheduled for 10 rounds,
Marvin Sonsona (20-1-1, 15 KOs) took on Jonathan Arrellano
(15-6-2, 3 KOs). This was a close fight throughout, and
probably one of the best fights I have seen from Arrellano
in quite awhile. He was turning it on in from the opening
round and continued to do so as the rounds progressed.
Arrellano came out in the fifth by pushing Sonsona across
the ring. He was chastised for that by the referee, and
Marvin got even by landing several rapid punches back on
Jonathan. A lot of these rounds seemed very close, with the
men exchanging displaying their skills back and forth
throughout the fight.
It’s too bad that Jonathan does not have a lot of punching
power, for he might have had the fight go his way, but
Sonsona was able to land more punches and not be too
bothered by those that he absorbed.
Still, the fight was a close back-and-forth one, and we went
to the scorecards for the results. One judge saw the fight
as a 95-95 draw, but the other two outdid him with their
scores of 96-94 for Sonsona.
Victor Betancourt (19-1, 8 KOs) took on Juan Ruiz (24-18, 7
KOs) in a lightweight bout that was scheduled for eight
rounds. Betancourt was doing a good job of showing off his
talent here, as the first two rounds saw him taking control
of most of the action. He made good use of combinations as
well.
The third was much like the first two. In the fourth Victor
almost dropped Ruiz, but Juan was able to stay on his feet.
The fifth round was another good one for Betancourt. He was
nothing if not consistent. We moved into the sixth with not
a lot of change.
The fight went the distance without anything of significance
happening, and we went to the scorecards. Not surprisingly,
all of the judges saw the fight the same, 80-72 for
Betancourt.
In a welterweight fight that was scheduled for eight rounds,
Jessie Roman (19-2, 9 KOs) faced off against Donald Ward
(9-4, 4 KOs). For the first two rounds Roman was steering
the ship and pretty much doing what he wanted, when he
wanted.
Jessie added more use of his jab in the third and fourth
rounds, as well as a good body attack. In the last minute or
so of the fourth, Ward couldn’t figure out what to do, so he
just jumped and leaped around a bit. Roman also began to
increase his hand speed. He was showing all his tools off
this afternoon.
The sixth round still had Roman doing everything right in
this fight. His body shots were brutal, but Ward had yet to
succumb to them and kept fighting back. In the seventh
Jessie spent a lot of the round just teeing off on Donald,
but Ward refused to go down. He was one tough cookie!
Nothing changed in the final round, and we went to the
scorecards. All three of the judges saw the fight the same,
again no surprise here, 80-72, giving Roman the victory.
The second fight of the afternoon was a welterweight bout
that was scheduled for four rounds, Anthony Flores (8-0, 5
KOs) went up against Joaquin Chavez (9-15-3, 2 KOs). Flores
controlled the first round, coming out fast to begin this
short four round fight. He continued to stay in control
throughout the fight.
Chavez did try to mount a rally at times, but he was
out-gunned by Flores. We went to the scorecards. One judge
saw the fight 39-37, while the other two had it 40-36, all
for Flores.
To kick off this very early boxing event we saw Oscar Molina
(13-0, 10 KOs) going up against Todd Manuel (10-6-1, 1KO) in
a super welterweight fight that was scheduled for eight
rounds.
Molina displayed his dominance straight away when he dropped
his opponent in the first round. But Manuel was able to hang
in there and last the eight rounds, so the fight went to the
scorecards.
One judge saw the fight 79-72 while the other two had it
80-71 all for Molina. This increased Oscar’s win streak to
13.
It was very strange to not have any ring girls. There were
several times when someone would ask what round we were in.
The announcer would say the round number when it started,
but if you were writing or not really tuned in you missed
it. Just rather odd.
The crowd was very sparse. I’m not sure whether this was
because of the early hour or the fight card itself, but not
many came out to watch this marathon of fights.
Let me explain how the television coverage went. NBC put on
the Guerrero / Martinez fight and the Breazeale / Consuegra
fights and started the Darchinyan / Cuellar contest. NBCSN
finished that fight and put on Angulo / Raines and Luna /
Cruz.
Remember, there were 11 fights on the card today – amazing!
Some fights were quite good, others a bit of a snooze fest.
Sometimes the judging seemed right on and at other times it
seemed weird. In other words, a normal, albeit long, day in
Fightville!
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