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Carlson Wins NABF Bantamweight
Title By KO; Ituarte Outpoints Mora
By Barbara Pinnella
This past Friday night Thompson Boxing Promotions put on
Locked ‘N Loaded at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario,
California. The main event featured Carlos “Memin”
Carlson (22-1, 12 KOs) facing off against Alex “Xhino”
Rangel (17-6-2, 11 KOs) in a fight for the NABF
bantamweight title. The bout was scheduled to go 10
rounds.
After not a lot happening in the first minute of the
opening round, a right hand by Rangel dropped Carlson.
It didn’t appear to be thrown that hard, and it was a
bit of a surprise to see Carlos on the canvas. He got up
quickly and continued, but scoring damage done early in
favor of Alex.
Carlson came back like gangbusters in the second as he
really went on the attack. Rangel’s face showed the wear
and tear, as the blood was evident. Even though Carlos
wasn’t able to put Alex down, he certainly came close
with really hard and damaging shots.
Memin came out strong again in the third, and was now
doing some real harm. A barrage of punches put Rangel
down, and even though he was able to get up, referee
Caiz Jr. waved the fight off at 1:00. Carlson became the
NEW NABF champion in this gritty performance.
Super featherweights took to the ring in the co-main
event as Erick “The All American Boy” Ituarte (15-1-1, 2
KOs) took on Alberto Mora (5-5, 1 KO) in a fight that
was scheduled to go six rounds. Both men were able to
land some leather on the other in the opener, with
Ituarte possibly getting the upper hand early. He was
successful utilizing combinations and body shots.
Mora was more active in the second then he had been as
the men stood toe to toe for most of the round. But the
combinations that Erick displayed in the opening round
came into play in these three minutes, as Ituarte was
able to drop Alberto with yet another one-two punch. The
third round again had activity from both men.
Mora was able to land a lot more punches in the fourth –
by far his best round. Ituarte would then answer back.
This was a good showing for both fighters. Erick took
back control in the fifth, as he was connecting with a
good percentage of his shots. We moved into the sixth
and final.
That round was more of the same, as we saw Ituarte
connecting with a lot more punches than Mora. But even
though it seemed as if Erick’s shots were landing
cleanly and solidly he was unable to get the knockout,
and we went to the scorecards. The judges all saw the
fight the same however, 60-53, with the victory going to
Ituarte.
Manuel Mendez (12-1-2, 8 KOs) went up against Erick
Martinez (12-6-1, 6 KOs). This fight was scheduled for
eight rounds in the junior welterweight division. Mendez
was just deadly with his body punches in the first
round. His left hand to the body of Martinez was
frequent and powerful, not to mention the punches to
Erick’s head. Manuel was also able to put Martinez on
the ropes and keep him there.
Erick was able to land a few punches in the second, but
they did no damage. It was almost as if Manuel was just
toying with him. In the third, Mendez was landing those
punishing body shots with both hands once again. But as
he wound up and threw yet another damaging body blow,
the glove landed way low. This caused Martinez to drop
to his knees, and referee Raul Caiz Jr. to take a point
away from Manuel.
The fourth was another strong one for Mendez. He had
been battering his opponent from rope to rope, and this
round was no exception. Referee Caiz Jr. decided he had
seen Erick take enough hits, and waved the fight off at
1:41 of round four.
In a fight scheduled for four rounds, Ruben Villa IV
(2-0, 2 KOs) faced Jose Mora (0-1-0, 1 NC). This fight
was in the featherweight division. Not even halfway
through the first round a well-placed right dropped
Mora. He got up, but Villa just kept after him, landing
hard rights in succession, finally causing referee
Thomas Taylor to step in and stop the contest at 2:41 in
that initial round. Besides losing the fight, Mora
suffered an injured right ankle and after limping out of
the ring, was put on a stretcher and taken from
ringside.
Super flyweights faced off as Danny Andujo (2-0, 1 KO)
took on Cesar Guzman, who was making his professional
debut. Great first round by these two men. Both were
able to really land some solid shots against the other.
Each of them had a mean uppercut, and they also showed
that they could take a punch. Both fighters landed body
shots in the first and they upped their body counts in
the second, especially Guzman, who was very accurate.
The action had been non-stop and that continued through
the third round. These men were really taking it to each
other, throwing and landing a lot of punches. The bell
had barely rung to begin the fourth and final when a
right hand by Andujo put Cesar on the mat. But Guzman
fought back valiantly, and the fans cheered their
approval of the efforts.
We went to the scorecards. The scores were varied,
39-36, 38-37, and 40-36, but all for the same fighter.
Andujo won his second fight, while Guzman chalked up his
first loss. But kudos to both men as they gave it their
all, and this was a great fight to open up the evening.
From top to bottom this was a really fun fight card. We
saw a little bit of everything and some good and
action-packed fights. The only disappointment to some
was the fact that Giovani Santillan, who was supposed to
be on the card, had his fight canceled when his opponent
had some visa problems. He is slated to fight at
Doubletree next month.
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