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Mitchell Extends Win Streak To
Capture
Vacant NABF Junior Heavyweight Belt
By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: Marlene Marquez
Thompson Boxing Promotions brought us Path To Glory, held
once again at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.
The house was full and the fans were loud. The main event
brought us the big men, as LaRon Mitchell (15-0, 13 KOs)
faced off against Scott Alexander (12-2-2, 6 KOs). This
heavyweight bout was scheduled to go 10 rounds, and was for
the vacant NABF Junior heavyweight title.
Some good body punching by these giants in the first three
minutes. Alexander was the first to strike, while Mitchell
was conservative with his gloves, waiting until he thought
he has the right opening to land that big punch. This was
the same in the second until right at the end of the round
Scott was able to land a great shot on LaRon.
A quick little right / left combination by Mitchell put
Alexander down early in the third, but he was right up and
carried on. During the round the two had a good exchange of
body punches. The pair rattled back and forth in the fourth,
and it was a pretty even round.
Alexander was landing some good punches in the fifth that
had his corner excited, but shortly after that he appeared
to turn his ankle and fell to the canvas. Time was taken out
while he walked it off and the fight continued. In the sixth
there was a lot of holding and shoving.
Scott allowed Mitchell to put him on the ropes and keep him
there for the majority of round seven. He would throw and
land some punches, but had to work in close quarters off
those ropes. That lasted the entire round. Because it worked
so well in the round prior, LaRon shoved Scott to the ropes
again and wouldn’t let him off. That tactic probably wasn’t
scoring any points for Mitchell, but it certainly took all
of the aggression away from Alexander.
Same thing, different round. But at least there were a few
times when Scott could actually land some punches on LaRon
while being stuck between the big man and the ropes. We
moved into the final round, and Alexander was really trying
to roll, jump, or do anything he could to get off the ropes.
Most of the time it didn’t work, but every now and then he
was able to get free and land punches.
As was the case most of the night in the other fights, we
went to the scorecards. One judge saw the fight 97-92 and
the other two had it 98-91, all for Mitchell. He remained
undefeated and also took home that NABF Junior heavyweight
title.
Welterweights were next when Juan Ruiz (17-0, 10 KOs) took
on Wilberth Lopez (15-6, 10 KOs). This fight was to go a
scheduled eight, and was the co-main event of the evening.
There were very few punches thrown in the first three
minutes, with the only one to really land happening at the
10-second warning. That was thrown by Ruiz.
Things picked up some in the second, but that wasn’t really
hard to do. Unfortunately, we had already seen some very
good and fast-paced bouts, so this one seemed particularly
slow in the opening rounds. The third was much like the
first two. Granted, there were more punches thrown, but the
energy level just seemed flat and nothing of any consequence
came close to landing.
Many more punches were thrown and landed in the fourth.
Still, nothing to write home about, but the activity level
was increasing. The fifth and sixth were more of the same,
and the fans, who had been restless since the second round
of the fight, were totally unimpressed by this time.
In the seventh round, the boos started. The fight most were
expecting from Ruiz was not happening. Lopez was connecting
with his punches, and Juan had been unable to land anything
on his opponent. The same was true in the eighth and final.
Ruiz did not look like a fighter with a 16-0 record at any
time during this bout.
We went to the scorecards in this, a fight that proved to be
the most lackluster one of the night. One judge saw it a
draw at 76-76, while the other two had it 78-74, giving the
majority victory to Ruiz. Still, I stand by what I said – he
did not fight like an undefeated boxer on this night.
Ricardo Espinoza (10-1, 8 KOs) faced off against Francisco
Lapizco (7-5, 2 KOs) in a fight scheduled for six rounds in
the super flyweight division. Overhand right by Lapizco put
Espinoza down in the first minute of the opening round. A
few seconds later a barrage of punches put him down again.
And just when you thought it was over, Ricardo put Francisco
on the canvas. Three knockdowns in the round – nothing
boring about this fight!
In the second, Espinoza went crazy on Lapizco and it looked
as if he would finish him off at any time, but that never
happened. While Francisco took a lot of punishment, he hung
in there and was landing hard punches again when the round
ended. In the third round, they settled down into just
beating each other up for three minutes.
Lapizco was back firing on all cylinders in the fourth,
snapping Espinoza’s head back several times during the
round. Ricardo came back a bit in the fifth, but was not
able to take back total control. We moved into the sixth and
final round of this exciting fight.
Lapizco’s right hand was working for him all night, and he
continued to find a home for it in the sixth. Despite three
knockdowns, we went to the scorecards. One judge saw the
fight 58-56, and the other two had it 57-56, giving the
unanimous decision to Espinoza. This fight was a good one,
and many felt it could have gone either way, or a draw.
Lightweights came in next when Cesar Villarraga (9-3, 4 KOs)
took on Juan Ramon Reyes (13-3-3, 2 KOs) in a fight
scheduled to go six rounds. These two wasted no time in
showing why they came, as each one went to work on the other
from the opening bell. The trading of punches continued into
the second, with both Villarraga and Reyes landing their
punches.
At the end of the third and halfway through the fight,
nobody seemed to have a clear advantage. They were just
waging a war against each other, with both of them landing
hard punches. Reyes applied a lot more pressure in the
fourth, and even though he took some good hits, he landed
many of his own as he pushed Cesar back.
Villarraga must not have liked what occurred in the previous
round, because he came out strong in the fifth. Once again,
these two gave us three minutes of constant action. This had
been a good and hard-fought battle, and that did not change
when they stepped in for the sixth and final round. Toe to
toe, punch for punch, they were on fire.
In a super showing by two talented fighters, we went to the
scorecards. The judges saw the fight 58-56, 59-55, and
60-54, giving the unanimous victory to Reyes.
Eredani Leon (4-2, 1 KO) faced off against Jacob Szilasi
(4-2, 4 KOs) in a fight in the welterweight division. This
bout was scheduled for four rounds. The first round was
rather uneventful with no damage done by either man. It was
a much more active second that saw Leon land some good body
shots and Szilasi get in some on Eredani’s head.
Leon connected with some really hard punches in the third
and seemed to take control. In the fourth, Jacob was really
trying to come back, and this final round had become a
slugfest. Both men were giving to their opponent. We went to
the scorecards. All three judges saw the fight the same,
40-36, all for Leon.
In a bout scheduled for four rounds in the featherweight
division, we saw Alex Solorio (3-2, 1 KO) going up against
Alimkhan Jumakhonov (4-2, 3 KO). The first round was one in
which both men had their moments, and it was pretty even.
For the majority of the second round these two fought in a
phone booth – they looked like they were glued together.
Again, punches landed for each fighter.
The two stayed close again in the third, which took power
away from each of them. When they did back up a bit they
were able to land solid shots. In the fourth and final both
men came out like wild animals. They continued to pound each
other the entire three minutes, and we went to the
scorecards. One judge saw the fight 39-37, while the other
two had it 40-36, all for Jumakhonov.
To start off this seven fight card we saw Michael Dutchover
making his professional debut against Cesar Partida (1-1-1).
This fight was in the super featherweight division and was
scheduled to go four rounds. Dutchover just smothered
Partida in the first round, landing the more powerful
punches of the two along the way.
The second round was more of the same, with Michael dishing
out continuing punishment. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. was taking
a close look at Cesar as he absorbed all those punches. A
flurry of leather put Partida down early in the third round,
but he got up and was able to make it to the end of the
three minutes. Before the fourth however, the fight was
stopped on the advice of the ringside physician. Dutchover
was impressive in his pro debut.
Even though there were a lot of fights on the card and it
was a late evening, for the most part we got to witness good
competition and entertaining fights. The Villarraga and
Reyes fight, as well as Espinoza against Lapizco were fun
fights to watch, and Dutchover made people sit up and take
notice in his pro debut. Jumakhonov looked good in victory
as well.
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