Orozco & Cancio Dominate Their Respective Opponents - Pound4Pound.com

Orozco & Cancio Dominate
Their Respective Opponents

By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: William Trillo

This week we took a trip down to Indio, California to the Golden Boy Promotions fights at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. The main event featured welterweights Antonio “Relentless” Orozco (24-0, 16 KOs) going up against Miguel Acosta (29-9-2, 23 KOs). This fight was scheduled for 10 rounds.

Tony had other ideas however. A combination of punches finished off with a left hook dropped Acosta early in the fight, and then almost immediately thereafter another left put him down again. Referee Eddie Hernandez waved off the fight at 1:54 seconds of the very first round. Orozco keeps his impressive win streak alive and lived up to his nickname.

“He was flicking that jab out there and I had to look out for that,” Antonio later said. “He was throwing the overhand right, but I was able to get underneath it and catch him. I’ve been away from my kids and my family for two months. Give me a little time, a week or so at least,” he said with a small grin when asked how quickly he wanted to be back.

Orozco was not upset with the short fight. “The last two fights of mine went the distance, so whenever a fight ends early it’s a big relief,” he said.

Acosta had this to say about the fight. “From the moment I found out I was gonna fight I began an aggressive training regime. I was expecting him to be aggressive and that’s exactly what happened. I had a moment of doubt in the ring, just a second, and that’s where he got me. That first knockdown really hurt me, but I got up because I thought I could recover, but unfortunately Orozco came back.”

Featherweights took to the ring in a scheduled 10-rounder when Andrew “El Chango” Cancio (17-3-2, 12 KOs) faced off against former World Champion Hugo Cazares (40-9-2, 27 KOs). This was the first televised bout of the evening.

We saw a very fast-paced first round, with Cancio really taking it to Cazares. He landed good punches for the entire three minutes. Right at the end he really staggered Hugo, but the bell rang and Cazares was able to get out of the round, albeit already cut above his right eye. Andrew remained the better fighter in the second, rocking Hugo a few more times. But the scrappy Cazares continued to try to fight back.

Shortly after the start of the third, Andrew was finally able to drop Hugo. True to form, the tough Mexican fighter got up and continued to fight on. After taking a lot of punishment and before referee Jerry Cantu could put an end to the bout, Cazares’ corner waved to Cantu and the fight was called off at 2:49. This was a good call, as the corner protected their fighter.

“My timing is getting better,” Cancio said. It’s not easy making 126, but I want to stay at this weight.”

In a fight that pitted lightweights against each other, Marco Magdaleno (2-0, 1 KO) stood across the ring from Luis Silva (2-7, 1 KO). This fight was to go a scheduled four. Marco went on the attack from the outset, and was able to find his target pretty easily in the opening round.

About midway into the second round Magdaleno just unloaded on Silva, and as referee Eddie Hernandez was getting ready to wave off the fight, Luis went down. Before he landed, the fight was stopped at 1:29 of round two.

KeAndre Gibson (15-0-1, 7 KOs) went up against Hector Velazquez (57-27-3, 39 KOs). This fight was scheduled for eight rounds in the super welterweight division. Gibson was in control in both of the opening rounds and was slowly tearing down his veteran opponent.

The third was more of the same, with KeAndre doing his job well. The fourth round was no different. We had gotten used to a lot of action and knockouts, so this fight seemed to be so much slower than the others, as it came after the main event. It was also the last fight on the card.

There were a couple of times in the fifth round that it seemed as if Gibson had done enough damage to Velazquez that he could put him away, but he never did so and the fight continued into the sixth. It didn’t seem as if Hector was badly injured, even though he had taken some good shots, but after the sixth round, referee Jerry Cantu went to the corner where they told him their fighter would not come out for the seventh.

Irish sensation Jason “El Animal” Quigley (10-0, 9 KOs) faced off against Freddy Lopez (10-4, 7 KOs). This fight was in the super middleweight division and was scheduled for eight rounds. Quigley certainly didn’t need those eight rounds.

A very well-placed right hand to the body of Lopez doubled him up and after a delay that most often happens with those body shots, Freddy’s legs betrayed him and he went down. Right after he got up another body shot sent him down again, but this time he stayed there. The fight was over at 2:01 of that first round.

Later Jason said, “I knew I had to work the body, so I did. I’m used to hitting guys in the head, not the body. But I was hoping for a longer fight. I worked my ass off in the gym, and it paid off. I can brawl and I know I have the heart. At the end of the day all of the sacrifices have been worth it.”

Emilio Sanchez (12-0, 9 KOs) faced off against Gustavo Molina (12-10, 5 KOs) in a super bantamweight bout that was scheduled to go eight rounds. Both fighters were very active in the opening round, with the nod going to Sanchez. He threw a lot of combinations and tagged Molina more than a few times with hard body shots.

A flurry of punches in the beginning of round two put Gustavo on the canvas, but he got up and tried to fight back. He was taking a beating however, and at 2:03 referee Jerry Cantu saw enough and the fight was waved off. Emilio kept his win streak alive.

To open up the evening we saw Jon Jon Dinong (2-0, 2 KO) taking on Jared Teer (2-6). This fight was scheduled for four rounds in the super welterweight division.

Dinong was much good for Teer, and even though there was only one knockdown in the fight it was enough to do the job. At 2:10 of the fourth round Dinong put Jared down and out to get his second professional victory, and his second by KO.

Sadly, after the fight Teer collapsed, fell off his stool and began shaking. The paramedics rushed right in, put him on a stretcher and after taking care of him for what seemed like a long time, they transported him from the arena. Our thoughts go out to Jared and his family.

Seven fights and not one of them made it to the final bell. Orozco and Quigley were particularly impressive and both are ready for bigger and better things. It was a fun night and despite the early endings, we saw some good fights from quality fighters.