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Roman Gets
Quick Victory; Villa Impresses In Debut
By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: Marlene Marquez
On Friday night Thompson Boxing Promotions brought us
another fun evening from the Doubletree Hotel in
Ontario, CA. Called Path to Glory, the main event
featured Jose “El Gato” Roman (23-1-1, 16 KOs) going up
against Carlos Cardenas (21-12-1, 14 KOs) in a
lightweight bout that was scheduled to go eight rounds.
Well, this one might have been scheduled for eight, but
it didn’t even take the full three minutes. A hard body
shot by Roman caused a much delayed knockdown to
Cardenas. He stayed there, shook his head at the eight
count, and that was that. The fight was over at 1:26 of
that opening round.
In the co-main event of the evening, a super lightweight
fight, the local boy from right here in Ontario, John
Delperdang (7-1, 7 KOs) faced off against Andres
Figueroa (7-2, 5 KOs). This fight was slated to last six
rounds. Figueroa was having a pretty good opening round,
but right at the end Delperdang had him in all kinds of
trouble on the ropes in the corner. Andres got out of
the round, however.
Figueroa was landing what looked to be really good body
shots in both the first and second round, but they
appeared to do no damage. John was head-hunting, and
that proved to be more effective, as right before the
bell in round two he dropped Andres. This fight was
turning into a war. Figueroa’s face was a bloody mess.
Still, we moved into the fourth round.
The war continued to rage in the fourth. Several times
it looked as if John would put Andres down and out, but
Figueroa would not allow that to happen. After taking
much punishment however, referee Raul Caiz, Jr. felt he
had to put an end to the carnage at 2:12 of that fourth
round.
The entertaining Delperdang thoroughly enjoyed his
victory, as he danced and celebrated with his many fans.
The local boy once again had his night, as he remained
undefeated and added another knockout to his resume.
Michael Norato (3-0, 1 KO) battled with Miguel Barajas
(2-1, 1 KO) in a fight that was to go four rounds. This
fight was in the lightweight division. We saw a good,
action-filled first round, with both men landing some
strong punches. This was also the first time on the
night that we went into the second round.
As with the first, the next round was also an active
one. Once again we saw the men throwing and landing a
lot of punches. They both had moments where they looked
a bit wild, but they were swinging for the fences. Third
round more of the same. These two not only came into the
fight with the same record, but each was delivering the
goods. We went into the fourth and final.
The men battled right down to the wire, and the fans
were really into this one from start to finish. We went
to the judges scorecards. All of the judges saw the
fight same, 40-36, all for Norato. It was a bit of a
shame that Barajas was not able to win one round for all
of the try he displayed, but Michael was by far the more
skilled fighter, and it showed.
The newly-signed Ruben Villa made his professional debut
against Gerardo Molina (1-2, 1 KO). This fight was
scheduled for four rounds in the featherweight division.
The fans came out for Villa, who is a two-time National
Golden Gloves Champion.
A big left hand put Molina down on his pockets seconds
into the round. Later in the round a left-right
combination by Villa put his opponent down for the
second time, putting an end to the fight. Ruben is the
real deal, folks. The fight was waved off by referee
Raul Caiz Jr. at 2:25 of the opening round. Villa makes
his debut a great one – a knockout victory!
In a scheduled four round lightweight fight, Pedro Dimas
made his professional debut when he faced off against
Neri Romero (2-0, 2 KO). In the opening minutes of the
fight a huge body shot by Romero put Dimas down and out.
The fight was waved off at :58 seconds by referee Raul
Caiz, Sr.
Well, it was an interesting night of boxing. Three
fights ended in the very first round, and only one went
the distance. But we saw a new star. Keep your eyes on
Ruben Villa in the future. Roman once again showed his
skills, albeit in a very short period of time, and
Delperdang is an entertaining fighter as well and merits
watching. Next stop for Thompson is Corona next month.
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