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Belasco Theatre 2017 Season
Opener:
Franco Stops Pasillas In Three
By William Trillo
Photos: Marlene Marquez
Super Flyweight Joshua Franco (9-0, 5 KO’s) overwhelmed
Victor Pasillas (8-7-2, 5 KO’s) in the main event of the
Golden Boy promoted card. From the onset it was clear Franco
was on a mission and his opponent Paillas was looking for
the quickest way out. Franco obliged the overmatched
challenger with a beat-down over three rounds and then
dropped him with a flurry at the 2:32 mark before the fight
was brought to a merciful end.
"I felt like I could have continued to fight," said Victor
Pasillas. "It's been two years since I've been in the ring,
so this was the first step to rebuilding my career."
"I was definitely expecting a tougher fight," said Joshua
Franco. "I had watched a lot of his fights online, and I
expected a knock out later in the fight."
Super Lightweight Jonathan Navarro (8-0, 5 KO’s) won’t soon
forget a fighter by the name of Angel Rodriguez (5-7-3, 4
KO’s). Navarro came out on top in this six round slugfest
but Rodriguez did not make this victory an easy one. Navarro
found it difficult to land clean blows on the elusive
Rodriguez and when he did it only seemed to fire Rodriguez
up. For his part Rodriguez landed combo’s throughout the
night and gave a good account of himself in this semi-main
event battle. In the end it was Navarro who prevailed as he
took a unanimous decision with scores reading 60-54 twice
and 59-55.
“This fight shows that I can rumble with tough opponents,”
said Jonathan Navarro. “My opponent fought against Diego
Magdaleno and Adrien Broner, so I knew he had to be tough,
and he was. I came into the ring slowly, trying to figure
him out, and Rodriguez came forward aggressively. He was a
tough opponent, and I am definitely thankful for the
experience. I’ll be back in the ring soon, hopefully
increasing my rounds.”
Lightweight Ryan Garcia (8-0, 7 KO’s) proved his KO power is
no fluke as he demolished Devon Jones (2-2, 1 KO) inside of
two rounds. Davis came out with a purpose and before round
one was over Jones had tasted the canvas twice. The second
round was more of the same as Garcia was simply too much for
Jones. A sharp right hand dropped Davis again and moments
later another shot by Davis sent his foe face first into the
mat and that was enough for the ref who halted the bout at
the 55 second mark.
“You heard the crowd tonight, I think they enjoyed the
fight,” said Ryan “Kingry” Garcia. “I give myself a B- for
my performance since I got cobbled in my head a couple of
times and I had to adjust because I didn’t know that my
opponent was a southpaw. But we got the knock out and that’s
what makes champions.”
Super Lightweight David Mijares (5-0, 3 KO’s) took on a
slippery veteran in Evincii Dixon (7-16-2, 2 KO’s) who made
the young Golden Boy fighter earn his victory via unanimous
decision over 6 rounds. Dixon played a game of cat and mouse
on the ropes for most of the fight and Mijares was willing
to engage the fighter landing hooks to the body with stiff
uppercuts along the way. Dixon did do some damage in the
fifth round bloodying the nose of “Junebug” as well as
landing a shot that almost dropped Mijares in round six. But
the tough Mijares prevailed and earned himself a unanimous
nod on cards that read 60-54 twice and 58-56.
“This was a great learning experience for me. It was the
first time I went all six rounds with someone who has the
experience and patience inside the ring,” said David Mijares.
“I definitely want to work on being more aware throughout
the fight – he got me with a couple of punches high up on
the head that threw me off. I want to pursue more
experienced opponents like this and build myself up as a
fighter for this year, and get used to fighting at six
rounds.”
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