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Ituarte Wins Junior NABF
Featherweight Title Over Zarate
By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: Marlene Marquez
This past Friday night Thompson Boxing Promotions gave us
New Blood, held once again at the Doubletree Hotel in
Ontario, California. This marked the 17th year anniversary
for Thompson Boxing.
Giovani Santillan was supposed to be involved in the main
event, but he became too dehydrated beforehand trying to
reach 140 pounds and opted out of the fight.
Therefore, the main event became a fight for the Junior NABF
featherweight title between Erick “The All American Boy”
Ituarte (16-1-1, 2 KOs) and Isaac “Dinamita” Zarate (12-3-2,
2 KOs). This fight was scheduled to go eight rounds.
In the first round the fighters didn’t jump right in, but
rather seemed to feel out their respective opponent. Round
two was a back and forth one until the last 10 seconds, when
Ituarte looked to almost end the fight, but the bell came in
time. In the third Erick jumped on Isaac a little bit until
a well-placed left hand by Zarate caught him and put him on
the canvas.
The fight continued to go back and forth for the duration,
but the fans were clearly behind Isaac. In the end we had a
split decision. One judge saw it 76-75 for Zarate, and the
other two had it 76-75 and 77-74 for Ituarte. Erick took
home the belt, but kudos to Isaac for his performance.
Bantamweights took to the ring in the co-main event as
Ricardo Espinoza (10-2, 8 KOs) faced off against Christian
Nieto-Ayala (10-1, 4 KOs). This fight was slated for eight
rounds. Within the first 10 seconds there was a clash of
heads and a knockdown for Ayala.
Both Espinoza and Ayala fought in close for most of the
second round, and the third. They kept the pressure on each
other for the three minutes of that round. The fourth and
fifth rounds had been close.
Past the halfway point and they were still fighting at a
hard and fast pace. The sixth round was more of the same;
fighting in close quarters, body and head shots by both, and
almost non-stop action. That continued into the seventh.
The eighth and final round was still more of the same, with
both men fighting pretty much non-stop for all of the 24
minutes. We went to the scorecards. One judge saw the fight
76-75 for Espinoza, while the other two had it 76-75 and
77-74 for Ayala. Christian got the split decision victory.
Next, Ruben Villa (6-0, 4 KOs) stood across the ring from
Anthony de Jesus Ruiz (2-3, 2 KOs). This fight was scheduled
to go six rounds in the super featherweight division. It was
all Villa from the start of this one. With Ruben battering
Ruiz from pillar to post in the fifth, the ring doctor
caught the attention of referee Ray Corona and the fight was
waved off at 2:43 of the fifth round.
In a bantamweight fight that was scheduled for four rounds,
Mario Hernandez (2-0) met up with May Garduno, who was
making his professional debut. The first round started out
easy and ended up wild and wooly. As with the
above-mentioned fight, one man dominated, and that was
Hernandez.
That did not change for the four rounds, and we went to the
scorecards. All three judges saw the fight the same, 40-36,
all for Hernandez. Mario showed a lot of promise for only
his second pro fight.
Juan Garcia Mendez (19-2-2) faced off against Cesar
Villarraga (9-3, 1, 4 KOs). This fight was scheduled for six
rounds in the junior welterweight division. There were a lot
of punches thrown in the opening round, but no damage done.
Mendez rocked Villarraga back on his heels a couple of times
in the second, but Juan landed some good shots of his own.
This became a good back and forth battle as the fight waged
on. The two continued to land on each other, and Villarraga
seemed to get braver as the fight got into the last couple
of rounds. Again, to the scorecards we went. One judge saw
it 58-56 for Mendez, the second had it 59-55 for Villarraga,
and the third scored the fight 57-57, making the fight a
split draw.
The opening fight was scheduled for four rounds in the
lightweight division. It saw Brandon Trejo making his
professional debut against Pablo Cupul (5-23, 3 KOs). In the
opening round of his pro debut Trejo showed that he had
speed and power. The second round was more of the same.
Brandon was giving a good showing thus far.
Cupul was trying to hang in there, but it was all Brandon
who was peppering his opponent with combinations throughout
the fight. In the end, we went to the scorecards. The judges
all saw the fight the same, 40-36, for Trejo. Brandon got
his first pro victory.
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