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Wilberth Lopez Defeats Jose
Roman
By Barbara Pinnella
Photos: Marlene Marquez
Thompson Boxing Promotions gave us New Blood, once again
coming from the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA. The
main event featured two junior welterweights, as Jose
Roman (24-2-1, 16 KOs) took on Wilberth Lopez (19-8, 13
KOs) in a bout that was scheduled to go eight rounds.
There was not much damage done in the first two rounds
of this main event, but both men were taking measured
pot shots at the other. In the early going it was Lopez
who was more of the aggressor in the fight. In the third
Roman started to find a home for his left hand, but
Lopez answered with a big overhand right.
Wilberth was really firing on all cylinders in the
fourth. He was able to not only land leather on his
opponent, but avoid getting hit most of the time. Roman
seemed to only come alive when the 10-second warning
sounded. Lopez picked right up where he left off in the
next round, stalking Jose and landing. His jab was
effective in pushing Roman back. Jose did fight more
often in this round, but Wilberth was trying to still
keep the pressure on.
The sixth round was active for both, but each man was
hard to hit, due mainly to their awkward styles of
fighting. Roman did more work this round than he had in
most of the prior ones. In the seventh, they both threw
and connected with some good punches. We moved into the
eighth and final round.
Back and forth action in the last round that saw each
man doing their job. The best punch of the night came
with about 20 seconds left, when Roman landed a very
hard left hand on Lopez. Still, we had to go to the
scorecards. The judges had it 79-73, 78-74, and 80-72,
giving the unanimous decision to Lopez.
In a super featherweight fight that was scheduled to go
six rounds, Ruben Villa IV (8-0, 4 KOs) faced off
against Ernesto Guerrero (26-20, 18 KOs). There were
very few punches thrown and even fewer that landed in
the first round of this fight. I’m not sure what they
were waiting for, since it was only a six round fight.
There were not a lot of solid punches that found their
target in the second, either. Finally in the third,
Villa decided he was tired of waiting and began to take
it to Guerrero. He did not always land, but was at least
letting his hands go and provided some action. They both
jumped into the fray in the fourth, and while there was
no damage done, we finally had a fight.
It took until the fifth round, but Guerrero finally
thought it was time for him to fight also, and now some
punches were being thrown and landing. This round was
the most engaged these two men had been all night. The
sixth was the same, and it’s a shame that all six rounds
were not like the last two. We went to the scorecards
for the results. All three saw the fight the same,
60-54, all for Villa.
Juan Ruiz (20-0, 12 KOs) took on Erick Martinez (13-9-1,
7 KOs) in a battle of two super welterweights. This
fight was for a scheduled eight rounds. Both men started
out the fight showing some good body work, then began
headhunting a bit more.
In the second and third rounds Ruiz was controlling the
action more and more. He was the bigger man and found it
easy to push Martinez around. He was still landing body
punches, and using four and five shot combinations
successfully as well. This continued into the fourth.
The measured punches Juan was throwing might not make
for a very exciting fight, but he was certainly in
control.
The fifth gave us more of the same, with Ruiz landing at
will on his opponent. Martinez tried to rally in the
sixth but he did not get very far. Still Juan all the
way. The seventh round saw Ruiz going back to his
combinations again. In the eighth and final Martinez
came out throwing but his efforts were once again shut
down by Juan.
As easily as Ruiz was finding his target throughout the
entire fight it seemed surprising that he was not able
to knock Erick out. Instead we went to the scorecards.
All three of the judges saw the fight the same, and it
was not shocking – 80-72 for Ruiz. He remained
undefeated in a dominating performance.
Lightweights took to the ring in a scheduled
four-rounder as Michael Dutchover (6-0, 4 KOs) stood
across the ring from Carlos Flores (4-6-1, 3 KOs). The
first round was a good back and forth one with each
fighter landing punches. Unfortunately for Flores, right
before the bell, Dutchover landed a couple of good shots
that dropped Carlos. As soon as he got up the bell
sounded to end the first round.
Dutchover landed a lot of very hard right hands in the
second, both to the head and body of Flores. But his
tough opponent refused to go down again, albeit taking a
lot of punishment. Carlos came out swinging in the third
and landed some good body punches of his own. He was
really on the attack in this one.
The snap and accuracy of both fighters’ punches was off
a little bit in the fourth and final, but that was not a
huge surprise, since they had gone non-stop for the
first three hard rounds. We went to the scorecards. All
three judges saw the fight the same, 40-35, all for the
still-undefeated Dutchover.
To open up the evening we saw Ruben Torres (2-0, 2 KO)
face off against Ernest Knight (0-2). This fight was for
a scheduled four rounds in the lightweight division. A
left / right combination dropped Knight in the opening
round. A couple of seconds later another hard shot by
Torres put Ernest down and out. The final time was 2:01
of that initial round.
Before the main event the NEW WBA world super
bantamweight champion Danny “The Baby Faced Assassin”
Roman was introduced to the fans in attendance and posed
with his new belt. Danny went to Japan to take this from
Shun Kubo, and brought the title home to the States. It
was a very nice moment for Roman, trainer Eddie
Gonzalez, and of course Thompson Boxing Promotions.
Danny has been with Thompson since he turned
professional, and Eddie has always been his trainer.
Expect for this talented and very likeable young man to
continue onward and upward.
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