Rocha & Curiel Battle To Majority Draw - Pound4Pound.com

Rocha & Curiel Battle To Majority Draw

By Albert Castillo
Photos: William Trillo

From the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, Golden Boy Productions put together an outstanding card of knockouts, slugfests, undefeated fighters, upsets, and so much more. In the main event of the evening for the NABO and NABF Super Welterweight Titles, fan favorite Alexis Rocha (25-2-1, 16 KO’s) out of Santa Ana, CA, battled Mexico’s Raul Curiel (15-0-1, 16 KO’s) in a Mexican slugfest for the ages.

The fighters punished each other in every round. Jab for jab, Curiel’s uppercuts, Rocha’s straight left hands, and combinations by both fighters that landed with sweat flying from their heads. Rocha controlled the early rounds with Curiel seemingly ahead in the latter.

However, in the championship rounds it was anybody’s guess to who was ahead at the end of the fight. It was boxing at the highest level of championship caliber. The judges got it right. 116-112 for Rocha and the other two judges saw it 114-114 for a majority draw. Let’s run it back! Rematch!

In the semi-main event, former U.S. Olympian Charles “Bad News” Conwell (21-0, 16 KO’s) dominated formerly unbeaten Argentinian, Gerardo Luis “El Typhoon” Vergara (20-1, 13 KO’s). Conwell reduced the Typhoon into nothing more than a drizzle. Conwell fought confidently and relaxed while Vergara was tight and tentative.

Conwell caught and countered all night as Vergara tried to penetrate the impeccable defense of Conwell. Finally in round 8 Conwell caught Vergara with a right hand and followed with several right left combinations.

Referee Thomas Taylor saw that Vergara was defenseless and stopped the fight at 2:51 of the seventh round. While Vergara was previously unbeaten his resume was somewhat soft while Conwell had previously disposed of 15 fighters with winning records. For 2025 Conwell has set his sights on Vergil Ortiz or Sebastian Fundora.

Former Olympian Bronze Medalist Marlen Esparza (15-2, 1 KO) fought to keep her career alive at 35 years of age. Her opponent Arely Muceno (32-5—2, 11), also 35 has had a stellar career but indicated that this may be her last fight.

The fight was highly competitive with both fighters mixing it up and it was difficult to judge who had won each round. However, the judges saw it clearly,98-92, 98-92, and 97-93, all in favor of Esparza. The inside work of work of Esparza made the difference. She outscored Muceno in punches landed 145 to 113.

The speed and agility of John “Scrappy” Ramirez (14-1,9 KO’s) helped him to close the gap and overcome the offense of Ephrain Bui (10-1, 9 KO’s). Bui stated that he needed a “holy cow” moment to beat Ramirez and it never came.

With his Twilight Zone, psychedelic gloves, Scrappy proved to be too much for Bui. He expertly moved around the guard of Bui to connect with right and left hands. Bui also landed several solid lefts and the total output of punches was incredibly close – 176 to 175 in favor of Scrappy.

Although it must be noted that Scrappy landed the more effective punches. Judges all had it 97-93 for Scrappy, giving him the WBA Continental North America Super Flyweight title and his 14th win against just one loss.

In the TV opener Victor Morales (21-0-1, 10 KO’s) returned to the ring after a 15 month layoff, moved up in weight to 130 and overcame the Vergil Ortiz illness. He looked strong and his athleticism helped to brush off the ring rust.

However, Jose Ivan Guardado Ortiz (16-3-1, 6 KO’s) proved to be a worthy opponent. In the first half of the fight Guardado connected often with a left hook that found a home on the jaw of Morales. Morales was definitely rocked several times but righted himself with many stiff jabs that kept Guardado at bay. By the end of the 6th round Morales had out jabbed Guardado by 69 jabs.

At the end of the 7th round both fighters were busted up, the result of a headbutt and the heavy punching of both fighters. At the start of the 8th round the doctor checked the swollen eye of Guardado and determined that he could not continue due to a huge cut on his eyelid giving Morales the TKO and the victory.

The Boogeyman, Jabin Chollet (10-2, 8 KO’s) did not frighten Ricardo Ruvalcaba (13-0-1, 10 KO’s) as Ruvalcaba outlasted Chollet with a unanimous victory earning scores of 80-72, 80-72, 79-73. Ruvalcava’s arsenal included a hard jab, a ferocious right and strategic body work.

Although the scores were lopsided the fight was highly competitive. Ruvalcaba remains unbeaten in 14 fights.

Jorge Chavez (13-0, 8 KO’s) dominated Ruben Dario Casero (12-4, 4 KO’s) to earn a unanimous decision, 80-70 on all three cards. Chavez dropped Casero twice in the first round and overwhelmed Casero in every round for the rest of the fight.

A solid performance by hot prospect Gael Cabrera (6-0, 4 KO’s) as he knocks out Garen Diagan (10-6, 5 KO’s) at 2:59 of the second round. Cabrera switched to southpaw from the orthodox to land a straight left hand to the jaw of Diagan that put him on the deck. Diagan rose but referee Rudy Barragan determined that he had had enough and the fight was called. Cabrera remains undefeated.

A tremendous upset by Uhlices Avelino Reyes (3-1, 2 KO’s) as the corner of Joshua Garcia (9-1, 4 KO’s), stopped the fight after their fighter had suffered three knockdowns and was getting beat to the punch on every exchange.

The formerly undefeated Garcia threw wide punches and dropped his guard as Avelino Reyes took advantage with thunderous right hands that rocked Garcia in which he was down three times. Finally, Garcia’s corner could see that he was on shaky legs. They did well to save their fighter from further punishment as the end was inevitable. They asked the referee Chris Leban to end the fight at 2:08 of the second round. Avelino Reyes earns a huge upset victory.

Local boy Fabian Guzman (6-0, 6KO’s) out of Orange, California, continued his winning ways by stopping Georgia’s, Travis Floyd (4-12-2, 1 KO) at 2:28 of the second round. Guzman led with a steady diet of left hooks to the body and head until referee Thomas Taylor stepped in to stop the fight. Guzman remains perfect with 6 knockouts in his 6 wins.

In the first preliminary bout of the afternoon, Javier Meza (1-0) 1 KO, making his pro debut out of Amarilllo, Texas, took the melody out of David Music (0-2) with a TKO at 2:58 in the first round. Meza dropped Music early in the fight with a right hand. A barrage of punches at the end of the first round led referee, Chris Leban, to stop the fight in favor of Meza.