Rolando Reyes Wins Big at Oxnard

OXNARD, CALIF. – Lightweight contender Rolando Reyes (17-12-3) showed the hometown crowd why he’s ranked by systematically destroying Mexico’s Julian Rodriguez in six rounds on Friday.

Before a crowd of more than 900 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, Reyes used his pinpoint jab and quickness to find holes in Rodriguez’s defense, but the Mexican fighter had a solid chin.

“I just took my time trying to find out what he had,” said Reyes (28-4-2). “Little by little I was firing shots to see what worked. Then I tried to make the referee stop the fight.”

In rounds four, five and six Reyes used right hands to force Rodriguez to take a knee. Finally at 2:55 in the sixth round referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight.

“It felt good to win here,” said Reyes.

In a bout featuring two outstanding flyweights, Austreberto Juarez (7-0) of Oxnard and Jose Albuquerque (6-2-2) of Brazil proved to be too short a contest at four rounds. Juarez used his height and reach to fire jabs in the first two rounds, and while most of the punches rarely landed, he was the busier fighter.

In the third round, Albuquerque broke out of his defensive stance and began countering effectively with left hooks. Juarez tried to fire back combinations but found the Brazilian hard to find. Toward the end of the round Albuquerque landed a solid four-punch combination at the sound of the bell.

The fourth and final round of the heated contest saw Juarez jump out quickly firing jabs and combinations, but most were landing on the Brazilian’s gloves. Then, during one of Juarez’s combinations, Albuquerque fired a left hook that staggered Juarez who turned his back to escape further punishment. The fight resumed with Juarez trying to regain respect but the Brazilian’s counterpunching proved too effective. At the end of the round Juarez was teetering. The judges scored it 39-37 for Juarez.

“Just a little bit more (time) and I would have killed him,” said Albuquerque after the fight. “He was hurt.”

Eric Brown, who trains Albuquerque, said they wanted an eight-round fight but were unable to obtain it.

“This was a semi-main event it should have been eight or 10 rounds,” said Brown, a trainer at Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. “We’ll definitely take a rematch with Juarez, if he’s not afraid.”

Other bouts
Miguel Garcia (3-0), the younger brother of former world champion Robert Garcia, knocked out L.A.-based Mario Franco (0-7-1) 52 seconds into the second round of a scheduled four-round lightweight bout. Franco began the contest landing two right hands but after that, Garcia simply overpowered him with left hooks and overhand rights. A right hand/left uppercut/right hand combination left Franco sprawled on the floor. Referee Reiss did not bother to count him out.

Hometown fighter Kristian Magallon made his debut against the rugged Misael Martinez (0-3) of Nicaragua in a four-round bantamweight bout. Magallon hit Martinez with every punch in the book but still could not drop Martinez. The judges scored it 40-36 twice and 39-37 for Magallon.

In a welterweight contest featuring two debuting boxers, Victorville’s Michael Bentley stopped Palmdale’s southpaw Wilbur Simpson at 2:33 in the first round. Some solid right hands turned Simpson around but the fight continued. Then a flurry of right hands hurt Simpson and referee Reiss stopped the fight for a technical knockout.