Carbajal puts on power display

Former WBO Bantamweight champion Cruz Carbajal (27-13, 23 KO’s) put on an impressive display of power punching by stopping Paul Villalobos (25-36, 16 KO’s) at 1:47 of the third round at the Golden Hall in downtown San Diego. Carbajal, who is now fighting under the Bobby D Presents banner, took little time in asserting himself against the game Villalobos who came out aggressive, moving forward and throwing punches. Carbajal countered with an assortment of heavy straights, hooks and uppercuts. This was only the warm-up. The second round came and Carbajal proceeded to land several hard left hook and uppercut combinations that shook but didn’t deter his [too brave for his own good] opponent. In the third round, Carbajal started attacking the body with impunity. A visibly hurt Villalobos dropped to his knees after a particularly nasty looking uppercut which ultimately broke his nose. Referee Pat Russell called a halt to the action. Russell reiterated afterwards that Villalobos was in no condition to continue. “I don’t know what’s next. I want to fight for a title sometime soon in the future. I’ll leave it up to Bobby D to decide that,” said Carbajal after the fight. Carbajal looked sharp and it’ll be interesting to see how the 32-year-old’s career plays out.

Mika “The Samoan Destroyer” Gergen (10-4, 8 KO’s) just might be one of the most devastating punchers in the heavyweight division. Unfortunately, Gergen can’t seem to figure out a way to position himself properly to throw the powerful arsenal that has seldom seen the light of day during his last few fights.  His opponent, the crafty Kendrick Releford (14-8, 5 KO’s) of Forth Worth, Texas, used some nice movement to frustrate Gergen and kept his opponent at bay for most of the fight with a nice jab from the outside. Both men came out throwing power jabs with Gergen trying to find a position from where to unleash his power shots in the first round. The second saw Releford landing repeatedly from the outside. Gergen was trying to get inside again but Releford was effectively keeping him at bay. In the third, a barrage of left and rights drove Releford back for the first time. It was a look into Gergen’s fire power. Releford did the smart thing and decided not to trade with Gergen and instead went back to boxing.

The fourth had Gergen coming forward and Releford landing enough jabs from the outside to start creating welts under Gergen’s eyes. More display of Gergen’s big time power in the fifth as Releford caught some left hooks that again had him in retreat. The sixth and seventh had more of Releford controlling the outside with slick movement and hard jabs. By the eighth round Releford was dictating the action as the winded Gergen tried unsuccessfully to hunt down his victim. Releford finished strong with a barrage of punches on Gergen who was on the ropes when the bell sounded. The scores were announced by Benny Ricardo as 66-66 and 67-65 for Releford twice. Releford took the fight on three days notice.

Jr. Middleweight Rafael Ramirez (17-4, 2 KO’s) defeated the feisty Jesus Hernandez who is now three and nine with two knockouts. Ramirez came out pumping a strong jab and controlling the action from the outside. Maldonado came out brave from the start and was able to land some punches that didn’t have the firepower to do any serious damage. Maldonado showed more aggression in the fourth round and seemed to outwork Ramirez. Ramirez closed the show with determination by out-speeeding, outworking and out jabbing his opponent who wasn’t about to give in so easy. The judges scored the bout 58-56 for Ramirez, 58-56 for Maldonado and 59-55 for Ramirez. The Sweet Science scored the bout 58-56 for Ramirez.

Welterweight Israel Ornelas (7-1, 4 KO’s) won a unanimous decision win over Jesus Hernandez (3-9, 2 KO’s) in a four-rounder. It was a case of two lefties facing each other with Hernandez absorbing some tremendous rights from Ornelas that were landing all night long. Hernandez was courageous to the very end after being dropped in the third round with one of numerous overhand lefts. Hernandez managed to get in some good shots of his own but never did any serious damage. Hernandez absorbed some tough punishment and was taken for observation to the local hospital.

A good brawl opened up the show with Super Featherweight Irvin Garcia (3-0, 1KO) taking a four round unanimous decision win from Robert Cancio(1-2) of Blythe. Both men who were in terrific shape and showed up to win had some good exchanges with Garcia taking the obvious edge.