Boxing Chatter: Jason Litzau Returns

Jason Litzau headlines the Harrah’s Rincon card when he faces New York City’s Emmanuel Lucero in a junior lightweight contest on Friday Aug. 17.

Litzau (21-1, 18 KOs) is coming off a win by decision. It was last December that the Minnesota fighter suffered his first loss by knockout. It’s his second visit to Harrah’s Rincon.

Lucero (23-4-1, 14 KOs), a Mexican from the Bronx, probably is best remembered for his knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao at the Grand Olympic Auditorium four years ago. Since then he’s lost to Daniel Ponce De Leon and Rocky Juarez by knockout. Those are not embarrassing losses.

It should be a good match.

Litzau’s trainer Bob Van Syckle has some worries though.

“I like him to use all of his talent, not just his instincts,” said Van Syckle by telephone on Thursday. “Use a more scientific way. He’ll still be hurting the opponent but he lets his emotions get away.”

In Litzau’s only loss he was winning the fight against Jose Hernandez and was vacuumed into a slugfest where he fell short and out. Otherwise, he would have won the fight eventually.

“He wants to be impressive on TV and to be an exciting fighter like Arturo Gatti,” Van Syckle said. “But Jason has advantages in his height and reach and can fight from the outside.”

We’ll see.

When the punches fly a little green light goes off on Litzau’s head that says go.

“He’s got so much talent,” Van Syckle said.

For tickets or information call (760) 751-3100.

L.A. Sports Arena fight results

L.A. based Deon Elam out-powered Florida’s Andriy Ivanov before a small but boisterous crowd at the famous Los Angeles Sports Arena on Thursday.

The fight card promoted by Untouchable Boxing had scheduled Roger “Speedy” Gonzalez making a return to the ring after almost three years and welterweight stand out Larry Mosley. Both fighters had their opponents unable to fight for various reasons.

Cruiserweight Elam (9-0, 5 KOs) took advantage of getting bumped up to main event status and showed off his power against former amateur star Ivanov (3-3-1) after a slight tussle for the first four rounds. But a solid right hand followed by two thunderous uppercuts forced referee Lou Moret to step in and halt the fight at 2:50 of the fifth round.

In a women’s bout Michelle Gutierrez won her pro debut in a close four-round fight against Katarina De La Cruz (0-1-1) in a junior bantamweight contest.

De La Cruz landed some stunning right hand leads for the first three rounds but it wasn’t enough to please the three judges who scored it a majority decision for the Las Vegas fighter Gutierrez 38-38 and 39-37 twice.

San Francisco’s Karim Mayfield (4-0-1, 4 KOs) must have made a doubletake when he entered the ring and saw Michigan fighter Alejo Sepulveda (2-1) across the ring standing with super trainer Roger Mayweather in a junior middleweight fight.

Five seconds later Mayfield ambushed Sepulveda with a four-punch barrage that clubbed the Michigan fighter to the ground for the count. He beat the count but seemed a little shaky.

Mayweather yelled at him to keep his distance and box. The advice worked but Mayfield launched another telegraphed right hand that landed flush and dropped Sepulveda again. Referee David Denkin stopped the fight at 2:46 in the first round.

Oxnard’s Javier Garcia-Calderon (3-0) stopped L.A. based Victor Martinez (0-1) at the end of the second round of a lightweight contest.

Garcia-Calderon’s counter-punching nearly dropped the debuting Martinez at the opening bell but he managed to tough it out and began landing his own overhand rights with some effectiveness.

The second round saw the Fernando Vargas look-alike return to counter-punching and when he got Martinez in a comfort zone, the Oxnard fighter began an attack that shook up and nearly dropped him but he survived the second round. The ringside physician advised referee Lou Moret to halt the fight.

Garcia-Calderon is trained by Eduardo and Robert Garcia at La Colonia Boxing Club.

In attendance at the fight card was James “Lights Out” Toney and Denzel Washington.

California Welterweight title fight

Aaron Martinez (7-0) defends the California welterweight title against Glendale’s Vardan Gasparyan (8-1-2) in a fight scheduled for eight rounds at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello on Friday Aug. 17.

Gasparyan was a former amateur star in Armenia and hopes to kick-start his career into high gear after a pretty successful amateur career.

“I beat middleweight champion Arthur Abraham twice in the amateurs,” said Gasparyan. “I’ve been working a lot on my weaknesses.”

Martinez beat Walter Diaz to win the state title.

Also on the All Star Boxing fight card will be MMA fighter Nam Phan making another boxing appearance against Ivan Diaz.

For information call (323) 816-6200.

Julio Diaz to fight in October

Lee Espinosa, who trains and manages IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz, said that a contract to fight WBA and WBO lightweight titleholder Juan Diaz of Houston has been finalized.

“It’s a done deal,” said Espinosa on Sunday. “We’re happy about it.”

No site has been determined, but the fight will take place on Oct. 13, 2007.

Diaz said fighting the other Diaz has been his goal for the last three years.

“He’s a good fighter,” said Julio Diaz who lives and trains in Coachella. “I’m anxious to show who’s the best.”

According to some reports the fight is headed for Chicago, Illinois.

Sugar Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto in NYC

Pomona’s Sugar Shane Mosley will fight WBO welterweight titleholder Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 10, stated Golden Boy Promotions.

Mosley, the WBC interim welterweight titleholder, will be returning to the New York City where he’s built a solid fan base over the years. His wife Jin Mosley is a native of New York City.

Cotto’s last fight was at Madison Square Garden where he soundly defeated Brooklyn’s Zab Judah by 11th round technical knockout.

It could be another candidate for Fight of the Year.

Southern Californians in Olympic tryouts

Pomona’s Malcolm Franklin is one of several Californians headed for Houston, Texas this weekend to take place in the US Olympic tryouts. Franklin fights at 106 pounds and trains in San Bernardino.

Others traveling to Texas are Javier Molina, the number one junior welterweight in the country who fights out of Commerce Boxing Club, that also produced Francisco “Panchito” Bojado and female super fighter Elizabeth Quevedo who captured four U.S. National titles in consecutive years.

Others competing are Ronny Rios a bantamweight of Santa Ana and Rico Ramos a featherweight of Los Angeles.