Burgos & Maestro Herrera Win Big In Ontario

ONTARIO, CALIF-Tijuana’s Juan Carlos Burgos and Riverside’s Mauricio Herrera showed why Thompson Boxing Promotions are rapidly becoming the small player that can with knockout wins on Friday.

In the main event Burgos (22-0, 15 KOs) fought fellow Tijuana slugger Omar Lizarraga (16-7-2, 12 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round featherweight bout. But Burgos quickly discovered that his foe had a tendency to drop his right guard after firing punches.

Boom went the left hook and down went Lizarraga. The veteran beat the count on steady legs but during another exchange he repeated the same mistake. Boom went the left hook and down went Lizarraga once more. He beat the count again, slightly slower, but rose once more to engage Burgos. Boom went the left hook, but this time. Referee James Jen Kin stopped the fight despite Lizarraga’s protests. It was a good stoppage at 2:19 of the second round.

In the semi-main event, Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera dropped down in weight against Bakersfield’s Brian Gordon but still proved too skillful in winning by technical knockout on Friday.

Herrera showed a large partisan crowd at the Doubletree Hotel that fighting at junior welterweight was not a hindrance. A stiff jab proved too perplexing for Gordon (4-3, 4 KOs) whose power was negated throughout the fight.

After sustaining snapping jabs to the head Gordon’s corner stopped the fight at the end of the fifth round giving Herrera the win by technical knockout.

“He came in strong. He didn’t give me no break,” said Herrera (9-0, 4 KOs), who remains undefeated. “He had very hard punches.”

Gordon landed a solid right hand that moved Herrera backward, but then the Riverside boxer used his jab to stop the Bakersfield fighter’s attack and pounded him with combinations.

“I feel stronger at this weight,” said Herrera who fought at high as 156 pounds.

Willy Silva, who trains Herrera, said they’ve made little adjustments to account for the lower weight division.

Venezuela’s Patrick Lopez (15-1, 10 KOs) showed his southpaw power in the first round and Colombia’s Jailer Berrio (11-6, 7 KOs) played it safe for eight rounds in a junior welterweight bout. Berrio was dropped in the fourth round with a overhand left hand, but no other serious damage was inflicted. All three judges scored it 80-71 for Lopez.

Abraham Lopez (6-0, 5 KOs), who signed a promotion contract with Thompson Boxing Promotions, needed only two rounds to show his dazzling skills. A left hook to the body of veteran Manuel Sarabia (16-29-9, 10 KOs) knocked him out in 57 seconds of the second round.

Walter “School Boy” Sornoi (3-0, 2 KOs) learned a lesson in the first round after getting dropped with a right hand from Moreno Valley’s Alvaro Muro (5-15, 5 KOs). But he recovered and out-hustled Muro the next four rounds to win by unanimous decision 38-37 according to the judges.

The entire boxing card was pretty high-caliber stuff. According to matchmaker Alex Camponovo, the boxing promotion company is thinking of signing hard-hitting Patrick Lopez. Recent signees Mauricio Herrera, Juan Carlos Burgos and Abraham Lopez proved Thompson Boxing Promotions have a very good eye for talent. They also have Josesito Lopez a very good lightweight and current WBC junior welterweight world titleholder Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley who is set to fight WBO titleholder Kendall Holt in a unification bout on April 4, in Montreal, Canada.

They must be doing something right.