Ronny Rios Wins Neighborhood War In Anaheim

ANAHEIM-Featherweight contender Ronny Rios returned to the ring after a brief injury, found himself in a civil war against Jeremy McLaurin and ended his night by technical knockout on Saturday.

A boisterous crowd saw Santa Ana’s Rios (17-0, 8 KOs) matched against neighboring city Anaheim’s McLaurin (9-3, 5 KOs) at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim. Golden Boy Promotions and Tecate staged the fight and Telefutura televised.

Rios looked a little rusty against the taller McLaurin but took his time measuring the taller and lankier fighter in rounds one and two of the featherweight main event.

Around the fourth stanza Rios began to look more comfortable and began increasing the tempo. McLaurin seemed uncomfortable with the faster pace as Rios spread the attack from the body to the head and back to the body. A left hook wobbled the Anaheim fighter and he looked to hold on. Rios attacked the body and pinned McLaurin to a corner where he unleashed a barrage of blows. Referee Raul Caiz stopped the match at 2:31 of round four in favor of Rios by technical knockout.

Other bouts

Seldom does a fighter lose a fight and command a standing ovation but that’s what happened when Florida’s Derrick Wilson (9-3-2, 3 KOs) was stopped in the final round by Alejandro “Alacran” Perez (16-3-1, 11 KOs) in the eighth and final round of a featherweight clash.

What a fight.

Wilson started out of the gate with quicker and razor sharp punches as Perez adjusted to the speed and power. It was mostly Wilson cracking Perez who fired back gingerly just to let his opponent know that he wasn’t a patsy.

Perez opened quicker in round two and during an exchange cracked a left hook that dropped Wilson toward the end of the round. The Floridian firecracker just got a little sloppy and paid for it.

Wilson returned a little smarter and didn’t allow Perez to catch him in a corner in round three. It was a solid round that saw both land solid blows but Wilson capped the round with a right connect.

Perez didn’t allow Wilson to gain traction and dropped the gutsy fighter with yet another left hand. Once again Wilson got up and fought his heart out. The same happened in round five but Wilson just wasn’t going to quit.

During an exchange in round six a cut emerged over Perez’s left eye and Wilson boxed smartly to probably win the round. Perez tried to rally but wasn’t able to connect toward the end of the round with anything significant.

Perez staggered Wilson twice early in round seven, but the Floridian rallied bravely and fired right hands that connected but didn’t seem to bother the fighter out of Salinas, California. Both exchanged ferociously and often. Wilson would not relinquish the fight to Perez easily.

Round eight saw both launch each other into the fray as Perez bullied Wilson into a neutral corner and began to beat on the body. Wilson tried to counter and missed with a right and Perez countered the right with one of his own and down went the Floridian slumped in a heap. Referee Ray Corona stopped the fight at 27 seconds of the eighth and final round in favor of Perez.

The mostly Mexican crowd cheered Perez but as Wilson followed later out of the arena the crowd on the south side of the small arena gave Wilson a standing ovation for a thrilling display of courage and guts.

Santa Ana’s Jose Sanchez (7-2, 4 KOs) ended Manuel Sarabia’s (16-34-10, 10 KOs) night early at 2:08 of round one.

East L.A.’s Julian Ramirez stopped Mexico City’s Javier Damian at 2:26 of round one of a featherweight bout. It was both fighter’s debut.

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