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Abe Lopez Wins Mexican-Puerto Rican War With Jorge Diaz in L.A.

Published

8 years ago

August 7, 2015

It was a Mexican-Puerto Rican war between undefeated Abe Lopez and Boricua Jorge Diaz and fun while it lasted. Lopez got the technical knockout win but Diaz showed heart on Thursday.

Before a sold out crowd at Belasco Theater featherweight contender Lopez (19-0-1, 14 Kos) showed why he’s undefeated but New Jersey’s Diaz (18-4-1, 10 Kos) made him earn it each and every round. The crowd was pleased by the mini war.

“I thought Diaz was a tough fighter. He took a lot of punishment from me and that was the plan from the beginning, to put on a lot of pressure,” said La Puente, Calif.’s Lopez. “I was looking for the knockout but he was very resilient.”

Lopez emerged in the first round like gangbusters as Diaz opened up too. After several robust exchanges down went Diaz from a short right hand. Apparently his right knee touched the canvas and referee Jack Reiss ruled it a knockdown.

In the second round a stiff left jab and left hook seemed to stagger Diaz and it looked like it might be a short fight. No such thing. The Puerto Rican fighter simply gritted his teeth and the war was resumed.

“I went in there confident. In the first round, I tried to maintain my distance, focusing on jabbing. As the rounds evolved, his strength was a bit overwhelming,” said Diaz of New Brunswick. “I tried to land punches but he caught them and was hurting me with his shots. That skinny guy is strong.”

Lopez was landing flush combinations repeatedly but nothing seemed to faze Diaz. He kept moving around circling slowly and attacking suddenly. He wasn’t there to survive, he was there to win.

Diaz landed big punches and took big punches and though Lopez seemed the bigger and stronger fighter, it simply wasn’t an easy fight for the undefeated Lopez. In round seven Diaz had his best round and connected with a pretty right uppercut/left hook that was pretty to see. Lopez didn’t blink. But Diaz won that round.

It must have awakened Lopez because in the eighth round he erupted from his corner and unleashed several barrages to the head and body. In round nine he repeated the attack and at the completion of the round Diaz’s corner stopped the fight. Lopez was declared the winner by technical knockout.

“It was very exciting. I felt very emotional that I was fighting in my backyard for all my friends and family,” Lopez said.

Tapia

In the semi-main event East L.A.’s Roy Tapia (11-0-2, 6 Kos) walked through Tijuana’s Juan Luis Hernandez (18-6-1, 9 Kos) and loaded up with his punches from the first round. By the second round it was apparent that Tapia was not looking to win by decision but he was telegraphing his punches. He cut down on the length of his punches and caught Hernandez with a double right cross. The first one missed but the second connected solidly and down went Hernandez. In the third round a Tapia counter left hook staggered Hernandez who tried punching to the groin to no avail. Tapia caught the Tijuana fighter perfectly with a left hook and down went Hernandez for good at 1:49 of round three.

Other bouts

San Antonio’s Hector Tanahara (1-0) stopped southpaw Thomas De Leon (0-3) at 1:14 of the first round. De Leon had a weird stance and seemed to trip repeatedly over the right-handed Tanahara’s left every time they came close. A right hand delivered from distance floored De Leon. He beat the count and was met with a lead right cross that slammed into his forehead. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the first round.

East L.A.’s Jonathan Navarro (1-0) blasted out Andrew Gomez (0-2) of Galveston, Texas in one round. A sizzling combination followed by a left floored the smaller Gomez. He got up and was met with a right anchor punch that left him immobilized. Navarro showed speed and way too much power for Gomez who was simply out-gunned in the super lightweight match. The end came at 1:03 of the first round.

Francisco Ochoa of L.A. knocked down Marquis Pierce of Newark with a three punch combination in the second round of their lightweight match. Pierce was battered by the faster and taller Ochoa and the fight ended at 30 second of the second round.

East L.A.’s Pablo Rubio (2-0, 2 Kos) had an eight-inch height advantage and used it to stop Tijuana’s muscular but diminutive Martin Regalado (0-1) at 31 seconds into round four. Rubio, a very tall super bantamweight, floored Regalado with a left-right combination in the second round. Then blew his load for the next two rounds. No matter, Rubio pounced on Regalado in the fourth round and landed the same left-right combination that forced referee Zach Young to halt the match.

San Antonio’s Joshua Franco won his pro debut against Tijuana’s Temoatzin Landeros (0-2) but it wasn’t easy. Each round was competitive with Franco showing better speed and Landeros showing some defense and bigger punches. It was Franco’s footwork and ability to land combinations that proved the difference in winning by split decision 40-36, 39-37 and 36-40 for Landeros.

“Fighting at the professional level is very different from being an amateur,” said Franco. “As the fight progressed I felt stronger and found my rhythm.”

Photos Credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions

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David A. Avila

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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