Football Heavyweight Stars Breazeale, Washington and De La Hoya Win

Heavyweights dominated the fight card with Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale leading the way with a decision win over heavyweight veteran Nagy Aguilera on Thursday.

Breazeale put a beating on Aguilera but couldn’t add another knockout to his record, in front of the fans at Fantasy Springs Casino. Most of the other heavyweights scored knockouts on the Golden Boy Promotion card called “Night of the Heavyweights.”

Despite losing his knockout string, Breazeale (10-0, 9 Kos) showed improvement against Aguilera (19-8, 13 Kos). It was a pretty decent heavyweight fight that former heavyweight great Gerry Cooney got to see. During Cooney’s days he was a giant of a heavyweight. Today that’s the norm.

“Poco a poco he’s learning,” said trainer John Bray. “He graduated today to another step.”

Breazeale used his jab to establish a proper hitting distance in the first round. Aguilera was content to allow the bigger man to fire away as he measured the distance himself. Body shots seemed to affect Aguilera, who countered with some stiff jabs.

Aguilera was having a good second round by pinning Breazeale against the ropes until he was caught with an overhand right hand from the bigger man. Breazeale then fired about a dozen punches up and down Aguilera’s body until the bell ended the round.

It was clear that Aguilera had better moments when he trapped Breazeale against the ropes. But once the taller heavyweight commanded the center of the ring he was able to blast away at the rather squat fighter. Several times Breazeale hurt Aguilera but the New York City boxer, now training in Texas, survived every tough encounter. All three judges scored it for Breazeale 79-73 twice and 80-72.

“It was the three and four punch combinations that won the fight for me,” said Breazeale, a former football quarterback in college. “We’ve been working on that for weeks.”

Other heavyweights

Former Cuban star Luis Ortiz (21-0, 18 Kos) needed one punch to knock out Monte Barrett (35-11-2, 20 Kos) at 38 seconds of round four for the win. Both heavyweights were looking for the knockout from the opening bell. But a single left to the nose crushed Barrett, who quickly grabbed his face and went down. After the fight was stopped Barrett looked fine but he must have felt like his face had caved in.

In the other heavyweight fight featuring a former football star, Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington (12-0, 9 Kos) fired a six punch combination to knock down Skipp Scott (16-2, 10 Kos) at 1:40 of round two. Houston’s Scott could not beat the count. Washington is a former defensive lineman for USC. After the fight the corner for Scott argued with the CSAC inspectors and officials about their fighter getting hit while on the ground. They were demanding a rematch.

De La Hoya

Diego “Golden Kid” De La Hoya (4-0, 3 Kos), the young cousin of former boxing super star Oscar De La Hoya, dominated his six-round battle against Puerto Rico’s Jaxel Marrero (1-2-1). The quick-fisted De La Hoya knocked down Marrero with the first punch he connected with in the first round. But after that, the Puerto Rican resorted to survival tactics by moving away after every De La Hoya attack. All three judges scored every round for De la Hoya. The win by decision snapped the knockout string for the youngster, but it was clear the Puerto Rican boxer was not trying to win. He merely wanted to stay on his feet.

Others

Lancaster’s Kevin Watts (5-0, 2 Kos) took a lot of solid blows from L.A.’s Joaquin Chavez (6-12-3) but managed to win the six-round junior welterweight fight. Two judges did not give Chavez a single round but it was clear he scored the cleaner blows in at least two rounds, maybe three. In two rounds Watts could not land a clean blow. The scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56 for Watts, who is signed with Al Haymon.

Ex US Olympian (2012) Michael Hunter (4-0) defeated Rodney Hernandez (5-2) by unanimous decision after six rounds of a heavyweight contest. Hunter had the quicker hands and was skilled but not enough power to take advantage. Hernandez had his moments but not enough. The scores were 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 for Hunter.

Santiago Guevara (7-0, 3 Kos) powered his way through San Diego’s stubborn Erik Aguirre (2-4-1) to win by unanimous decision in a junior welterweight bout. Guevara switched from southpaw to orthodox and was able to snap Aguirre’s head back repeatedly for the win.

Palm Desert’s Neeco Macias (4-0) smiled his way to victory over Pasadena’s Elliott Seymour in a junior middleweight match. Macias has a penchant for smiling throughout the fight and did so for four rounds. All three judges scored it for Macias.

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