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L.A. Sports Arena Hosts Brian Viloria, Chocolatito & Mexican Tyson
“Chocolatito,” shot by Al Applerose
Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez brings his WBA junior flyweight world title and fighting talents to Southern California once again.
Expect plenty of blue and white flags in the audience and most of the Nicaraguan population based in the Southland this weekend.
The undefeated Gonzalez (33-0, 28 KOs) risks his record, world title and the adulation of millions when he faces Mexico’s Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada (22-1, 18 KOs) at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The title match takes place Saturday, Nov. 17.
Gonzalez, 25, last appeared in Southern California when he faced another Mexican, Ramon Hirales, in the city of Pomona. The Managua prizefighter exhibited a careful and scientific approach, then exploded on the contender with some ferocious combinations that ended the fight in four rounds.
Not since the great Ricardo “Finito” Lopez has junior flyweight boxing seen that blend of boxing and power like “Chocolatito” seems to possess.
“El Gallo” Estrada has never faced a fighter the caliber of Gonzalez, but you never know in the sport of boxing. It only takes one punch to hit a homer.
In the co-main event “Mexican Killer” Brian Viloria (31-3, 18 KOs) defends the WBO flyweight world title against Mexico’s muscular Hernan “Tyson” Marquez (34-2, 25 KOs), the owner of the WBA flyweight title.
Viloria avenged two defeats by knocking out Mexico’s Omar Nino last April in the Philippines. Before that, he blew out Mexico’s Giovanni Segura about a year ago. Thus, some have taken to calling him the dispenser of Mexican boxers.
Marquez, 24, has suffered defeats against Filipino boxers before. But losing to Nonito Donaire, who has since conquered three more weight divisions, is not what anyone would call an embarrassing loss. However, once more the southpaw slugger faces a strong Filipino who can match his strength.
It’s a pretty interesting match between 112-pounders world titleholders.
Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com and the fight can be viewed on Wealth TV.
Other fight chatter
San Bernardino’s Artemio Reyes Jr. (17-2, 13 KOs) fights Mexico’s Pipino Cuevas Jr. (16-8, 14 KOs) in the welterweight co-main event on Friday, Nov. 16, at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. In the other major fight Christopher Martin (24-2-3, 7 KOs) fights Robert Guillen (6-9-3) of Texas. Other fighters set to perform are Javier Torres, Derrick “Whoop Dat Ass” Murray, Joshua Conley and Isaac Zarate among others. For more information call (714) 935-0900.
UCLA meets USC in an amateur boxing showdown on Friday Nov. 16, at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown L.A at 431 W. 7th Street. It’s a black tie (optional) event that also features teams from West Point, St. Mary’s College, Texas Southern and University of San Francisco. First bell is at 7:30 p.m. For more information call (213) 630-5255.
All Star Boxing presents a boxing and Muy Thai card at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday Nov. 17. The main event features Anatoliy Dudchenko (16-2, 11 KOs) against Tyrell Hendrix (9-1-2, 3 KOs) in a light heavyweight clash. A number of other pro bouts will be staged at the colorful hotel beginning at 7:30 p.m. For more information call (323) 816-6200.
Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KOs) defends the WBC lightweight world title against undefeated former junior lightweight world titleholder Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KOs) who is moving up in weight for this fight. Also, undefeated heavyweight Seth Mitchell (25-0-1, 19 KOs) fights Johnathon Banks (28-1-1, 18 KOs) in a 12 round bout at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. HBO will televise.
Boxing great Carmen Basilio died Wednesday, Nov. 7 at age 85 in Canastota, New York. The former welterweight and middleweight world champion defeated Sugar Ray Robinson, Art Aragon and Johnny Saxton during the 1950s in his Hall of Fame career. He was a fearless and bruising fighter who engaged in some of the bloodiest battles in boxing history.
WBC female junior middleweight titleholder Mia St. John (47-12-2, 18 KOs) lost the world title to Tiffany Junot (10-3-1) by unanimous decision on Saturday, Nov. 10 in Bakersfield, Calif. St. John was making the first title defense since defeating Christy Martin this past summer.
Andrzej Fonfara (22-2, 12 KOs) meets Tommy Karpency (21-3-1, 14 KOs) in a light heavyweight battle for the vacant IBO world title on Friday, Nov. 16. The title match takes place at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill.
WBC female lightweight titlist Erica Farias (14-0, 8 KOS) of Argentina defends her belt against Maria Maderna (8-8-3), who is also from Argentina. The match takes place on Saturday Nov. 17, in Buenos Aires.
England’s Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KOs) defends the IBF super middleweight world title against Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KOs) of the U.S.A. on Saturday Nov. 17. The world title match will be held in Nottingham, England.
Roberto Garcia (31-3, 21 KOs) meets Inocente Fiz (15-0, 9 KOs) for the number one spot on the WBA junior middleweight rankings. The fight is set for Saturday Nov. 17, at the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After 11 years away former welterweight world champion James Page (25-4, 19 KOs) returns to the boxing ring and meets Rahman Yusubov (8-9) in the main event in Sacramento on Saturday Nov. 17. Page, 41, last fought on February 2001 and lost the WBA title to Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis in Las Vegas.
Chris Algieri (15-0, 7 KOs) meets Daniel Sostre (11-7-1, 4 KOs) in the welterweight main event at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, New York. Algieri trains in California and New York. The fight will be Saturday Nov. 17.
Former lightweight champion Humberto Soto (59-8-2) defeated Jose Lopez (17-3-1) by unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBF welterweight title on Saturday Nov. 10. Also, Jessica Chavez (16-3-2) defeated Kanittha Kokietgym (17-5) after 10 rounds of a junior flyweight bout in Mexico City.
Former Olympian Gary Russell Jr. knocked out Mexico’s Roberto Castaneda (20-3-1, 15 KOs) at 1:25 of round three in a featherweight match at Fantasy Springs Casino on Friday. Also, former 2012 Olympians Marcus Browne, Terrell Gausha, Errol Spence, Rau’Shee Warren and Dominic Breazeale won their pro debuts. Junior middleweight prospect Daquan Arnett (9-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Jeremiah Wiggins (10-1-1, 5 KOs) at 1:59 of round four.
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Boxing Trainer Bob Santos Paid his Dues and is Reaping the Rewards
Bob Santos, the 2022 Sports Illustrated and The Ring magazine Trainer of the Year, is a busy fellow. On Feb. 1, fighters under his tutelage will open and close the show on the four-bout main portion of the Prime Video PPV event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Jeison Rosario continues his comeback in the lid-lifter, opposing Jesus Ramos. In the finale, former Cuban amateur standout David Morrell will attempt to saddle David Benavidez with his first defeat. Both combatants in the main event have been chasing 168-pound kingpin Canelo Alvarez, but this bout will be contested for a piece of the light heavyweight title.
When the show is over, Santos will barely have time to exhale. Before the month is over, one will likely find him working the corner of Dainier Pero, Brian Mendoza, Elijah Garcia, and perhaps others.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) turned 28 last month. He is in the prime of his career. However, a lot of folk rate Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) a very live dog. At last look, Benavidez was a consensus 7/4 (minus-175) favorite, a price that betokens a very competitive fight.
Bob Santos, needless to say, is confident that his guy can upset the odds. “I have worked with both,” he says. “It’s a tough fight for David Morrell, but he has more ways to victory because he’s less one-dimensional. He can go forward or fight going back and his foot speed is superior.”
Benavidez’s big edge, in the eyes of many, is his greater experience. He captured the vacant WBC 168-pound title at age 20, becoming the youngest super middleweight champion in history. As a pro, Benavidez has answered the bell for 148 rounds compared with only 54 for Morrell, but Bob Santos thinks this angle is largely irrelevant.
“Sure, I’d rather have pro experience than amateur experience,” he says, “but if you look at Benavidez’s record, he fought a lot of soft opponents when he was climbing the ladder.”
True. Benavidez, who turned pro at age 16, had his first seven fights in Mexico against a motley assortment of opponents. His first bout on U.S. soil occurred in his native Pheonix against an opponent with a 1-6-2 record.
While it’s certainly true that Morrell, 26, has yet to fight an opponent the caliber of Caleb Plant, he took up boxing at roughly the same tender age as Benavidez and earned his spurs in the vaunted Cuban amateur system, eventually defeating elite amateurs in international tournaments.
“If you look at his [pro] record, you will notice that [Morrell] has hardly lost a round,” says Santos of the fighter who captured an interim title in only his third professional bout with a 12-round decision over Guyanese veteran Lennox Allen.
Bob Santos is something of a late bloomer. He was around boxing for a long time, assisting such notables as Joe Goossen, Emanuel Steward, and Ronnie Shields before becoming recognized as one of the sport’s top trainers.
A native of San Jose, he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood but not in a household where Spanish was spoken. “I know enough now to get by,” he says modestly. He attended James Lick High School whose most famous alumnus is Heisman winning and Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett. “We worked in the same apricot orchard when we were kids,” says Santos. “Not at the same time, but in the same field.”
After graduation, he followed his father’s footsteps into construction work, but boxing was always beckoning. A cousin, the late Luis Molina, represented the U.S. as a lightweight in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, and was good enough as a pro to appear in a main event at Madison Square Garden where he lost a narrow decision to the notorious Puerto Rican hothead Frankie Narvaez, a future world title challenger.
Santos’ cousin was a big draw in San Jose in an era when the San Jose / Sacramento territory was the bailiwick of Don Chargin. “Don was a beautiful man and his wife Lorraine was even nicer,” says Santos of the husband/wife promotion team who are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Don Chargin was inducted in 2001 and Lorraine posthumously in 2018.
Chargin promoted Fresno-based featherweight Hector Lizarraga who captured the IBF title in 1997. Lizarraga turned his career around after a 5-7-3 start when he hooked up with San Jose gym operator Miguel Jara. It was one of the most successful reclamation projects in boxing history and Bob Santos played a part in it.
Bob hopes to accomplish the same turnaround with Jeison Rosario whose career was on the skids when Santos got involved. In his most recent start, Rosario held heavily favored Jarrett Hurd to a draw in a battle between former IBF 154-pound champions on a ProBox card in Florida.
“I consider that one of my greatest achievements,” says Santos, noting that Rosario was stopped four times and effectively out of action for two years before resuming his career and is now on the cusp of earning another title shot.
The boxer with whom Santos is most closely identified is former four-division world title-holder Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. The slick southpaw, the pride of Gilroy, California, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World,” retired following a bad loss to Omar Figueroa Jr, but had second thoughts and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak. “I’ve known him since he was 15 years old,” notes Santos.
Years from now, Santos may be more closely identified with the Pero brothers, Dainier and Lenier, who aspire to be the Cuban-American version of the Klitschko brothers.
Santos describes Dainier, one of the youngest members of Cuba’s Olympic Team in Tokyo, as a bigger version of Oleksandr Usyk. That may be stretching it, but Dainier (10-0, 8 KOs as a pro), certainly hits harder.
This reporter was a fly on the wall as Santos put Dainier Pero through his paces on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at Bones Adams gym in Las Vegas. Santos held tight to a punch shield, in the boxing vernacular a donut, as the Cuban practiced his punches. On several occasions the trainer was knocked off-balance and the expression on his face as his body absorbed some of the after-shocks, plainly said, “My goodness, what the hell am I doing here? There has to be an easier way to make a living.” It was an assignment that Santos would have undoubtedly preferred handing off to his young assistant, his son Joe Santos, but Joe was preoccupied coordinating David Morrell’s camp.
Dainer’s brother Lenier is also an ex-Olympian, and like Dainier was a super heavyweight by trade as an amateur. With an 11-0 (8 KOs) record, Lenier Pero’s pro career was on a parallel path until stalled by a managerial dispute. Lenier last fought in March of last year and Santos says he will soon join his brother in Las Vegas.
There’s little to choose between the Pero brothers, but Dainier is considered to have the bigger upside because at age 25 he is the younger sibling by seven years.
Bob Santos was in the running again this year for The Ring magazine’s Trainer of the Year, one of six nominees for the honor that was bestowed upon his good friend Robert Garcia. Considering the way that Santos’ career is going, it’s a safe bet that he will be showered with many more accolades in the years to come.
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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.
Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.
There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).
This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.
This was a huge upset.
Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.
Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.
Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.
The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.
At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.
“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.
Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.
Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.
Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.
By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.
A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.
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Jai Opetaia Brutally KOs David Nyika, Cementing his Status as the World’s Top Cruiserweight
In his fifth title defense, lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) successfully defended his belt with a brutal fourth-round stoppage of former sparring partner David Nyika. The bout was contested in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia where Opetaia won the IBF title in 2022 with a hard-earned decision over Maris Briedis with Nyika on the undercard. Both fighters reside in the general area although Nyika, a former Olympic bronze medalist, hails from New Zealand.
The six-foot-six Nyika, who was undefeated in 10 pro fights with nine KOs, wasn’t afraid to mix it up with Opetaia although had never fought beyond five rounds and took the fight on three weeks’ notice when obscure German campaigner Huseyin Cinkara suffered an ankle injury in training and had to pull out. He wobbled Opetaia in the second round in a fight that was an entertaining slugfest for as long as it lasted.
In round four, the champion but Nyika on the canvas with his patented right uppercut and then finished matters moments later with a combination climaxed with an explosive left hand. Nyika was unconscious before he hit the mat.
Opetaia’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants Opetaia to unify the title and then pursue a match with Oleksandr Usyk. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, holds the WBA and WBO versions of the title and is expected to be Opetaia’s next opponent. The WBC diadem is in the hands of grizzled Badou Jack.
Other Fights of Note
Brisbane heavyweight Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) wacked out overmatched South African import Shaun Potgieter (10-2), ending the contest at the 33-second mark of the second round. The 25-year-old, six-foot-four Huni turned pro in 2020 after losing a 3-round decision to two-time Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov. There’s talk of matching him with England’s 20-year-old sensation Moses Itauma which would be a delicious pairing.
Eddie Hearn’s newest signee Teremoana Junior won his match even quicker, needing less than a minute to dismiss Osasu Otobo, a German heavyweight of Nigerian descent.
The six-foot-six Teremoana, who akin to Huni hails from Brisbane and turned pro after losing to the formidable Jalolov, has won all six of his pro fights by knockout while answering the bell for only eight rounds. He has an interesting lineage; his father is from the Cook Islands.
Rising 20-year-old Max “Money” McIntyre, a six-foot-three super middleweight, scored three knockdowns en route to a sixth-round stoppage of Abdulselam Saman, advancing his record to 7-0 (6 KOs). As one can surmise, McIntyre is a big fan of Floyd Mayweather.
The Opetaia-Nyika fight card aired on DAZN pay-per-view (39.99) in the Antipodes and just plain DAZN elsewhere.
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