Featured Articles
Media Day in Rancho Cucamonga Andre Ward, La Bomba & Others

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIF.-A virtual gathering of clans loped into a boxing gym in Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday to meet the press before the fight card led by undefeated super middleweight Andre “S.O.G.” Ward.
Ward fights Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez on Saturday Nov. 16, in defense of the WBA super middleweight title and to maintain status as one of the top prizefighters pound for pound. The Oakland boxer walked into Warzone Boxing Club along with other members of the fight card. HBO will televise the main event.
The fight card takes place at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif.
Along with the media many interested fans arrived to see their favorite boxers. Among the boxers who joined the media day were Oscar and Javier Molina, Charles Huerta, Sergio Mora, Juan Funez, Jonathan Arrellano, John Molina and of course Ward and Rodriguez. All are ready to enter the ring.
“I can’t call it an undercard because the fights are so good,” said Dan Goossen, president of Goossen-Tutor Promotions. “We have a great collection of fights.”
Mora, who is known as “The Latin Snake,” is a former junior middleweight world champion, now a full-fledged middleweight. The East L.A. prizefighter with uncanny boxing skills has dared call out the middleweight champions Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin. He’s paired against a dangerous Colombian knockout artist named Milton Nunez.
“We had two other fighters I was scheduled to fight but HBO said no. They want me to fight someone dangerous,” said Mora jokingly about Nunez who has 24 Kos in 28 wins. “I guess they’re hoping they can get someone to knock me out. It’s not gonna happen.”
Mora showed up at the boxing gym to talk to reporters and meet some of the other fighters. He then returned to East L.A. to prepare for his upcoming fight.
One other compelling fight is the junior lightweight showdown between Ontario’s Arrellano (13-2-2) and Paramount’s Huerta (18-3).
“We fought each other as amateurs,” said Huerta, 27. “He’s a slick fighter who moves well. I’m at the point of my career where every fight I have to make a statement.”
Arrellano remembers the amateur fight with Huerta and expects more.
“It’s a very interesting fight. Losing is never in my mind,” said Arrellano, who will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd. “I’ve always dreamed of fighting at the Citizens Bank Arena.”
Molina returns after an amazing last round knockout win against Mickey Bey Jr. in Las Vegas.
“I knew going into the fight against Floyd Mayweather’s fighter that I had to knock him out. The judges weren’t going to give me anything against a house fighter,” said Molina, who was accurate in his assessment because all three judges had Bey far ahead on their score cards last July. “We knew before the fight I had to win by knockout. I wasn’t planning to win a decision.”
Molina faces a fighter whose last name is Pimentel. But he has his sights focused on Omar Figueroa or Yuri Gamboa.
“In the grand scheme things happen for a reason,” Molina said.
Later in the day Rodriguez arrived and still later Ward. Each had his time in front of the microphones and video cameras.
The press conference takes place Thursday at Citizens Business Bank Arena’s Atrium Lobby at 11:30 a.m. It’s open to the public.
Featured Articles
Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.
Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.
It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.
Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.
Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.
Bustillo Wins Rematch
In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.
Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.
Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.
After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.
Other Bouts
In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.
A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).
Photos credit: Al Applerose
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.
SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.
It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.
Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.
Co-Feature
In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.
Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.
Other Bouts of Note
The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.
The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.
In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.
Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.
In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.
In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.
Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”
He meant it as a rhetorical question.
Semi-Windup
Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.
A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.
Also
Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.
In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.
The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles2 weeks ago
Christian Mbilli Demolishes Demond Nicholson to Inch Closer to a Title Shot
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Oleksandr Usyk Recovers from a Wicked Body Punch to KO Daniel Dubois
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Results from Manchester where Chris Eubank Jr Avenged a KO Loss in a Dominant Fashion
-
Featured Articles1 day ago
Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective, Chap. 250: Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr II in Manchester
-
Featured Articles2 weeks ago
Derby’s Sandy Ryan Poised to Unify the Welterweight Title in Her U.S. Debut
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
A Conversation With Award-Winning Boxing Writer Lance Pugmire
-
Featured Articles1 week ago
William Zepeda Wins by KO; Yokasta Valle Wins Too at Commerce Casino