THE STERN VIEW: Fightnight Reports From FS1 Cali Card

Published

11 years ago

August 25, 2014

Joel Stern

On Friday night August 22^nd, a sold out crowd of close to 1200 filled the Allan Witt Sports Center in Fairfield, CA and watched junior featherweight prospect Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila and heavyweight prospect Gerald Washington emerge victorious on a FOX Sports 1 televised card presented by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Production and Paco Presents.

Fighting in his hometown, Manuel Avila, 16(7)-0, shined and displayed a rising confidence befitting a boxer turning into one of the top prospects of his division.

Gerald Washington’s struggle with veteran Nagy Aguilera, 19(13)-9, left questions of his ability to advance to the elite level.

Fairfield’s Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila entered the ring in bright white attire and to the crowd’s refrain of “Tino’s House.” Bouncing on his toes awaiting the signal from the TV broadcast that the fight could begin, Avila’s face was frozen in concentration. Sitting on a chair outside of the ring was his trainer, Al LaGardo. LaGardo has trained Avila since he was an amateur. Health issues prevent LaGardo from entering the ring, but he relays his instructions to his assistant coaches, all of whom hail from the Vacaville PAL, which Al runs with an iron fist. LaGardo can be seen at amateur shows operating the same way, often warming up elementary school age boxers while sitting in a chair using his hands as punch mitts.

Avila normally begins a fight sitting back, getting a read on his opponent and looking to counter. This night, Avila stalked his opponent, Sergio Frias, 15(8)-4-2, of Guadalajara, Mex, from the start. Working behind a sharp, fast jab, and showing Frias no respect, Avila was seeking to destroy. Avila dropped Frias with left hook and then dropped him a second time with a series of right cross, left hooks. Tino looked to finish off Frias in the final 10 seconds of the first, throwing a lot of punches and injuring his left hand in the process.

Frias collected his wits well in between rounds and began the 2^nd looking to fight his fight, but Avila was just superior. From the 2^nd through 4^th round, Avila controlled the fight with his crisp jab and his counters, favoring either a 2-3 or a 3-2 thrown tight, quick and compact. Somewhere in the 4^th Avila injured his right hand. From the 5^th through 7^th, Avila changed tactics and let Frias chase him around the ring, stinging Frias with his jab while mostly working defense.

Worn down from the early punishment, the energy expended chasing Avila and the damage from repeatedly eating a hard jab on the chin all night, Frias began the 8^th with no choice but to go for it. After opening up on Avila early in the round, Frias stumbled after getting hit a jab. Sensing Frias had nothing left, Avila drove Frias to the ropes with a flurry and put him down with a digging left hook with the body. Frias’ corner threw in the white towel just as the referee called off the fight.

With this fight, Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila may have entered a new phase of his career. He is no longer a young fighter transitioning from amateur boxing to professional. At 22 years of age, he is now a professional with full confidence in his abilities and operating under the realization that he can and should, even if injured, dispatch lesser men. Avila is ready to climb.

The supporters of heavyweight Gerald Washington, 14(10)-0, wear shirts with “Champion on the Rise” emblazoned on the back. A former USC Trojan football player and fringe NFL tight end, Washington is looking to buck the trend of former football players who turn out to be failed heavyweights. Having boxed as a youth and with backing from Al Haymon, maybe Gerald Washington will be different. After his anemic eight round unanimous decision victory over Nagy Aguilera, Gerald Washington has much more work to do if he plans on reaching his goals.

Washington is a good athlete who utilized decent footwork to evade Aguilera’s constant pressure, but he pushes his punches instead of snapping them, has issues with activity and stamina, and brings his jab hand back to his waist each time he throws. His constant circling off brought catcalls and boos from the crowd. Nagy Aguilera was correct in his prediction that he would have to knock Washington out in order to get a victory.

The television star of the night was Manuel Avila. The actual stars of the actual event, held in a building that functions as a community center, were the members of the local Northern California boxing community, who were given the opportunity to celebrate themselves.

Ricardo Carrillo, a garbage truck driver, who has spent almost every day after work for over 20 years running the Woodland Boxing Club, who has taught thousands of kids their first punch, and who has trained an Olympian, gets to work the glove table, don a sports coat and catch a glimpse of himself in the ring on national television. Local professional boxers not fighting that night get to be guests of honor, walk tall, see the young men who they spar with compete, talk to each other about their next fight or the frustration of finding a next fight, and talk about their careers with the few people who have witnessed them and care about their journeys. In the ring, at the conclusion of each bout, promoter Paco Damian, in charge of the nuts and bolts of the promotion under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Don Chargin, can be seen expressing his authenticate appreciation to each of the boxers, from the main event fighter to the four round boxers who will never progress beyond a few fights at these local shows.

And the fans themselves starred. Most of the crowd was young and minority, coming from communities where boxing still matters, wearing shirts in support of the boxer from their neighborhood, their boxing gym or their family. ‘Team Rhino’, ‘Kennel Boxing Club’, ‘Gallo Negro’, ‘Tino’, ‘Team Robb’, ‘No Luck, All Hustle’ all represented. For each fight, there was a sizeable group emotionally invested in the result. There were very few pure spectators.

After winning his fight, dressed in his street clothes, looking younger than his age, 20 year-old boxer Chris Bautista climbed up the bleachers and quietly and respectfully shook the hands of each of the elders that came to see him. He then departed with his friends.

In other action, Sacramento junior lightweight Guy Robb, 14(6)-1, bolstered his reputation as one of the most exciting fighters in Northern California after he knocked out previously undefeated Ronell Green, 10(5)-1, in the 3^rd round. Robb made Green pay for his bad habit of bending at the waist. When Green bent over, Robb pounded the sides of his body, waiting for Green to raise his head. Green raised his head and Robb was ready with short right hand followed by a left hook that robbed Green of his consciousness.

San Jose, CA lightweight Andy Vences, 9(5)-0, defeated Cesar Martinez, 4(1)-3-2, when the ringside physician stopped the bout after the 2^nd due to cuts in Martinez’s mouth. Martinez, who was dropped once in the fight, appeared fit to fight and was visible upset by the doctor’s call. Vences has the ability to fight as a pure boxer, but he loves to exchange. His identity as a pro has yet to be established.

Los Angeles featherweight Manny Robles, Jr., 6(2)-0, boxed with the poise and technique one would expect from a boxer with a father who trains elite amateurs. Mexico’s Sergio Najera, 8-15-2, gave Robles multiple looks and was slippery enough to force Robles to work hard in earning a 60-54 unanimous decision.

Vacaville, CA cruiserweight Ryan Bourland went to 4(3)-0 after stopping San Francisco’s Philip Smith, 0-1, in the 2^nd round. There are plenty of professional boxing matches that are mismatches or that are fought at a basic level, but rarely do you see a fight where you immediately know that one of the boxers has no business being in the ring and your concern turns from reporting on the action to concern for the participant’s health and safety. This was such a fight. Philip Smith has no business being in a ring. The referee thankfully stopped the action in the 2^nd, not because any particular punch rendered Smith helpless, but because he was helpless and in danger of being seriously injured by Ryan Bourland, a professional boxer.

Middleweight Maurico Zavaleta, 1-2, lost to William Walters, 2-3, in a fight Zavaleta was well in control after the ringside physician stopped the fight due to a cut in his mouth.

Junior middleweights Joe Siapano, 0-1-1, and Jesus Sanchez, 1-0-1, fought to a majority draw in a rematch of their professional debuts.

Chris Bautista, 3-0, earned a four round unanimous decision over Percy Peterson, 0-4-1, who didn’t appear interested in engaging after suffering a bruising and competitive defeat just three weeks before.

All in all, if you knew nothing else, walking into arena that night, you would think boxing was doing just fine.

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Joel Stern

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

Published

3 days ago

March 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

March 7 was an unusually heavy Friday for professional boxing. The show that warranted the most ink was the all-female card in London, a tour-de-force for the super-talented Lauren Price, but there were important fights on other continents.

Brighton

Michael Conlan, who sat out all of 2024 on the heels of being stopped in three of his previous five, returned to the ring in the British seaside resort city of Brighton in a shake-off-the-rust, 8-rounder against Asad Asif Khan, a 31-year-old Indian from Calcutta making his first appearance in a British ring.

Conlan, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who famously signed with Top Rank coming out of the amateur ranks, is now 33 years old. Against Khan, he was far from impressive, but did enough to win by a 78-74 score and lock in a match with Spain’s Cristobal Lorente, the European featherweight champion.

Conlan, who improved to 19-3 (9), absorbed a lot of punishment in those three matches that he lost. With his deep amateur background, Michael has a lot of mileage on him and he would have been smart to call it quits after his embarrassingly one-sided defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez. His frayed reflexes speak to something more than ring rust. Heading in, Khan brought a 19-5-1 record but had scored only five wins inside the distance.

Conlan vs Khan was the co-feature. In the main event, Brighton welterweight Harlem Eubank, the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr, improved to 21-0 (9 KOs) with a dominant performance over Conlan’s Belfast homie Tyrone McKenna. Eubank was credited with three knockdowns, all the result of body punches, before referee John Latham had seen enough and pulled the plug at the 2:09 mark of round 10. It was the fourth loss in his last six outings for the 35-year-old McKenna (24-6-1).

Harlem Eubank wants to fight Conor Benn next and says he is willing to wait until after his cousin “wipes Benn out.” Chris Eubank Jr vs Benn is slated for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The North London facility, which has a retractable roof, is the third-largest soccer stadium in England.

Toronto

Local fan favorite Lucas Bahdi and his stablemate Sara Bailey were the headliners on last night’s card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto. The event marked the first incursion of Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions into Canada.

Bahdi, who is from Niagara Falls but trains in Toronto, burst out of obscurity in July of last year in Tampa, Florida, with a spectacular one-punch knockout of heavily-hyped Ashton “H2O” Sylva. His next fight, on the undercard of Jake Paul’s match with Mike Tyson, was less “noisy” and the same could be said of his homecoming fight with Ryan James Racaza, an undefeated (15-0) but obscure southpaw from the Philippines who was making his North American debut.

Bahdi vs Racaza was a technical fight that didn’t warm up until Bahdi produced a knockdown in round seven with a sweeping left hook, a glancing blow that appeared to land behind Racaza’s ear. The Filipino was up in a jiff, looking at the referee as if to say, “this dude just hit me with a rabbit punch.”

The judges had it 99-90, 97-92, and 96-93 for the victorious Bahdi (19-0) who was the subject of a recent profile on these pages.

Sara Bailey, a decorated amateur who competed around the world under her maiden name Sara Haghighat Joo and now holds the WBA light flyweight title, successfully defended that trinket with a lopsided decision over Cristina Navarro (6-3), a 35-year-old Spaniard who “earned” this assignment by winning a 6-round decision over an opponent with a 1-4-3 record. The judges scored the monotonous fight 99-91 across the board for Bailey who improved to 6-0 and then returned to the ring to assist her husband in Lucas Bahdi’s corner.

Also

Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Angel Barrientes, a Las Vegas-based Hawaii native, delivered the best performance of the night with a one-sided beatdown of Alexander Castellano whose corner mercifully stopped the contest after the seventh round as the ring doctor stood in a neutral corner chatting with the referee.

The gritty Castellano, who hails from Tonawanda, New York, brought an 11-1-2 record and hadn’t previously been stopped. A glutton for punishment, he appeared to suffer a broken orbital bone. Barrientes improved to 13-1 (8 KOs).

The show was marred by an excessive amount of fluffy gobbledygook by the TV talking heads which slowed down the action and made the promotion almost unwatchable.

Cartago, Costa Rica

Fighting in his hometown, super flyweight David Jimenez scored a lopsided 12-round decision over Nicaragua’s Keyvin Lara. The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 116-112.

Jimenez, now 17-1, came to the fore in July of 2022 when he upset Ricardo Sandoval in Los Angeles, winning a well-earned majority decision over a 20/1 favorite riding a 16-fight winning streak. That boosted him into a title fight with the formidable Artem Dalakian who saddled him with his lone defeat.

Jimenez’s victory over Lara was his fifth since that setback. It sets up the Costa Rican for another title fight, this time against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who acquired the WBA 115-pound title in July with an upset of Kazuto Ioka in Japan. Lara, who unsuccessfully challenged Ioka for a belt in 2016, falls to 32-7-1.

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Price Conquers Jonas on an All-Female Card at Royal Albert Hall

Published

4 days ago

March 7, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Price-Conquers-Jonas-on-an-All-Female-Card-at-Royal-Albert-Hall

Ben Shalom’s BOXXER Promotions was at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall tonight with an all-female card topped by a welterweight unification fight between WBC/IBF belt-holder Natasha Jonas and WBA champion Lauren Price.

Liverpool’s Jonas, who turns 41 in June, has had a sterling career, but Father Time has caught up with her. The 30-year-old Price, an Olympic gold medalist, had faster hands, faster feet, and hit harder. The classy Jonas (16-3-1) acknowledged as much in her post-fight interview: “She beat me to the punch every time.”

The scores were 100-90, 98-92, and 98-93.

In advancing her record to 9-0 (2), Price built a strong case that she is the best fighter to come down the pike from Wales since Joe Calzaghe. As for her next bout, she hopes to fight the winner of the March 29 rematch in Las Vegas between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan. That match, with all of the meaningful welterweight hardware at stake, would be a hot ticket item if potted in Cardiff.

Semi-wind-up

Caroline Dubois staved off a late rally to successfully defend her WBC lightweight title with a majority decision over South Korea’s spunky Bo Mi Re Shin. The judges had it 98-92, 98-93, and 95-95. Although the 95-95 tally by the Korean judge was quite a stretch, Shin performed far better than the odds – Dubois was a consensus 35/1 favorite — portended.

Dubois, a 24-year-old Londoner trained by Shane McGuigan, is the sister of IBF heavyweight title-holder Daniel Dubois. Reportedly 36-3 as an amateur, she advanced her pro record to 11-0-1 (5). Heading in, Shin (18-3-3) had won nine of her previous 10 with the lone setback coming via split decision in a robust fight with Belgium’s Delfine Persoon in Belgium.

Other Bouts of Note

Kariss Artingstall returned to the ring after a 14-month absence and scored a unanimous decision over former amateur rival Raven Chapman. The scores were 98-91, 97-92, 96-93.

The prize for Artingstall, who happens to be Lauren Price’s partner, was the inaugural British female featherweight title and a potential rematch with Skye Nicolson who would relish the chance to avenge her last defeat, a loss by split decision to Attingstall in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. Nicolson, who was part of tonight’s broadcast team, defends her title later this month in Sydney against Florida’s Tiara Brown.

It was the first 10-rounder for Artingstall (7-0). Chapman (9-2) had an uphill battle after Artingstall decked her in the second round with a straight left hand.

In a mild upset, Jasmina Zopotoczna, a UK-based Pole, won a split decision over Chloe Watson, adding Watson’s European flyweight title to her own regional trinket. One of the judges favored Watson 97-93, but each of his colleagues had it 96-95 for the Pole. Although there was no great furor, the verdict was unpopular.

Zapotoczna, who fought off her back foot, improved to 9-1. It was the first pro loss for Watson who is trained by Ricky Hatton.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 316: Art of the Deal in Boxing and More

Published

5 days ago

March 6, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-316-Art-of-the-Deal-in-Boxing-and-More

So, they want to save boxing?

A group of guys with recent ties to the sport of boxing and bags of money suddenly believe they can save a sport that is older than any other sport since the dawn of mankind.

Boxing is the oldest sport.

When cavemen roamed the planet, you can believe one tribe bet another tribe their guy could whip the other guy. Thus began the sport of boxing. There was no baseball, soccer or horse racing.

Even the invention of the wheel was still a few generations away when men were duking it out with other men for sport.

Throughout history mentions of one man fighting another man without arms are written in the Tales of Ulysses and other literary references.

Boxing will never die. Period.

Here is the reason why.

Boxing requires only two men in their underwear with no weapons and no requirement of classes in jujitsu, kickboxing, wrestling or advance training facilities. You can prepare in your backyard with one heavy bag and a pair of boxing gloves. It’s simple.

MMA, on the other hand, requires money.

Boxing is for the poor. Any kid can walk into a gym and begin training. When they become adults, then they start paying to use the gym.

Don’t let people fool you and tell you “boxing is dying.”

People have been saying those same words since John L. Sullivan in the late 1800s. You can look it up.

The phrase “boxing is dying,” is said by people who want you to pay them money to save it. Kind of sounds like the guy currently sitting in the White House who is going to save America by firing Americans from their jobs and allowing Russia to take over Ukraine.

Don’t believe these people.

Boxing does not need saving.

Why would Dana White, who has stated for decades that MMA is bigger than boxing, though no MMA fighter can equal the purses of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Tyson Fury, why is he involved in boxing?

There is big money to be made in boxing, especially with internet gambling sites being allowed all over the world. And boxing is popular worldwide. MMA is not.

More people know who Canelo is than UFC’s Alex Pereira.

I respect the UFC fighters. They put in hard work and battle injuries throughout their careers. But MMA is simply not as big as boxing. The purses of MMA fighters at the top level don’t come close to boxing’s top money earners.

Why did Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and others quickly switch to boxing when called?

The money in boxing is much bigger.

Follow the money.

NYC

A rumble is planned for Times Square in New York City.

Vatos from Southern California are fighting dudes from Nevada and Brooklyn. Sounds like a script from the Gangs of New York.

Where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him?

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will meet Rollie Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in a welterweight match set for May 2, on Times Square in mid-Manhattan. This is one of three marquee bouts planned to be streamed on DAZN.

Others matched will be Arnold Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs) versus super lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), and Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) against Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in a welterweight contest.

This is the proposed match by The Ring magazine backed by Turki Alalshikh who, along with Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing, is sponsoring this fight card.

It was also announced that Alalshikh, TKO Group Holdings, and Sela are forming a promotion company.

TKO owns UFC and WWE.

SoCal Fights

Southern California will be busy with boxing cards this weekend.

This Thursday, March 6, is Golden Boy Promotions with a boxing card featuring Manny Flores (19-1, 15 KOs) versus Jorge Leyva (18-3, 13 KOs) in a super bantamweight match at Fantasy Springs Casino. DAZN will stream the boxing card from Indio, California.

On Saturday, March 8, the Fox Theater in Pomona, California hosts a boxing card featuring super middleweights Ruben Cazales (10-0) vs Adam Diu Abdulhamid (18-16). Also, super featherweights Michael Bracamontes (10-2-1) meets Eugene Lagos (16-9-3) at the historic venue promoted by House of Pain Boxing.

On Saturday March 8, Elite Boxing hosts a boxing card at Salesian High in East Los Angeles featuring East L.A. native Merari Vivar (8-0) against Sarah Click (2-8-1) and several other fights.

On Saturday, March 8, an event hosted by House of Champions features top contenders Joet Gonzalez (26-4) vs Arnold Khegai (22-1-1) in a featherweight main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, Calif.

A Big All-Female Card in London

On Friday, March 7, the historic Royal Albert Hall in the Kensington borough of London will host an all-female card with two world title fights including a unification fight in the welterweight division.

Natasha Jonas (16-2-1) and Lauren Price (8-0) meet 10 rounds for the IBF, WBC, and WBA belts.

Jonas, 40, the current WBC and IBF titlist, recently defeated Ivana Habazin and before that edged past Mikaela Mayer in a win that could have gone the other way very easily. She will be facing Price, an Olympic gold medalist and current WBA and IBO titlist.

Price, 30, hails from Wales and has an aggressive pressure style that saw her win a battle between punchers with a third-round knockout of Colombia’s Bexcy Mateus this past December in Liverpool. Before that she defeated the always tough Jessica McCaskill.

In the co-main event, lightweights Caroline Dubois (10-0-1) and Bo Mi Re Shin (18-2-3) meet for the WBC world title.

Me Re Shin, 30, fights out of South Korea and has knockout power. She was one of only two fighters to stop Venezuela’s Ana Maria Lozano who has 38 pro fights. That says something. She lost a split decision to Delfine Persoon in Belgium. That really says something.

Dubois had two competitive fights, first, against Jessica Camara that ended in a technical draw due to a clash of heads. Before that she defeated Maira Moneo. Dubois has very good talent and is still young at 24. Is she ready for Mi Re Shin?

Times Square photo credit: JP Yim

Fights to watch:

Thurs., March 6: DAZN, Manny Flores (19-1) vs. Jorge Leyva (18-3)

Fri., March 7: free on DAZN, Lucas Bahdi (18-0) vs. Ryan James Racaza (15-0)

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