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Oscar and Golden Boy Promotions Return to the Roots

Born and raised in the streets of East Los Angeles, promoter Oscar De La Hoya knows what L.A. and Southern California love about boxing.
De La Hoya remembers the weekly shows at the Olympic Auditorium and later the Inglewood Forum and the impact both venues had in creating a thirst for boxing that still exists today for people of greater Los Angeles.
It’s the primary reason that his company Golden Boy Promotions brought back a monthly boxing series to the downtown area. The first show took place on March 2 at the Belasco Theater. It was quickly sold out.
“It was everything that I expected, it even surpassed my expectations. It was a great event and the fights were outstanding. That’s exactly what L.A. Fight Club is all about,” said De La Hoya by telephone. “That’s what we wanted to create, a series where we can showcase the local talent and build the fan base and eventually build fighters that can be on HBO.”
A similar boxing series was started by Golden Boy Promotions several years earlier at nearby Club Nokia. It proved to be an immediate success and surprised many by its popularity. It was discontinued but L.A. history showed that any time a boxing series was held in the downtown area, it met with success.
Prizefighting has a long legacy in the Los Angeles area that goes back to the early 1900s when it was illegal to hold fights in the city boundaries. Instead of giving up, pioneer boxing promoters held fight cards in make-shift arenas in neighboring cities like Burbank and the city of Vernon located just southeast of downtown L.A. Old time greats, like Sam Langford, Joe Rivers, and Willie Ritchie battled before thousands at several versions of the Vernon Arena. One of the last versions was located on Lorena Avenue.
When prizefighting was finally legalized the Olympic Auditorium was built in the late 1920s and enjoyed immediate success. Suddenly an explosion of talent emerged led by boxers such as Bert Colima, Henry Armstrong, Baby Arizmendi, Manuel Ortiz and Ike Williams. It was a golden age in boxing that seemed like it would never wane.
Weekly fight cards at the Olympic Auditorium became even bigger under Aileen Eaton and Don Chargin with an assembly line of prizefighters like Jerry Quarry, Mando Ramos, Bobby Chacon, Mando Muniz, Danny “Little Red” Lopez and Carlos Palomino headlining.
De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas and Manny Pacquiao were among the last to perform before sold out crowds at the now defunct Olympic Auditorium located on Grand Avenue. The famous arena closed in 2005 and is now a Korean church and located a mere seven city blocks from Belasco Theater.
“I was born and raised in East L.A. and I remember those days,” said De La Hoya, who fought several times in downtown L.A., where he also has his promotion headquarters. “Where we’re located we can literally walk to watch the fights.”
De La Hoya said Golden Boy Promotions has 80 fighters signed under its banner and plans to accrue more talent. The former junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight champion knows what he’s looking for and has his loyal troops looking for the next boxing gem in some local gymnasium. Whether it’s in nearby East L.A., South Central or as far away as Florida or Mexico his team has a mission to find the next Shane Mosley or Fernando Vargas. More than likely they’ll find it locally.
“We have scouts looking for the next champions. We have a great team, a loyal team and so I have no doubt in my mind that a lot of young champions will be coming out of L.A. Fight Club,” De La Hoya said.
Main Event
East L.A.’s Julian “El Camaron” Ramirez, who is managed by Joel De La Hoya, has been steadily racing to main event status with wins at Indio, Cancun, Mexico and Chicago. Now the homegrown talent will be fighting right across the river where he grew up.
On Thursday, April 2, Ramirez (13-0, 8 Kos) meets Raul Hidalgo (23-12, 17 Kos), a hard-punching super bantamweight from Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s another big test for Ramirez, this time at Belasco Theater.
“We have Julian Ramirez on the main event and an exciting card from top to bottom,” said Del Hoya, who will be attending the fight card at Belasco Theater. “Celebrities will be coming in from all over L.A.”
The first fight card on March 6 was a huge success. The venue was packed and ideal for boxing with every seat seemingly right on top of the action. It was an intimate setting and allowed fans to meet each fighter and celebrity at the fight.
A party was held after the fight card at the venue that is also home to some of the best salsa and bachata dancing in Southern California. Many fans stayed to enjoy the party atmosphere that went on far into the night.
De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions know that more than 100 boxing gyms exist in the Southern California area and in those gyms will be the next superstar. History has shown that over and over again.
“My objective is to build the next generation of L.A. champions, the next generation of California champions and we’re off to a great start,” said De La Hoya.
Belasco Theater is located at 1050 S. Hill Street in downtown L.A. For more information call (213) 746-5670.
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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.
In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.
The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.
But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.
Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.
Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.
As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.
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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.
What do they feed these guys?
Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.
From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.
It was savage.
Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.
Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.
Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.
But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.
Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.
Interim IBF Lightweight Title
The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.
Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.
Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.
Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.
There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.
Muratalla was brief.
“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”
Perla Wins
Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.
Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.
Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.
In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.
Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.
Semi-Wind-Up
Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.
This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.
Other Bouts of Note
In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.
In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.
Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.
A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry
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