Chicago’s Josh Greer Beats East L.A.’s Xavier Montelongo in L.A.

By David A. Avila

LOS ANGELES-In a cross country battle Chicago’s Josh Greer survived a knockdown in the first round to defeat East L.A.’s Xavier “The Mongoose” Montelongo on Saturday to win the California State Featherweight title.

Several Chicago fighters ventured to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown L.A. to participate on the All Star Boxing fight card. It was a long night of boxing with most of the bouts evenly matched. In attendance was singer/actor Frank Stallone of Rocky fame and David Koechner who plays the whammy guy in both Anchorman movies.

Montelongo (9-4-1) caught Greer (7-1-1) with a perfectly timed counter right that floored the Chicago fighter but did not seem to hurt him. Greer recovered quickly and rallied furiously in the first round.

Greer seemed to catch Montelongo repeatedly with right hands, but when the East L.A. boxer pinned him against the ropes and took the fight inside it changed the complexion of the fight. But he needed to hold Greer and it wasn’t long before he was warned by referee Jack Reiss to refrain from grappling.

Both fought for control of the fight but it was Greer who continually landed flush right hands. Montelongo had moments when he scored with rapid combinations on the inside but not enough to offset those stifling rights from the Chicago fighter.

Things changed for good in the third round as Greer discovered that rights were the antidote to Montelongo continually diving in. From that point on the Chicago boxer was in control and seemed to stun Montelongo but not enough to drop him.

After six rounds all three judges scored it for Greer 58-55.

Other bouts

Oleg Zubenko (2-0) out-muscled Tavorus Teague (3-10-2) to win by unanimous decision after four rounds in a junior middleweight contest. There were no knockdowns but plenty of action between the two.

Jose Iniguez (8-23) survived an early knockdown and got up to land a perfect short right counter to knock out the eager Ruben Saaveedra (0-2) of Las Vegas at 1:42 of the first round.

Southpaw Ron Mixon (7-0) of L.A. landed a perfect left cross to the ducking San Ysidro’s Jose Hurtado (4-7) to win by knockout at 1:10 of the first round in their light heavyweight clash.

Kelin Sharp (5-2) of Chicago defeated L.A. native Ryan True (1-4-1) by unanimous decision after six rounds in a very even middleweight fight. Plenty of blows were exchanged with Sharp winning by outhustling the Los Angeles native.

In a female heavyweight bout 46-year-old Laura Ramsey (10-6) stopped 60-year-old Lake Elsinore’s Keela Byars (1-1) with several right hands at 1:21 of the fourth round. It was a pretty good fight that saw the younger Ramsey finally tire out the older female. The crowd cheered Byars when she departed.

The very tall featherweight Joshua Zuniga (2-0) of L.A. defeated Pat Gutierrez (0-1) of Las Vegas by technical knockout when the smaller fighter broke his wrist during an exchange of blows in the second round. The fight was stopped at 1:55 of the second round.

Indiana’s Fernando Martinez (3-1) out hustled Stockton’s Percy Peterson (1-13-1) in a very even fight that went all four rounds to win by majority decision.

Long Beach’s Jarrett Jeter (3-0) defeated Mexico’s Carlos Gonzalez (1-9) by knockout at 1:36 of round three of a lightweight bout.

Greece’s Stelios Papadopoulos (0-0-1) and L.A.’s Isaac Freeman (2-3-1) fought to a draw in a fight that saw Freeman start fast and Papadopoulos end strong in their entertaining four round welterweight clash. All three judges scored it 38-38. Referee Rudy Barragan made his debut as the referee.

In a regional welterweight title fight Alejandro Reyes (5-3-1) of Los Angeles won by unanimous decision after six rounds against titlist Brian Jones (12-4) of Los Angeles in a back and forth battle. It was a nonstop punching affair that was entertaining to the large crowd at the All Star Boxing promotion. Reyes won by scores 60-54 and 59-55 twice.

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