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Avila Perspective, Chap. 177 pt. 2: Tagoe, Chocolatito, Fresno and More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 177 pt. 2: Tagoe, Chocolatito, Fresno and More
The sport of boxing has hit another gear.
This is the second week that all major promoters are staging fight cards with the return of Jose Carlos Ramirez, Chocolatito Gonzalez and press conferences for Ryan Garcia, Emmanuel Tagoe, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Errol Spence Jr.
It’s not going to slow down.
On Tuesday, Emmanuel Tagoe walked into the Golden Boy building in downtown Los Angeles with his trainer and a fellow fighter from the DiBella Entertainment crew. They were greeted warmly by media members recognizing them.
Later, Tagoe would meet the boss of Golden Boy Promotions and their charge Ryan Garcia who Tagoe will meet on April 9, in San Antonio, Texas. Friendly exchanges took place and it seemed to surprise Tagoe who seemed ready for heated verbal exchanges.
Welcome to the west coast.
Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, lauded the exploits of Tagoe whose promoter Lou DiBella was unable to make the trip from New York City to L.A. The six-division world champion and Boxing Hall of Fame inductee explained the difficulty of Tagoe’s accomplishments.
After losing his pro debut in Ghana, the African lightweight has fought and won 32 consecutive prize fights including 15 via knockout. Only two of those victories took place outside of Ghana.
But if you know anything about DiBella its that he has a knack for picking up obscure fighters from other countries who can fight. He signed Sergio Martinez a decade ago and he upset many fighters along the way. He also currently has Australia’s George Kambosos who holds most of the lightweight world titles.
Do you see where this is going?
If Ryan Garcia wins, then he constructs an immediate route to Kambosos in a super fight. If Tagoe wins, then he has options too with both fighters under the DiBella banner and with a victory over Garcia comes instant recognition. Either way it’s a big win.
“I see this fight as an opportunity. You don’t know me now but after (the fight) everybody will know me,” said Tagoe. “Nobody would fight me. Ryan Garcia is the one who accepted me when nobody else would.”
Garcia was unable or unwilling to predict an outcome.
“I really don’t care if it’s a hard fight. I don’t take anyone lightly,” said Garcia. “He gots to go.”
Chocolatito in San Diego
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) returns to his adopted home of Southern California and will clash with flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez (18-1, 14 KOs) in a match set at super flyweight for 12 rounds at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego on Saturday March 5. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.
Martinez stepped in for Juan Francisco Estrada who caught Covid-19 and willingly moves up in weight to try his skills against the legendary Nicaraguan fighter. It’s a juicy fight that will quickly reveal how much left remains in Gonzalez and how good Martinez ranks among the best of the best.
“This is one of the most exciting, dangerous pound-for-pound fighters in the sport against one of the absolute all-time legends of the sport,” said Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. “In a sport that is so difficult to make big fights, I want to say thank you to both men for accepting the challenge and giving us what I believe a fight we will never forget on Saturday night.”
Only two men in the world can claim victories over Chocolatito with Estrada able to accomplish the feat a year ago in Dallas, Texas. The other man is Thailand’s Wisaksil Wangek, aka Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, whatever name you know him by. He stopped Gonzalez twice.
Fans love Chocolatito and its one of the obstacles that Martinez faces. Though plenty of Mexican fans will be in attendance, Chocolatito has earned a place with all fans including Mexicans.
“I have an opponent that comes forward but I’m going to come forward, it’s going to be a tremendous fight and I think the fans are going to be really happy with the fight,” said Chocolatito.
Martinez is part of the Canelo camp in San Diego and is also trained by Eddy Reynoso. He began his pro career with a loss and has not tasted defeat since his debut in October 2015. Incidentally, that was the same time that Chocolatito defeated Brian Viloria at Madison Square Garden in New York City to retain the WBC flyweight title that Martinez now possesses.
“It’s a big challenge, I’m very excited and motivated to be fighting a big legend like Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. I want to thank him for choosing us in this big fight, like I say with everything but fear, anywhere and against anyone,” said Martinez.
With Chocolatito now at 34 years old and Martinez a mere 27, the age difference could balance out the experience factor that favors the Nicaraguan. We shall see.
“I love all the Mexican people; I’ve had the opportunity to fight against many Mexican people. I know Nicaraguan people are going to come out here and support (me), but the most important thing is we have God on our side,” said Chocolatito.
Mexico versus Puerto Rico Tonight in Fresno
Former unified super lightweight titlist Jose Carlos Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs) returns to the wars and finds dangerous Jose Pedraza (29-3, 14 KOs) ready to test his mettle tonight in a regional title fight in Fresno, California. ESPN will televise the Top Rank card.
It’s Mexico versus Puerto Rico and that’s serious business.
It’s been nearly a year since Ramirez was defeated by now undisputed super lightweight world champion Josh Taylor. It’s also been that long since he actually fought in the prize ring.
“My goal is to stay at the highest level of competition. My goal is to become a world champion again. You have to fight the best to be ready for those fights. I don’t want any easy fights. I don’t want to be fighting fights that are going to be tune-up fights,” explained Ramirez in accepting a fight with a former world champion as hungry as himself.
Puerto Rico’s Pedraza too is eager to prove himself and to honor his Puerto Rican nationality.
“It would mean a lot becoming champion for a third time. It would put my name along with the legends of Puerto Rico, and it would mean lot for the island, too.”
Whenever a Mexican faces a Puerto Rican you can expect serious fireworks.
Several other top contenders and prospects are also performing including Joet Gonzalez, Hector Tanajara Jr. and Olympian Richard Torrez making his pro debut.
Fights to Watch
Fri. ESPN+ 4:15 p.m. Jose Carlos Ramirez (26-1) vs Jose Pedraza (29-3)
Sat. DAZN 5:30 p.m. Roman Gonzalez (50-3) vs Julio Cesar Martinez (18-1).
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Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo’s elusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.
Will it be her last flyweight defense?
Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.
The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.
Mexico’s Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.
Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.
“She was kind of doing her ducking thing,” said Fundora describing Badillo’s defensive tactics. “I just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didn’t give her that break.”
The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.
In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighter’s corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.
Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.
Perez Beats Conwell.
Mexico’s Jorge “Chino” Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.
It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.
Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.
Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perez’s busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.
It was Conwell’s first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.
Other Bouts
Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.
It was very close.
Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.
Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.
One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.
Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.
Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Rico’s Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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