Featured Articles
Avila Perspective, Chap. 245: Farewell to the Thompson Promotions Era and More

It’s the end of the Thompson Boxing era.
Many boxing promotions tested the waters in the Southern California area known as the Inland Empire, but only Thompson Boxing Promotions established roots and proved to be the small promotion company that could produce champions.
That reign is over.
Thompson Boxing Promotions will be shutting its doors for good on Friday, July 21, when it presents its final boxing show at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California. The death of its president Ken Thompson was the main reason for the closure.
The main event features George Acosta (15-1) meeting Edy Valencia (20-11-6) in a super featherweight clash set for eight rounds.
“We are deeply grateful to our loyal fans, who have been the driving force behind Thompson Boxing’s success over the years,” said Alex Camponovo, the matchmaker and operations manager for Thompson Boxing from its inception in 2000.
For more than two decades Thompson heralded the sport of boxing, not just with his promotion company; he also was a strong part in establishing the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Though that organization no longer exists, it strongly aided the sport of professional prizefighting in the USA.
Later in 2000, Thompson Boxing staged their first card featuring Carlos “El Elegante” Bojorquez and Rosember Palacios in a venue in Ontario, California. It wasn’t supposed to be a regular event, just a one-and-done show. It succeeded. They decided to do another and see how it goes.
On June 18, 2001, the first Thompson Boxing show at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario took place and featured Jaime De La Torre and Juan Carlos Barreto. They fought to a split draw after 10 rounds.
That launched Thompson Boxing for good in the club show circuit.
From that point on, fighters from all destinations arrived to perform in front of Inland Empire audiences. Many of the fighters gave their heart and souls inside the prize ring and some of them made it to the top.
Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley was recently voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was a Thompson Boxing fighter for several years before moving on to Top Rank and fights against Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov.
Others who fought under the Thompson Boxing banner were Josesito “Riverside Rocky” Lopez, Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera, Dominic Salcido, Ronny Rios, Luis Ramos Jr., Kevin Hoskins, Artemio Reyes, Efrain Esquivias, Cleotis Pendarvis, Alberto Herrera, Joshua Conley, Brandon Adams, and Colombian world champs Jonatan Romero, Darleys Perez and Yonnhy Perez.
In the beginning, excitement soared as this new promotion company picked the Inland Empire to stage its boxing shows. The “I.E.” is the acronym for the area that combines San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. It spans from Pomona to the Palm Desert area. When Thompson Boxing first arrived, the total population was about 3 million. Twenty years later the population is about 5 million.
The Inland Empire consists geographically of low and high desert areas and several mountain ranges. The center is roughly 80 miles from downtown Los Angeles which is running out of room, so the overflow population is moving east toward the I.E.
One thing about the I.E. is sports are the ticket to entertainment.
Thompson Boxing banked on the population’s thirst for boxing and it hit the mother lode. Boxing is extremely popular in the I.E. and they have he gyms to prove it. Big Bear, Indio, Coachella, Riverside, Ontario, Chino and Pomona are all strongholds for boxing gyms.
Out of those many gyms world champions Sugar Shane Mosley, Julio Diaz, Kaliesha West and Randy Caballero were produced.
Though those fighters never fought on Thompson shows, boxing has always been big in the area and Ken Thompson and his operations manager and matchmaker Alex Camponovo proved it over the past two decades by discovering hidden talent in the Inland Empire and beyond.
“It has been an honor to work with such exceptional talent for the past 23 years, and we take pride in the role we played in their careers,” Camponovo said.
Sadly, it is all coming to an end on Friday July 21.
Oscar De La Hoya Documentary
A two-part documentary called “The Golden Boy” on the life of Oscar De La Hoya will premiere on HBO this coming Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25
De La Hoya was a six-division world titlist and one of the most successful prizefighters in history. He amassed between $700 million and $1 billion in purse money depending on which source.
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, an area known for violence and brutality, he rose to win Olympic fame by winning the only Olympic gold medal for boxing by an American in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain.
The documentary, headed by Mark Wahlberg, Mario Lopez and others, supposedly depicts the untold stories behind his rise to fame and glory from 1992 to the present.
Inoue vs Fulton
Next Tuesday, July 25, the super bantamweight unification battle between Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) and Stephen Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) takes place in Tokyo, Japan at Ariake Arena. ESPN+ will stream the fight live.
“Monster” Inoue, 30, is a three-division and undisputed bantamweight world champion moving up a weight division to challenge Fulton for the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles. It will be his fourth division world title if he succeeds.
Fulton, 29, hails from Philadelphia, Pa. and holds the WBC and WBO super bantamweight world titles. He successfully defended both titles against former unified world titlist Danny Roman in his last fight a year ago.
It figures to be Inoue’s greatest challenge.
Fights to Watch
Fri. DAZN 11 a.m. Lee McGregor (12-0-1) vs Erik Robles (13-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 5:15 p.m. Serhii Bohachuk (22-1) vs Patrick Allotey (42-4).
Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. George Kambosos Jr. (20-2) vs Maxie Hughes (26-5-2); Giovani Santillan (30-0) vs Erick Bone (27-6).
Tues. ESPN+ 1:45 a.m. Naoya Inoue (24-0) vs Stephen Fulton (21-0).
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
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