Artemio Reyes, Ricky Duenas and Sindy Amador Win in CA.

Reyes upped his record to 17-2 with a victory via stoppage on Aug. 24 in Corona, CA.

CORONA, CALIF.-Welterweights Artemio “King” Reyes and Ricky Duenas won on Friday by knockout on a cool summer night.

Those gathered at the outdoor boxing venue Omega Products International saw Reyes (17-2, 13 KOs) beat southpaw John David Charles (7-6) of Texas. It was the main event on the Thompson Boxing Promotions event.

Whenever southpaws enter the ring you can bet there is going to be a feeling-out period and Reyes was not surprised though he had sparred primarily with southpaws.

“Any time you fight a southpaw there is going to be confusion,” said Reyes. “Even if you spar southpaws it’s different in the ring. It’s a different tempo and speed.”

During the first round things were a little static between Reyes and the Charles when suddenly an overhand left connected by the Texan. That punch changed the whole complexion of the fight.

“It woke me up,” Reyes admitted.

From that point on Reyes was in attack mode and stepped into a faster tempo that had Charles looking to hang on. A short right counter at 2:55 of round two ended the night for

the southpaw Texan.

“It wasn’t my best, but I turned it over,” said Reyes.

Duenas Wins

El Monte’s Duenas (12-1, 6 KOs) scored yet another knockout at 1:37 of round two in his welterweight match. This time Yair Aguilar was the victim of Duenas new-found power. It was the El Monte southpaw’s third consecutive knockout.

Normally Duenas uses his natural ability to slip and counter and eventually win by decision. But, since February 2011, the slick fighting Duenas has been surprising people with his power. The surprise may be over now.

Sindy Amador wins

Riverside’s Sindy Amador (9-0) remained undefeated with a six round unanimous decision over former world champion Carina Moreno (22-4). It wasn’t as simple as that.

Moreno entered the ring with vast international experience including amateur fights. The Watsonville prizefighter took the fight on literally two-day notice when the original opponent Elizabeth Cervantes bowed out due to injury. Moreno was offered the fight and accepted.

“I hadn’t fought since last October and I haven’t been training but I needed a fight,” said Moreno, a former junior flyweight champion. “I knew it would be a hard fight since she is the hometown girl.”

Amador pressured from the start while Moreno cut to her left whenever the Riverside boxer was about to dig in. It worked for two rounds with Moreno using her jab and quick combos to keep Amador from cutting loose.

Midway through the fight Amador began shortening her combinations and though her usual power was not behind the blows, it was enough to keep Moreno from firing back too many counters. But every so often those uppercuts would land.

“I was hitting her with uppercuts and making her head go back,” Moreno said.

Amador began holding with one arm and hitting with the other. That began to turn things in her favor and forced Moreno to hold on.

“She was holding a lot,” Moreno said.

The Riverside boxer suffered a cut early in the fight and it got worse as the fight continued, but she never slowed.

“I was landing the harder punches,” Amador said. “I just kept the pressure on her.”

Moreno felt that she seldom was hit with clean blows.

“They were off my shoulders or my gloves,” said Moreno.

All three judges scored it in favor of Amador 60-54 twice and 59-55. Moreno looked shocked by the decision and Amador was ecstatic.

“I was afraid that she would be tougher because of her experience,” said Amador. “But my trainers believed in me so I took the fight.”

Northern California’s Moreno was not pleased.

“I’m just disappointed with the scoring,” said Moreno. “It was a hometown decision.”

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