Stars and Celebrities at Commerce Casino Fights

COMMERCE, Ca.-With Hollywood celebrities and several notable boxing stars in the crowd, one of the last boxing cards in Southern California took place on Saturday.

World champion Leo Santa Cruz, shooting star Adelaida Ruiz and movie actor Frank Stallone watched another evenly matched All Star Boxing card at glitzy Commerce Casino near East Los Angeles.

All of the bouts were of the four-round variety and perhaps the most evenly matched on paper was the super bantamweight battle between L.A’s Ricardo Cuellar and Northern California’s Ivan Varela. It unfolded just as expected.

Visiting from Lindsay, California, the aggressive Varela (3-1) took the initiative with a constant persistent attack on the local fighter Cuellar (5-3) who preferred to box and move. The problem with Cuellar’s plan was it allowed Varela to take the fight wherever he wanted to go.

Cuellar simply did not ignite the action, he merely reacted. And after only four rounds it was clear Varela had provided the fans with action while Cuellar tried to avoid a fight. Two judges scored it in favor of Varela and a third saw it even thus giving Varela the win by majority decision.

In another fight, what looked lopsided on paper was extremely competitive.

Colombia’s Jhon Sanchez Leon (5-1-1) defeated Bakersfield’s Matt Gavers (0-3) by knockout at 2:55 of the fourth round in their welterweight clash. But for most of the four rounds Gavers was on attack mode and fiercely exchanging blows with the more experienced Sanchez.

Though Gavers is winless, the kid can fight. Referee Tony Crebs stopped the fight mere seconds before the end of the final round. Fans disapproved the stoppage but gave a standing ovation for Gavers. It was the best fight of the night.

Other Bouts

Jerry Perez (10-0, 7 KOs) floored cagey Mexican veteran Jose Luis Araiza (31-24-2) twice in the second round; the first knockdown came when Perez fired a four-punch combination. Araiza got up and was floored again with a left uppercut and right cross combination. Then the Mexican veteran from Tecate put on a display of his boxing wizardry as he pulled out all his defensive tricks against the taller, younger and stronger Perez. The lightweight fight ended in a unanimous decision win for Perez, 40-34 on all three cards. But it was a treat to watch Araiza whose first pro bout was a loss against Roberto “Mako” Leyva 20 years ago who would later win a minimum weight world title. After losing his pro debut against Mako, the Tecate fighter Araiza would win 29 consecutive fights between 1998 and 2010. That’s an incredible win streak. His most notable achievement was a majority draw against current featherweight world champ Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico back in 2012.

Arthur Saakyan (4-1) returned to the win column with a fourth round knockout over Brennon Crow (0-3) in a welterweight contest.

Martin Saldana (8-0) defeated Carlos Lozano (7-10) by decision in a middleweight clash.

Adrian Corona (3-0) out-boxed Arizona’s Jesus Arevalo (2-5) after four rounds to win by unanimous decision. Corona is the son of boxing referee Ray Corona.

In a super featherweight bout Jose Perez (6-1) knocked out Corben Page (5-19-1) at the end of round one.

Ivan Ortiz (3-1-1) defeated Oscar Mendoza (4-4) by decision in a lightweight match.

Nathan Weston (4-0-1) was the winner by decision after four rounds in a super welterweight fight against Tavorus Teague (6-23-4).

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