Bad Night for Locals as Commey KOs Beltran and Gonzalez KOs Rodriguez

IBF champion Richard Commey couldn’t lose his world lightweight title, but still found former champion Raymundo Beltran, who didn’t make weight, one tough customer before winning by knockout on Friday.

Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) despite flooring Beltran (36-9-1, 22 KOs) very early in the first round, discovered the Mexican veteran was not going to be easy, much to the joy of the large crowd of nearly 3,000 at Pechanga Resort and Casino. It was exciting while it lasted.

Within seconds of the opening bell Commey let loose with a sizzling right cross that delivered Beltran on the seat of his pants. The Mexican from Phoenix by way of Los Mochis got up and was belted again with a four-punch up and down combination. Beltran lay dangling on the ropes, forcing referee Eddie Hernandez to call it another knockdown. Though slightly teetering, Beltran resumed the fight and caught Commey rushing in.

The fight would get better.

Beltran recovered quickly in the second round as Commey moved his attack toward the body. Beltran parried and held at opportune times while countering Commey’s aggressive rushes.

Commey must have been anxious because he opened up with the big guns at the beginning of the third round with a seven-punch barrage. Beltran avoided all of the big blows and mounted a head snapping counter attack with every punch in the boxing book, landing effectively. Commey was forced to reconsider his offense and suddenly Beltran was in command.

Beltran kept the reins and mixed his attack on the world champion in the fourth round. A clash of heads stalled the fight but both emerged without cuts. A counter left hook by Beltran stunned the champion who was kept on his heels for the rest of the round.

Commey regained control in the fifth round with a short right cross that floored Beltran. The champion followed it up with a six-punch combination to punctuate the change of momentum.

It was all Commey from the fifth round until it ended at 54 seconds into the eighth round as the world champion from Ghana opened up with the big guns again. Beltran tried to counter but was crashed by a counter left hook that connected solidly. Referee Hernandez ended the fight without a count.

Super Featherweight Showdown

Miguel Angel Gonzalez (25-4, 22 KOs) started quickly with a left hook that dropped Saul Rodriguez (23-1-1, 17 KOs) with almost the first punch he fired and it was full speed ahead from there on for the fighter from Los Mochis, Mexico.

Rodriguez, who hails from nearby Riverside, recovered in the second round and seemed to rebound from the first round knockdown to win the second with some strong right hands. It looked promising for Rodriguez.

But the third round told the story. Rodriguez opened up with some strong right hand bombs and looked to have Gonzalez moving backward. As Rodriguez moved in to unload some more blows both exchanged with Gonzalez countering with a perfect left hook to the chin and down went Rodriguez. Referee Tom Taylor did not bother to count and waved the fight over at 1:23 of the third round.

Gonzalez had repeatedly scored with left hooks and left uppercuts and in the end the left told the story in the super featherweight showdown between sluggers.

“I just got caught,” said Rodriguez who was knocked down twice in the fight. “I’ll be back.”

A battle for the NABF super welterweight title saw Dominican fighter Carlos Adames (18-0, 14 KOs) start slowly but ramp up the offense in the later rounds against New York’s Patrick Day (17-3-1) to win by unanimous decision after 10 rounds. Day proved to be very resilient against the hard-punching Adames who is trained by Robert Garcia. No knockdowns were scored but in the last minute of the last round Day withstood a hurricane of blows. It was a gutsy performance by Day but Adames won by scores 97-93 twice and 98-91.

“Anybody who drops in against this Dominican fighter is going to go out,” said Adames.

Other Bouts

Fontana’s Ray Muratalla (8-0, 6 KOs) needed little time to find Augustine Mauras (6-6-3, 3 KOs) weak spot with a left hook to the body early in the first round that dropped him. Muratalla chased him the entire round while pounding the body. At the end of the first round Mauras signaled he had enough to give Muratalla the win by knockout in the lightweight bout.

Chris Zavala (5-0, 2 KOs) of Long Beach, Calif. used his speed and agility to out-point Prisco Marquez (4-1-1) of Texas in a six round super featherweight match. No knockdowns were scored in the fight that showcased Zavala’s quickness. All three scores were 60-54 for Zavala.

Dmitry Yun (1-0) used his aggressive fighting style to out-score Mexico’s Jose Antonio Meza (6-4) by unanimous decision after four rounds in a lightweight match. Yun was deducted a point for repeatedly hitting behind the head. The scores were 39-36 three times for Yun.

David Kaminksy (5-0) was the steadier and stronger fighter in winning by unanimous decision over Oklahoma’s Osbaldo Gonzalez (6-5) after four rounds in a middleweight fight. Scores were 40-36 three times for Kaminsky who was born in Israel.

A lightweight match between Elvia Rodriguez (2-0-1) and Joaquin Chavez (9-19-3) ended in a technical draw after 2:28 in the first round due to a clash of heads that opened up a gusher on Chavez.

Ruben Rodriguez (7-0) battled with Vicente Morales (2-3-2) for six straight rounds and though each round was close was given the unanimous decision in the super lightweight clash,

Junior Fa (18-0) survived a knockdown to out-fight veteran Dominick Guinn (37-13-1) and win by decision after 10 rounds in a heavyweight fight. Fa fights out of New Zealand and Guinn now fights out of Costa Rica. Scores were 98-91 twice and 97-92.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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