George “El Yuyu” Acosta is Victorious in Ontario, Calif.

ONTARIO, Ca.-In a night when knockdowns were scarce, it was the light-hitting George “Yuyu” Acosta who scored the only knockdown of the night when he floored Isaac Avelar with a body shot to win a hotly-contested main event on Friday evening.

That’s boxing.

Whittier, California’s Acosta (13-1, 1 KO) finally returned to fight in front of a supportive crowd and was able to defeat Mexico’s very competitive Avelar (16-5, 10 KOs) in the junior lightweight contest at Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. Because of the coronavirus fans were not permitted at many recent Thompson Boxing Promotion events.

Despite Avelar’s impressive knockout record Acosta (pictured on the left) seemed unprepared during the first two rounds. His head snapped numerous times from counter rights and lead lefts. It didn’t look good for the local fighter.

“I definitely underestimated my opponent,” said Acosta. “He caught me a couple of times.”

In the third round Acosta turned things around behind a stiff lead right. Now it was the Mexican fighter whose head was snapping for two rounds.

With Acosta changing the momentum, Avelar decided to be more aggressive and ran into a body shot in the fifth round and down he went to his hands and knees. But he beat the count and tried to catch the local fighter with a sneak counter.

“I knew he was susceptible to body shots, but he was tough,” Acosta said.

For the next three rounds Acosta kept controlling the distance with perfectly-timed rights and did not allow Avelar to score with combinations. That proved the recipe for victory against the gritty Avelar.

“He came out and gave everything he had. He caught me a couple of times,” Acosta said of his foe.

All three judges scored the same 77-75 for Acosta.

“It’s been such a long time since I heard a crowd. I got emotional,” Acosta said.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight fight Richard Brewart (12-0, 4 KOs) soundly defeated Mexico’s Ramon Ayala (25-7, 13 KOs) who had been out of boxing for six years. Still, the Mexican fighter had vast experience including previous battles at a lighter weight against Omar Figueroa and contenders Chris Van Heerden and Leonardo Zappavigna.

Rancho Cucamonga’s Brewart was cautious against the wily veteran but within a few rounds it was apparent that Ayala’s legs were out of practice. He stumbled a few times and it was difficult to determine if it was from Brewart’s stiff lead rights or bad balance.

No knockdowns were scored and Brewart controlled the fight to win by unanimous decision after eight rounds 80-72 on all three cards.

Norwalk’s Japhethlee Llamido (9-0, 3 KOs) cruised past Mexico’s veteran Diuhl Olguin (15-25-5, 10 Kos) to win by unanimous decision after six rounds. Llamido was simply too fast and too evasive for Olguin to pin down.

Llamido was a little too cautious and perhaps should have pressed more with his better athleticism and at least attempted a knockout win. He settled for simply out-boxing the Mexican fighter and lulled the crowd to sleep.

Indio, California’s Leonardo Sanchez (1-0) won his pro debut by decision over Mexico’s Erick Espinosa (1-1-2) after four rounds in a super featherweight fight. Sanchez, a lefty, attacked the body viciously in all four rounds. Espinosa tried to retaliate in the same manner, but Sanchez was simply the stronger fight.

Stephanie Chavez (2-0) used her jab and reach to control the fight against Esli Cervantes (0-1) and win by unanimous decision after four rounds in a super flyweight bout.

Chavez showed tremendous improvement and confidence in her second pro fight. She used her jabs and combination to control the charges of Cervantes who was telegraphing her punches. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Chavez who fights out of Orange, California.

Photo of George Acosta and Isaac Avelar by Carlos Baeza

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