Kronk Fight Card A Hit At Pechanga…AVILA

TEMECULA-Monterey Park's Walter “School Boy” Sarnoi outmaneuvered Mexicali's Jose Miguel Cota (15-6, 6 Kos) with side to side lateral movement to win by unanimous decision after six rounds on Friday at Pechanga Resort and Casino.

Kronk Boxing brought a large crowd to Pechanga and saw former city councilman candidate Sarnoi (10-2, 5 KOs) use his intelligence and pinpoint body attack to capture the featherweight decision that saw its main event canceled due to one of the fighters suffering an infected tooth. More on that later.

Sarnoi hit and moved and found that Cota's chin was pretty resilient, so he resorted to plan two and found an effective method of attack.

“I tried to stand and slug but he could take a pretty good punch,” said Sarnoi, who trains out of the Azteca Gym under the guidance of Javier Capetillo. “I hurt him in round three but he kept coming.”

Cota tried every trick he knew to keep Sarnoi standing still but he proved too slippery and when the Mexican tried too hard, he ran into wicked blows.

“I had to stick to my plan,” Sarnoi said.

The plan worked effectively as Cota just couldn't seem to land a flush blow. After six rounds all three judges scored it for Sarnoi 58-56 twice and 59-55.

Moreno Valley's Kevin Hoskins (5-0, 3 Kos) blew through San Diego's Angel Torres (2-7-2) in the first round of the junior lightweight contest. The southpaw Torres slipped a number of punches but the fusillade of blows kept coming until a left hook sent the San Diego boxer to the floor. He beat the count but Hoskins poured on the blows including another left that staggered Torres a bit and referee Wayne Hedgepeth wisely stopped the fight at 2:30 of the round. Torres objected but Hoskins hits too hard to allow a groggy fighter to continue.

Southern California's Elizabeth Cervantes (3-9) returned to boxing after more than three years and out-punched New York's debuting Susanna Mellone (0-1) after four rounds of a bantamweight fight. Mellone was the more accurate puncher but allowed the more experienced Cervantes to pin her on the ropes and score points in several rounds. The judges scored it a split decision in favor of Cervantes 39-37 twice and 37-39 for Mellone.  

A junior lightweight bout between Northern California's saw Richmond's Ulises Soriano (2-0) win by majority decision over Gilroy's Alonso Loeza (1-3-1). Soriano seemed to run out of gas in round three and allowed the super tough Loeza to mount a counterattack from there on. The last round decided the fight on one two cards that ended with judge Carla Caiz 38-38, Max DeLuca 39-37 and Marty Denkin 40-36 for Soriano.

Junior middleweights Nicholas Balestra (2-1-1) of Sacramento and Eduardo Hernandez (0-1-1) of North Hollywood fought to a draw after four back and forth rounds. All three judges scored it 38-38. Both fighters had their moments especially to the body.

Emanuel Steward's fighter Tony Harrison's opponent Cleven Ishe suffered an infected tooth the day of the fight and the California State Athletic Commission would not allow him to fight. Harrison was told he would be returning to Pechanga in the near future. Steward also said he plans to put on a fight card every two months.

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