Zanfer Promotions in association with Brigam Promotions presented a special night of boxing with “Hits for Help: Fighting Against Breast Cancer”, a twelve fight night at the legendary El Foro Theatre in downtown Tijuana, MX. A near capacity crowd welcomed back to her hometown the former two time WBC female world champion Jackie “Aztec Princess” Nava as she was awarded a sporadically exciting unanimous decision over Lina Ramirez of Guasave, MX, in the eight round main event.
Nava began the action quickly as she shot two quick jabs to Ramirez’s mid section followed by a right hand that missed its mark. The much taller Ramirez tried to keep the former champion at bay with a consistent jab but Nava was able to penetrate the attack and land a two-punch combination that caught the attention of Ramirez and the excited audience. Although flat footed, Ramirez was able to land a left hook to the body of Nava and then push her back against the ropes to score again to the body while Nava used quick feet and defense to try to move inside and land clean punches. Nava landed a short right uppercut that hurt Ramirez and made her take a step back. Nava showed her defense as she slipped and blocked a series of punches and then counter punched with jab/right hand combination but it did not stop Ramirez as she continued to move forward while keeping Nava at the end of her punches especially her awkward right hand. Both fighters closed the third strong as they exchanged left hooks to the body in the center of the ring with Nava’s getting there quicker.
In the fourth, Nava began to land harder and faster punches as she began to throw straighter ones down the middle including another uppercut that found its mark. As she switched to a southpaw stance, Nava tried to land a lead right hook but Ramirez saw it coming and slipped it and attacked Nava in the neutral corner. The difference in skill became apparent in the fifth as Nava began to slip punches and land her own with hard right hands following jabs and left hooks to the body before upper cuts to the solar plexus. Ramirez had no answer but to drudge along trying to catch her opponent but she seemed a step too late through out the round.
As Nava again attacked from a southpaw stance, Ramirez was able to counter punch left hook to the chin that surprised Nava and made her switch back to her orthodox stance to start the sixth. Nava soon switched back again and landed perhaps her best punch of the fight up to that point when a short left upper cut found its home on Ramirez’s mid section. Ramirez continued to move forward with her jab and right hand as Nava used her waist to slip either punch and counter with left hook-uppercut hybrid punch. Nava began to box around the ring, picking her openings as she landed two and three punches in succession.
Ramirez brought the pressure in the eighth and final round as she followed Nava around the ring with newfound urgency throwing punches non-stop although with not much behind them. Nava used her lateral and waist movement to move around the ring and counterpunching Ramirez through out the round and coming close to stopping her in the last seconds of the bout but Ramirez was able to survive until the final bell.
“I want to thank everybody for welcoming me back to my hometown,” Nava stated immediately after the fight. “I promise to be back soon and give you a better fight.”
In the semi-main event, Joksan “Torito” Hernandez of Ensenada, MX, took a step closer to a top ten ranking as he stopped the game but over matched Jorge Cardenas from Mexico’s boxing hotbed of Los Mochis, MX, in the night of a scheduled featherweight ten round bout.
Hernandez began his body attack early as he made it a point to go after the liver of Cardenas early in the first round. The southpaw Cardenas tried to keep him at bay with a type of shoulder roll defense as he pawed his jab trying to measure the distance of his opponent. Hernandez’s game plan became clear in the second as he began to set up traps to land either left hook to the body or his right one to the chin and at times, both in combination. Cardenas was more than happy to oblige as he ignored his corner’s instructions and instead of using lateral movement to move around the ring and box, he stood right in front of the hard-hitting Hernandez as he tried to slip the attack. Cardenas began to attack the body himself in the third, as he would miss with his jab and uppercut but land a lead left hook to the body. Hernandez responded by trapping Cardenas against the ropes and unleashing his won series of left hooks along with straight left and rights to the head that landed more than they missed. Cardenas began to make his southpaw stance make a difference as he began to throw a sneaky left hook from his rear foot that stopped Hernandez in his tracks.
Cardenas slowed down considerably in the fourth as he would sporadically switch to an orthodox stance and tried to keep the charging “Torito” at bay with a pawing jab from either fist. Hernandez was not to be deterred as he kept getting inside and landing left hooks to both the head and torso of Cardenas. In the fifth, Cardenas began to throw wilder punches as he tried to catch Hernandez with a big over hand left. As his corner continued to urge him to box, Cardenas was content staying put and taking everything that Hernandez was throwing, occasionally landing his own series of body shot that seem to bother but not stop “Torito” from coming forward.
Despite the sixth was all Hernandez with his continued attack on the body, Cardenas began to throw more punches in the seventh and eighth rounds as he stayed in the middle of the ring looking for right angle to land a hard left to the chin of the Ensenada native. Mid way thru the eighth round, Cardenas was the one pushing Hernandez back as he landed short left and right upper cuts to the face of his opponent. Near the eighth, Hernandez switched the tables on Cardenas took up the real estate in the center of the ring and controlled the action until the end of the round.
Early in the ninth, Hernandez began to score with consistent right hands that landed flush on Cardenas face. Straight right hands, right hooks and uppercuts found a home while Cardenas began to look worse for wear. Near the end of the round, referee Juan Jose Ramirez had seen enough as Cardenas was not protecting himself or fighting back and waived off the fight. Official time was 2:29 of the ninth round.
With the win, Hernandez goes to near perfect 17-1, 10KO while Cardenas drops to 14-8-4, 9KO.
In an entertaining featherweight scrap, Tijuana’s Alex Lopez kept his record perfect (14-0, 3KO) as he battled Genaro Camargo of Guasave, MX, to earn a unanimous decision over eight rounds.
No round of study was needed as both fighters went after each other from the first round. Lopez landed a hard right hand early on that made Camargo back off but the man from Guasave was right there in the center of the ring landing a combination of his own. Lopez raised the heat in the second as he began to put punches in bunches landing a series of jab and right hands that again sent his opponent on his back foot. Camargo ended the ring strong as he landed a series of body shots that got the attention of Lopez. Camargo’s nose began to bleed profusely at the end of the third as Lopez began to land even more punches through out the round while Camargo tried to slow down the attack of Lopez with body punches.
A stiffer jab from Lopez made an appearance in the fourth as he coupled it with a hard left hook to the body that visibly bothered Camargo. Unlike the first three rounds, Camargo began to back track into the ropes and corners as it began to become evident in his bloodied face that Lopez’s consistent attack was beginning to pay dividends. Lopez landed a hard left hook to the chin to start the fifth that hurt Camargo and made the assembled crowd react with cheering for the Tijuana native. Midway thru the round, Lopez dropped Camargo with a double left hook combination, one to each side of the mid section. Camargo protested since his knees did not touch the canvas, but referee Juan Morales Lee still proceeded to give him the eight count. Camargo was able to survive the end of the round.
Camargo brought the fight to Lopez in the sixth as he began to throw more punches and making Lopez miss while Lopez still had his moments landing a series of left and right as well as a left hook to the chin of Camargo as he trapped him against the ropes. Lopez returned to fighting from a distance in the seventh and using his jab to set up his body attack while the gutsy Camargo kept coming forward while his nose kept bleeding and a mouse began to develop under his left eye. More of the same in the eighth and final round until half way thru the round, Camorga was able to cause a cut over the eye of Lopez with a hard right hand that hurt Lopez and made him jump on his bike and circle around the ring for the remainder of the bout.
After being dropped with a right hook in the second, Jovan Munoz (8-1, 3KO) of Tijuana dropped Antonio Arras (19-6, 13KO) of San Luis Rio Colorado, MX, seconds later with an over hand right but it was not enough as he met the canvas once again early in the third from a left uppercut to lose via KO in a middleweight bout. Official time was 1:36.
In an all action super bantamweight brawl, Tijuana’s Fernando Vargas and Arturo “Tyzon” Camargo of Guasave, MX went to war from the beginning of the bell as they began to land bombs in every corner of the ring. Both fighter had their moments but Camargo (17-13-2, 14KO) seemed to get the best of the exchanges as he wobbled the local fighter more than once with big over right hands. Just as the action was nearing a frenzied pitch, referee Alberto Ramos inexplicably stopped the action awarding Vargas (10-4-1, 8KO) the TKO win.
With a thundering left hook, Misael Castillo (10-0, 9KO) of Ensenada, MX, stopped Yavaros, MX’s Daniel Valenzuela (4-9, 2KO) in the second round of a scheduled lightweight four. Official time was :48 seconds.
Welterweight Rodrigo Garcia of Ensenada, MX, needed only 1:32 minutes to stop Carlos Ontamucha of Guasave, MX, of the first round. After Garcia (4-0, 4KO) scored with a hard left hook to the body early in round, Ontamucha (0-3) retreated to the neutral corner and Garcia took the opportunity to land straight lefts and right prompting referee to waive off the fight.
In a rare show of Mexican heavyweights, Tijuana favorite Tony Mendivil (14-2-4, 8KO) and Juan Luis Lopez (0-1-1), also of Tijuana, fought to a tedious four round majority decision. Neither fighter took the initiative reverted to throwing uneducated punches four the sixteen minutes of inaction.
It was only a matter of time before Antonio Margarito’s brother in law Hanzel Martinez would stop Carlos Bacasehuia of Navajoa, MX. The surprising part was that Bacasehuia (0-4) took Martinez of Tijuana, MX, to the fourth round with movement and cunning. At the end Martinez (4-0, 4KO) was too much for his opponent as he landed a hard three punch combination punctuated with a hard right hand to force Juan Morales Lee to waive off the contest at the 1:02 mark of the fourth and final super flyweight round.
Tijuana’s 2008 prospect of the year Alain “Konan” Hernandez (16-7-2, 9KO) earned a work-man like TKO over Adan Gamboa, both of Tijuana, in a lightweight bout. Hernandez worked the body and punished his opponent for the majority of the contest while the game Gamboa (0-6) tried to stay in the fight but to no avail. Knowing the unavoidable, Gamboa decided to cut the bout short and did not come out for the fourth and final round.
Junior lightweight Adan Osuna (7-2-2, 3KO) of Tijuana, MX, did quick work of over matched Cristrian Rodriguez stopping him at the 2:28 mark of the first round of a scheduled four. Osuna scored easily with stiff jabs and right hands while attacking the body. Rodriguez (6-8, 3KO) was hurt mid way thru the round and stopped fighting. Osuna continued in his onslaught prompting the referee to waive off the bout.
Super featherweights Alberto Ocampo (1-0-1) of Ensenda, MX, and Francisco Huijarro (0-0-1) of Tijuana fought to a majority draw in a four round bout.
Photos by Rafael Soto Gil/Zanfer
Recent Comments