From the Tijuana, MX, Municipal Auditorium, Zanfer Promotions presented the first round of their bantamweight eight-man tournament “Guante Azteca (Aztec Glove).” The single elimination contest boast of the best up and coming 118 lbs. prospects in northern Baja California and the surrounding areas. The winner pockets $5,000 plus the chance to compete in the Mexican reality TV show Campeon Azteca televised nationally in Mexico by the Azteca channel later this year.
A war for Tijuana bantamweight supremacy broke out in front of over 1,500 enthusiastic fans when nothing but heavy artillery was thrown and landed by the four participants of the two four round tournament bouts.
Cayetano Batters “Ferocito” Vargas!
In the main event, a huge upset was recorded when tournament favorite Fernando “Ferocito” Vargas (12-6-1, 10KOs) of Tijuana, was defeated by unbeaten Jose Cayetano (5-0, 1KO), also of Tijuana, via a majority decision.
Both fighters began the first rather cautious despite only having four rounds to convince the judges. Vargas was the busier of the two as he tried to cut off the ring on the very hesitant Cayetano. In the second, the train came off the rails as the both warriors began to exchange heavy leather in the center of the ring and in all four corners. While Vargas’ sets were crisper and tighter, Cayetano’s one punch bursts seemed to be harder and they proved to be when mid way through the round he landed a straight hand flush on the chin of Vargas that sent him down. Vargas shot straight up and proved to the referee Juan Morales Lee that he was ready to continue.
Vargas established his jab to start off the third and continued pressuring Cayetano around the ring while the now visibly fatigued tried to keep him at bay. In the fourth and final round, Vargas stepped up the pressure set up in the third and went after Cayetano to close out the show. Cayetano was ready as he was able to catch Vargas as he came in with hard hooks to the chin that would wobble Vargas when landed flush. It looked like near the end of the round, Cayetano had his man when he unleashed a flurry on Vargas but “Ferocito” was able to survive until the final bell.
Scores were 38-37 and 39-36 for Cayetano while one judge saw it 38-37 for Vargas.
Gomez Pressures Navarro for Win!
In the semi main event, local bantamweight Luis “Chupacabras” Gomez (3-1, 2KOs) stopped and handed his first loss to Tijuana’s Francisco “Lobito” Navarro (3-1, 2KOs) at the: 38 mark of the fourth and final round.
The action began early as Navarro took control of the action early on with crisper punch combinations on the shorter Gomez. Half way through the round, Navarro initiated an exchange in which he was landing the more telling blows from the outside until Gomez landed a hard left hook to the chin of Navarro that sent “Lobito” down. Again in the second Navarro scored points first when he landed a hard left hand uppercut that made Gomez take a step back. The punch seemed to ignite “Chupacabras” as Gomez’s offense became his defense as he began to rain punches down on Navarro who had 
no answer all the way to the end of the round. As Navarro tried to create some distance in the third round so he could attack from the outside, Gomez landed another left hook, this time to the body that forced Navarro to take a knee. Gomez kept on battering Navarro who seemed not to have much in the tank. Another left hook to start the fourth sent Navarro down again which forced referee Juan Morales Lee to stop the contest.
Castillo Stops Gonzalez!
In the last fight of the under card, hard hitting Misael Castillo (14-0, 13KOs) of Ensenada, MX, only needed three round of the scheduled eight to stop Ciudad Obregon, MX’s Juan Gonzalez (3-5, 2KOs).
The bout resembled a track meet in the first round as the very reluctant Gonzalez circled around the ring while Castillo tried as he might to cut it off and force his opponent to fight. Castillo had no choice but to land single hard punches to the body when he was lucky enough to catch Gonzalez against the ropes. In the second, Castillo had more luck in catching his prey and began to work the body even more to slow Gonzalez even more. 
Gonzalez seemed not to have any other plan but to survive as much as he could of the fight as he hardly threw any punches and landed nothing that bothered Castillo. Castillo scored a devastating left hook to the ribcage of Gonzalez near the end of the round that seemed to spell the end for the Ciudad Obregon fighter but to his credit, he beat the count and decided to continue. Mid way thru the third, while Castillo had Gonzalez with nowhere to go in the neutral corner, Gonzalez went down again from another body shot. Gonzalez opted to continue but for only for mere seconds until referee Juan Morales Lee stopped the affair. Official time was 1:30 of the third round.
Flores Impresses over Guerrero!
In the first of the scheduled eight round bouts, jr. flyweight Maximino Flores (4-0, 4KOs) of Ensenada, MX, kept his record perfect as he stopped a very game Jorge Guerrero (0-2) of Ciudad Obregon, MX.
In usual jr. flyweight fashion, the pace for the fight was a quick one as both fighters threw punches in bunches with Flores’ landing harder and quicker. The lanky shaved head Flores attacked the body while Guerrero did his best to catch Flores with precise counter punching on Flores’ way out. In the second, Flores began to paw his jab out while he looked for a home for his 
straight right. Guerrero was able to defend against the tactic, so Flores went back to attacking the body with a solid onslaught of hooks and uppercuts to Guerrero’s torso. Guerrero did have some luck catching Flores as he finished up his flurries, but his punches weren’t enough to deter Flores from attacking. Flores’ body attack paid dividends in the third as he dropped Guerrero with a body shot. Although Guerrero beat the count, referee Juan Morales Lee had seen enough and waived off the fight. Official time was 1:18 of the third round.
Under Card Results:
Both super lightweights Jose Maria Valdez (1-1-1) of Tijuana and Francisco Rios (0-2-1) of Ensenada, MX, left nothing on their stools as they battled it out at a high pace for four rounds. The taller Rios gave away his height advantage as he stood toe to toe with Valdez at close quarters. By the third round it was evident that both fighters were fatigued from the bombs they were landing on each other’s body with Rios landing the harder and heavier shots. Rios got his second wind in the fourth as he began to land short combinations from a close distance and almost dropped Valdez in the closing seconds. Shockingly the ringside judges saw it for Valdez with scores of 39-39 twice and 38-38.
Despite bloodying the nose of Mexicali, MX’s Rafael Rios (2-0, 2KOs) in the first round, local super lightweight Luis Enrique Araiza (0-1) came up short in his first professional fight as Rios used his slightly more experience to control the action trapping Araiza against the ropes and unloading with huge straight punches with the right hand making the most damage. Although Araiza has his moments as he threw and occasionally landed hard right uppercuts, it wasn’t enough as referee Juan Jose Ramirez halted the bout at the 1:52 mark of the third round.
In an entertaining four round super featherweight street brawl, Tijuana’s Cesar Lopez (1-1) earned his first win with a majority decision over the game Jose Iñiguez (1-3, 1KOs), also of TIjuana. The much shorter Iñiguez started quicker in the first half of the bout but the southpaw Lopez was able to close out the show with hard uppercuts from either fist and a left hook that dropped Iñiguez in the second but was ruled a slip. Official scores were 39-37 twice and an even 38-38.
Ringside Notes
-With their wins, both Jose Cayetano and Luis Gomez advance to the second round of the “Guante Azteca (Azteca Glove)” tournament to be held later this summer. The two remaining bouts of the first round will be held later this month.
-The tournament was broadcast by the Azteca channel affiliates with Antonio “Tijuana Tornado” Margarito and former two-time WBC female bantamweight champion Jackie “Aztec Princess” Nava as color commentators.
-Also present ringside was newly minted jr. welterweight WBC FECARBOX champ Antonio “Cañitas” Lozada Jr., former IBF featherweight champion Cristobal “Lacandon” Cruz, former two-time jr. middleweight WBA champion Alejandro “Terra” Garcia, former IBF bantamweight champion Raul “Jibaro” Perez and former five time lightweight champion Manuel “Mantecas” Medina.
Recent Comments