Professional fisticuffs returned to the beautiful seaside port of Ensenada, MX, about 100 miles south of Tijuana, Friday night when Antonio Lozada’s Baja
Ruvalcaba Attacks Virgen
Boxing presented a jam packed fight card filled with mostly a young crop of upstarts. Over seven hundred local fight fans witnessed a major upset when thirty-five year old grizzled veteran Rito Ruvalcaba (34-10, 30KOs) of Tijuana, MX, stopped previously undefeated local homegrown favorite Juan Carlos Virgen (16-1-1, 11KOs) to capture the middleweight WBC FECARBOX title in the main event.
After an enthusiastic reception by his hometown crowd welcomed Virgen into the ring, Ruvalcaba welcomed him to the fight with a sharp left hook in the opening minutes of the first round that caught Virgen’s attention.
Virgen on Canvas
Despite being the taller fighter, Ruvalcaba was not interested in fighting from a distance as he tried to score with power punches to the head while corner, lead by Bobby Quirarte, implored him to use his jab. Virgen kept the action in the middle of the ring and scored with a left hook at the end of the round.
Virgen turned up the heat slightly in the second as he began to throw punches at a busier clip in the first minute of the round. As Virgen walked Ruvalcaba back towards the ropes, the hard hitting Ruvalcaba caught Virgen with a perfectly placed right uppercut that instantly separated the Ensenada fighter from his senses, sending him crashing down to the canvas. Surprisingly Virgen was able to beat the count but in no way was he fit to continue and the third man in the ring, Juan Duarte, deemed it so and waived it off. Official time was 1:39 of the second round.
Ruvalcaba, New WBC FECARBOX Middleweight Champion
With the win, Ruvalcaba straps on the WBC FECARBOX middleweight title. Previous to the bout, Ruvalcaba mentioned that if he lost, that would be the end of his seventeen year old career which has seen him face elite fighters such as Sergio Mora, Jose Luis Zertuche, Epifanio Mendoza, Eric Regan, WIlliam Joppy and Luis Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas.
“Rocky” Stops “Durango” Quick!
The semi-main event was even shorter the star fight as Mario “Rocky” Meraz (12-0, 12KOs) of Ensenada, MX, kept his knock out streak alive when he impressively did short work of Tijuana, MX’s Guillermo “Durango” Garcia (6-3, 2KOs) in a super welterweight contest. Garcia bum rushed Meraz while the first bell was still ringing, throwing punches in bunches and displaying foot work as he moved around the perimeter of the ring. Meraz was right there with him as he tried to cut off the ring, landing a left hook that hurt Garcia and stopped him in his tracks. Meraz took advantage and pinned “Durango” against the ropes and unleashed a barrage of punches with the majority finding their mark. A hard right hand dropped Garcia but he was able to beat the count only to get caught again against the ropes and with bigger punches, referee Juan Duarte stopped the bout at the 2:30 mark of the first round.
Other Results:
Ensenada light heavyweight Ramiro “Tarzan” Siordia (10-5-1, 7KOs) dropped Alfredo Sanchez (3-5, 2KOs) of Agua Prieta, MX, three times in the fourth round of a scheduled six to earn the TKO win. Official time was 2:09 of the fourth.
Roman Villalejos (2-0, 1KO) of Ensenada, MX, earned a rough and tumble four round super featherweight unanimous decision over Tijuana’s Cesar Lopez (1-2). Official scores were 40-36 three times.
Despite being caught with a hard right hand that sent him reeling, Miguel Angel “Kanibal” Garcia (3-0, 2KOs) of Tijuana, MX, was able to recuperate to hurt and force the much taller Ramon Quezada (0-5) of Chihuahua, MX, to give his back and quit. Official time was 2:58 of the second time.
Crowd favorite Eduardo “Puas” Diaz (1-0) made his first professional fight a tought one as he battled out a four round jr. welterweight split decision over the game Miguel Esparza (0-5) of San Quintin, MX. Scores were 40-36 twice for Diaz and 38-38.
Tijuana’s Edwin “Tiburon” Solis (2-0, 2KOs) knocked out Ivan Chavelas (1-4) of Nacozari, MX, with a devastating over hand right mid way thru the second round. Official time was 1:26.
Jesus Alejandro Juarez (1-0, 1KO) made his pro debut a good one as he stopped the over match Macario Leyva (0-1) of Agua Prieta, MX, in the second round. Juarez of Tijuana, MX, controlled the action from the opening bell and dropped Leyva, who was also fighting for the pay for the first time, three times before the contest was stopped at the 1:35 mark of the second round.
Recent Comments