The lightweight divisions showcased over the weekend
On Saturday night, Adrian Hernandez (R) and Kompayak Porpramook (L) went full bore to give the fans the most for their entertainment dollar.
When you’re interested in watching a truly great, all action boxing match, you know the boxers in the lighter weight classes, Minimum-weight through Bantamweight are going to deliver. Unlike most heavyweight matches, you never hear anyone shout out, “Do something!”
Just like the ant who can lift 100 times his weight, these are the people who never let up. Perhaps the promoters worldwide have finally caught on to this fact and that’s why we were treated to a steady diet of the lighter weight classes in the weekend’s Main Events.
In the photos above we see Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. in his most memorable bouts – Saturday night’s battle against Jonathan Oquendo and (in the lower right panel) his May 11, 2011 battle royale with Jorge Arce. As if it had happened only last week, fight fans will always remember that WBO junior featherweight title match between the hardened vet Jorge Arce and the young gun Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. After Arce brought the early pressure, Vazquez showed what he’s made of by dropping Arce in the 4th round and controlled the match from that point until Arce pulled out a miracle comeback in the 12th round. In that final round, the champ’s father/trainer, Hall of Famer, threw in the towel following a brutal sequence where Arce blitzed a trapped Vazquez Jr. on the ropes. It was last year’s fight of the year.
On Saturday night, the former WBO super bantamweight champ Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (22-2-1, 19 KOs) returned to score a KO victory over Jonathan “Polvo” Oquendo (22-3, 15 KOs) at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. After a strong start by Oquendo, Vazquez kept getting more dominant round by round. Then, in the 7th round, he unleashed a barrage of punches until Oquendo finally had to take a knee. As the referee progressed through his 10 count, Oquendo knelt there on one knee until the count reached ten.
2012-10-06 Wilfredo Vazquez Jr vs Jonathan Oquendo by sweetboxing4
On the same show, WBO minimum-weight champion Moises “Moi” Fuentes (16-1, 8 KOs) retained his title with a fifth round KO victory over the former two division world champion Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon (35-3-1, 6 KOs). Early on it appeared the 37-year-old Calderon might dominate as he outboxed the much taller Fuentes, but then in Round #4 Fuentes trapped Calderon in the corner and started pummeling him. Calderon went down three times in round five until the referee finally called a halt to the match at the 1:22 mark.
Adrian “Confesor” Hernandez (25-2-1, 16 KOs) who stands 5’8” tall regained the WBC light flyweight title by dethroning the reigning champion 5’o and a ½ inch Kompayak “Suthico” Porpramook (46-4, 31 KOs) by way of a sixth round TKO in their rematch at the Centro de Convenciones in Toluca, Mexico, Hernandez’s hometown.
The highlights of this one: In this all action bout Hernandez caught Porpramook with a right cross to knock him down in Round #3. In the following round, Hernandez suffered a nasty cut over his left eye after an accidental head-butt. In the sixth round, the fight was stopped after Hernandez floored Porpramook with another solid right hand.
In their first bout on December 23, 2011, in Bangkok, Thailand, Porpramook’s home turf, the much shorter Porpramook was victorious by way of a 10th round knockout.
At El Palenque de la Feria, Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico, Jesus “Negrito” Silvestre (26-3-0, 19 KOs) got himself a TKO victory at 0:40 of the fourth round to defeat Takuya Mitamura (12-1-0, 2 KOs) to win the interim WBA World minimum weight title.
On the same fight card, bantamweight Janeth “Cuisilla” Perez (17-0-2, 4 KOs) of Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, defeated 28 year-old Tenkai Tsunami (18-5-0, 7 KOs) of Tokyo, Japan, to win the WBA female world bantamweight title.
Also on Saturday evening, at 0:08 of Round #6, it was Yesica Patricia Marcos 20-0-1, 7 KOs) getting the TKO victory over Dayana Cordero (9-3-0, 7 KOs). At the beginning of the sixth round, Cordero sat aimlessly on her stool as her trainer kept trying to talk to her. Finally, the referee came over and began to issue her a 10 count. She didn’t get up from her stool until the count was completed. After the ref finished, she did get up and appeared to be a bit dazed and started denying the fact that she had quit. Regardless, the vacant WBO female super bantamweight title now goes to Marcos.
Then at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Managua, Nicaragua light flyweight Carlos Buitrago (24-0-0, 15 KOs) of Managua won a 5 round technical decision victory over Jose Aguilar (12-6-2, 5 KOs).
On the undercard of that Main Event, flyweight Roman Gonzalez (33-0-0, 28 KOs) won his bout over Stiven Monterrosa (9-1-2, 8 KOs) by registering a third round TKO.
At the Dalaguete Sports Complex in Dalaguete, Cebu, Philippines, southpaw Vergilio “Maton” Silvano (12-2-1, 7 KOs) was able to overpower Lester Jun Pronco (3-3-0, 2 KOs) to retain his Philippine Boxing Federation light flyweight title.
After sending Pronco to the canvas in Round #7, Silvano came on even stronger in the eighth round prompting Pronco’s corner to throw in the towel. At that point, referee Tony Pesons signaled the end at the 1:04 mark.
This was Silvano’s first defense of the title he had won this past July with a fourth round TKO over Charlie Cabilla at the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City.
And finally, Super Bantamweight Kaliesha West (16-1-3, 4 KOs) came through at the Finish Line Sports Grill in Pomona, CA. She won a 10 round unanimous decision over Christina Ruiz (6-5-2, 4 KOs). Her prize? West can now boast she’s the IFBA super bantamweight champ.
Overall, there were more than a dozen of these exciting matches featuring the lighter weights where the hands go nonstop. If you’re only into watching the big boys, the heavyweights, then you’re missing the boat.
