Robles defeats Ugas to win WBC Latino title

Friday, February 28, 2014

On Friday evening, Bobby DePhilippis of Bobby D Presents in association with Caribe Promotions returned to the Crowne Plaza Hanalei Hotel in San Diego with another outstanding boxing show. In this one, they had not one but three championship belts up for grabs.

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In the evening’s Main Event, for the Interim WBC Light Welterweight Latino Title, it was San Diego light welterweight Emmanuel “Renegade” Robles (9-0-1, 3 KOs) in his first ever, 10 round title fight, taking on the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Yordenis Ugas (15-1, 7 KOs) from Florida by way of Havana, Cuba.

One of the comments heard at ringside concerned the disparity in their body types. “Ugas has at least two inches on Robles,” said one boxing pundit. “He’ll benefit big time from his reach advantage.”

His buddy disagreed, “That won’t be a problem if Robles stays inside. And another thing, look at their legs. Ugas has those spindly legs while Robles has strong legs and ankles for better balance. When they get into the later rounds, I’d much rather have my money on the boxer with the stronger legs.”

Round by round scoring

Round #1 went to Ugas who, even though he landed the same or even less punches, his punches had more power behind them. 10-9 Ugas

Round #2 In an effort to even things out, Robles stepped it up and began throwing more punches but in the end you still had to credit Ugas for landing the harder, cleaner shots.  10-9 Ugas

Round #3 Ugas’ stinging jab sets Robles up to be caught by the hard shots to the body as he comes in. Even though it was Robles, moving forward and applying the pressure, it was Ugas doing more damage by waiting to counter. Plus, the most telling blow of the round, a hard overhand right was landed by Ugas.

At the close of the round, your ringside reporter heard, “He’s not going to last.” 10-9 Ugas

Round #4 There were signs Robles might be closing the gap. Even though Ugas was still scoring well, he no longer showed his earlier dominance. 10-9 Robles

Round #5  In this round, Robles landed more body shots. Even though this chess match of tit for tat exchanges was very close, it appeared Robles had gained some momentum and may have a shot at winning this contest.  10-9 Robles

Round #6 Robles landed a solid left hook to the chin that hurt Ugas. He followed with a combination and suddenly the muscular, seemingly Herculean, Ugas went down in his corner. Even though he beat the count you could see he was in a fog. Robles wasted no time and went full bore to try and finish him off. From that point on, the veteran Ugas pushed and shoved while circling about the ring to keep just out of range and survive the round. 10-8 Robles

Round #7  Behind on the score cards, Ugas felt he had to make up some ground and went back to his earlier strategy of boxing from the outside. At that point he started catching Robles as he came in with the right uppercut that hurt Robles. Also, three right crosses landed. Still not enough to stop Robles’ attack, he went with three body shots, two of them were questionable low blows. Ugas ended the round with a right cross after the bell. 10-9 Ugas

Round #8  Robles came back in the eighth round as both fighters kept fighting at an accelerated clip with Robles controlling the inside while Ugas boxed well from the outside. Even though the punches had more force behind them, they were off target as each was hoping to land the big knockout blow. 10-9 Robles

Round #9 The ninth round mirrored the eighth round but now the boxers were at the point of frustration, ‘What is it going to take to make this guy slow down or quit?’ There was no quit in Robles who remained unflappable. 10-9 Robles

Round #10 At this point, with both fighters having puffy eyes and their faces marked up, you would have thought one or the other would slip up and make a critical error. As poised as he was that person was not going to be Robles. He kept plugging away with the same intensity as if this thing was to go another five rounds. 10-9 Robles

You could have heard a pin drop as ring announcer, Benny Ricardo, read off the scores: “And now ladies and gentlemen, we go to the scorecards. Alejandro Rochin scores the bout 96-93 for Ugas. While judge Tony Crebs scores the bout 95-94 Robles! And finally judge Fritz Werner scored it 97-92… for the new, Interim WBC Light Welterweight Latino Champion, Emmanuel Robles.”

The crowd went wild as the kneeling Robles rose to his feet and began jumping in the air. Supporters had tears in their eyes. The commotion reminded you of the celebratory roar of the crowd when a high school’s star football player picks up a fumble and runs it back for the game winning score.

Behind the scenes complications: After Robles was awarded the green and gold WBC belt, the representative of the World Boxing Council, Ramon Garcia Septien waited a few minutes for the celebratory photos, then grabbed the belt to leave. Unaccustomed to having a local fighter win such a prestigious award, Robles’ management soon discovered if they wanted to keep the belt then somebody was going to have to fork over $500. Say what? After some scrambling, the promoter, Bobby DePhilippis wrote a check for the belt and said, “No worries, that’s the best $500 I’ve ever spent.”

The burning question, “How was it possible for this relatively unknown boxer to beat someone of Yordenis Ugas’ pedigree, his renown? Ugas was bigger, he has the longer reach and years of experience training with and against southpaws. Most every boxer in Cuba is trained to fight in the southpaw stance.

Answer: Look at the people in Robles’ corner. Look to his support staff. He has two former boxers, Ernie “Silky” Johnson and Ernest “Too Slick” Johnson, Jr. coaching him. He had one of the best cut man, Juan Ramirez in his corner. Somehow, Ramirez was able to keep the bruises around his eyes from swelling up. Plus, Robles is from a gym where he receives unconditional support from everyone. And finally and most importantly, Robles showed he has courage and this is the first quality of a warrior. He never doubted his ability to eventually triumph over his most accomplished opponent.

Dorticos makes quick work of Ventura

The special attraction 10 round match between Yuniel “Dr. KO” Dorticos (16-0-0, 16 KOs) from Havana, Cuba and Hamilton Ventura from Sao Paolo, Brazil for the WBC Latino and the WBA Fedelatin cruiserweight title turned out to be a quickie as the “Doctor of the knockout” went straight after the previously unbeaten Ventura (13-1-1, 11 KOs) and “started pounding on him as if he were a one of those paper mache piñatas and he was a sledgehammer” that’s a direct quote is from Buck Eilers who was at Ringside. After being busted open, that pinata went to the canvas on three different occasions, all in the first round before the referee finally decided this guy was finished.

Not to belittle Ventura’s efforts, but he didn’t show much. As soon as he felt Dorticos’ power, he went down. The first knockdown was called a slip by referee Pat Russell but the next two were more pronounced. The second official knockdown was the end all for Ventura who did not object when referee Pat Russell held out his arm for him to stay seated. Official time was 2:19 of the first round.

Tijuana’s Enriquez looked masterful in her U.S. debut

In the semi-main event, Tijuana’s Kenia Enriquez (10-0, 5 KOs) won a lopsided unanimous decision victory over the game but less talented Noemi “La Rebelde” Bosques (4-1-2, 1 KO) of St. Petersburg, Florida, in their 6-two minute rounds.

After fighting just a year and half and only in her hometown, the WBC, World Boxing Council, thought enough of Enriquez’s expertise to rank her their #9 Female Flyweight in the world. Now signed with promoter Bobby DePhilippis, this was her first fight, not only outside of Tijuana, but outside of Mexico. For Bosques, this was her outing outside of the Sunshine State.

As has been the case, Enriquez wasted little time and soon had her opponent taking a seat on the canvas. Bosques, more surprised than hurt, jumped up quickly from this flash knockdown and became even more aggressive with her awkward lunging in and out style.

In the second round, to her credit, Bosques did land three hard punches, two left hooks and a right cross. However, with each successful lunging punch, Enriques would redouble her efforts and answer with a combination of blows.

After a series of right hands landed flush in Round #3, a mate at ringside said, “Wow, Noemi’s face is getting mighty red.” Even though it wasn’t streaming down from her nose, there was blood and several bruises on her face.

By the fourth round, Kenia was definitely in the driver’s seat and Bosques’ punches were either coming up short or off target. Countering off each miss, Enriquez’s straight rights would get through Bosques’ guard.

Still game, Bosques kept on throwing punches looking for that one, big, miraculous knockout blow right up until the final bell.

The final decision was never in doubt. Judges Alejandro Rochin and Fritz Werner had it 60-53 for Enriques while judge Tony Crebs awarded one round to Bosques with a score of 59-54.

Blood aplenty in the Sierra vs Myers matchup

San Diego’s Ulises Sierra (5-0-1, 4 KOs) had virtually no problem in his destruction of the game but out of shape Loren “Rock” Myers (9-18-1, 2 KOs) in their four round light heavyweight match. As they say Mr. Sierra battered Myers from pillar to post.

The referee’s stoppage came after an initial cut to Myers lip became even wider after a Sierra right cross. The cut on the right side of his mouth began spurting blood on both Myers and Sierra like one of those Texas oil gushers. As soon as referee Jose Cobian realized the severity of this cut, he stopped the match and again had Myers visit the ringside doctor who concluded it was indeed ghastly and recommended the stoppage. Official time was 1:58 of the third round.

Prince “Tiger” Smalls gets his third win

In the opener, a lightweight four rounder, Prince “Tiger” Smalls (3-0-1) of San Diego completely out boxed Percy Peterson (0-2) of Stockton, CA. The only time the winless Peterson looked competitive was in the second round when he bull rushed the taller Smalls and landed a quick flurry of punches. Other than that, Smalls controlled the match from start to finish with his demonstrative jab which often had Peterson’s head snapping back. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Smalls.