Gesta stops Riovalle in the 8th round at Del Mar

Friday night at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, it was Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (r) going toe to toe with Edgar “Basuras” Riovalle (l). Photo: Jim Wyatt

Wow! The evolution of our local fighters plus the competitive arena for local promoters has certainly heated up. Once again, a local promoter outdid himself and once again local boxing fans became the beneficiaries.

Friday night, it was the long awaited return of super lightweight Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta of San Diego by way of Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines (27-1, 15 KOs) who in the eighth and final round stopped the rugged Edgar “Basuras” Riovalle of Mexico City, Mexico (37-18-2, 26 KOs) to get the victory. This was the latest show in the “Ringside at Del Mar” boxing series held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and presented by Paco Presents, A&T GYM, Don Chargin in association with Barron Entertainment. As far as the talent level, each show has gotten better by hosting more and more competitive bouts. You talk about competition, check out these heavyweights of music.

(left) On hand to sing the National Anthem of the Philippines was actress/singer Mrs. Genesis Canlapan-Walcher (a.k.a. Patricia Javier, a.k.a. DJ G-Love) in her sleek, shocking pink dress. (right) Javier is joined by ring announcer Benny Ricardo (r) and award winning tenor Gerardo Gaytan (l). Photos: J. Wyatt

Ladies first, as Patricia Javier sings her country’s National Anthem.

Only the best will do. Imagine you’ve been commissioned to find a vocalist to sing the Mexican National Anthem knowing this person will be competing against two gifted singers, LeAnn Rhimes on CD and Patricia Javier live. That was Gabriel Barron’s task as organizer of Friday’s event. As luck would have it, he convinced award winning tenor Gerardo Gaytan (r) to do just that.

The competition within the competition: the applause meter went through the roof after Gaytan finished his impeccable delivery of the Mexican National Anthem.    As mentioned above, the swift of foot, even swifter of hands, Gesta scored his first win in his first fight back after a 16 month layoff. The fight came to an end at the :47 mark of the eighth round after Riovalle’s corner threw in the towel. At the time of their decision, Riovalle was getting pummeled by one flurry after another, unanswered shots to the both the stomach and head. Riovalle knew early on that he wasn’t going to be able to out-point Gesta, so all he could hope for was to land that one, big, knockout blow. Round after round, Riovalle was like a spider beckoning Gesta to come close so he could jump all over him and land the knockout blow. He’d often absorb six or seven of Gesta’s rapid fire punches just to land his own two to three punch combination.

After introductions, the equally divided fan bases were on the edge of their seats.

Action photos provided by Paul Gallegos

By the seventh round, with all the earlier rounds in Gesta’s coffer, the situation got dire. That’s when Riovalle threw caution to the wind and Gesta made him pay for it with his repeated left hooks to the head and body to cause a late round knockdown.

Boxers went nonstop. Action photos provided by Paul Gallegos

It didn’t appear Riovalle (r) was concerned about the round by round scoring as Gesta was given free range to pound him against the ropes. Photos: J. Wyatt

(top) Mercito Gesta celebrates the Riovalle knockdown. (below, left) After Riovalle received his standing 8-count, Gesta went right back to pounding his opponent against the ropes. Seconds later a white towel came flying over those ropes, whereupon referee Pat Russell called for an end to the carnage at the :47 mark of round eight. Photos: J. Wyatt

At the conclusion of the contest, promoter/matchmaker Jorge Marron (r) joined Mercito Gesta in the center of the ring while referee Pat Russell (l) raised Gesta’s arm to signify victory. Photo: J. Wyatt

At this point, everyone was clamoring for a photo with Mercito Gesta.

After the stoppage the warriors received plaudits from the crowd, then showed good sportsmanship by shaking hands and embracing. Photo: J. Wyatt

(bottom) The Mercito Gesta Team is escorted back to their dressing room.

Video of Gesta vs. Riovalle match provided by WhyYouScammin

Undercard results:

In the opener, a super featherweight clash, they featured a classic righty versus lefty match-up between Riccy Hood, a tall, muscular righty from the San Diego Combat Academy and making his pro debut, going up against Mercito Gesta’s younger brother, southpaw Anecito “DonDon” Gesta.

This was one of those tit for tat matches. Each time Gesta would clobber Hood with a straight left, Hood made certain to return the favor with an even more powerful straight right. As long as he remembered to move to his left and stay away from Gesta’s power, he was doing fine. Then, three quarters of the way through round one, the fighters legs got tangled up and Hood, off-balance, fell to the canvas. The fall wasn’t caused by a punch, it was more of a slip and shove. Regardless, referee Jose Cobian ruled it was a knockdown, which gave Gesta a 10-8 round to start the contest. To make up for this gaffe, Hood spent the rest of the fight making certain he won every exchange, every round to earn the identical scores of 38-37 on the scorecards of judges Tony Crebs and Pat Russell. The contrarian score of 39-36 for Gesta by judge Fritz Werner is frankly unexplainable.

(top) In round one of Bout #1, Riccy Hood (red trunks) and Anecito “DonDon” Gesta (white with orange trim) were throwing these bombs at each other, Hood with the powerful right hand, Gesta with the awesome left. (below) Each showed they could take each other’s best punch. Photos: Paul Gallegos

Chaos plus Anecito Gesta’s right foot tripping Riccy Hood led to a fall that immediately had Riccy Hood behind 10-8 on the judges’ scorecards.

(bottom, right) After having his arm raised in victory, Riccy Hood is joined by the lovely ring card girls representing the local 7UP distributorship.

Bout #2, a light heavyweight match, featuring Manuel “El Venado” Ceballos of Merida, Yucatán, Mexico and Jamel “9MM” Reynolds from Los Angeles, CA was a bombs away slugfest in round one with both fighters landing countless big punches. Midway through the second round, that situation deteriorated substantially for Reynolds who suddenly went into survival mode. Everything he threw was off target. Everything Ceballos threw landed square. From that point, Reynolds was like one of those police in riot gear hiding behind a plastic shield. Only problem, his gloves and arms couldn’t stop the powerful, looping power shots to his head and body. Before long, Ceballos caught Reynolds with a punch that sent him flying backwards to the canvas. Reynolds beat the count but from that point on, he became Ceballos’ punching bag until the 2:21 mark of the third round when referee Pat Russell figured it was the proper time to call a halt to this beat down. The frustrated Reynolds became incensed and protested bitterly against the early stoppage.

Above photos of Manuel “Venado” Ceballos (white, red & blue trunks) battling Jamel “9MM” Reynolds (camoflauge trunks) taken by Paul Gallegos

By the third round, things started to get ugly, especially after Jamel Reynolds went flying backwards from one of Ceballos’ hard rights. Photos: J. Wyatt

Just before the stoppage, Jamel Reynolds’ strategy involved a lot of holding on for dear life. Photo: Jim Wyatt

“Stoppage! Why?” referee Pat Russell got an earful from Jamel Reynolds who protested what he considered an early stoppage. Photos: J. Wyatt

(top, left) After the stoppage, Manuel “Venado” Ceballos had his arm raised in victory by referee Pat Russell. Photos: J. Wyatt

In a super featherweight match, Bout #3, Roque “Rocky” Ramos of Vista, CA defeated the durable Luis Silva of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico with scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice. From past outings, it appears Silva has gotten much better. That being said, he had no chance against the better conditioned, harder throwing Ramos who likes to stand right there in front of you and bang away. When the scores were announced, two of the three judges had given Silva the one close round, round #2, when in fact Ramos finished that round by doubling up on two of the hardest right uppercuts that you’ll ever see. At that point, the action was in the far corner where two of the judges likely had an obstructed view.

(top) Luis Silva is introduced to the crowd. (right) At the outset, Silva was quite competitive, even if it only lasted a round. Photos: Paul Gallegos

As soon as he found his range, “Rocky” Ramos was in Luis Silva’s grill unloading a host of bad intentions. Photos: Paul Gallegos

(top, left) At the conclusion of Bout #3, Roque Ramos was joined by his support staff (l to r) Jack Ballo, Kalina Fernandez and Tony Contreras. (top, right) Ramos has his arm raised in victory by referee Jose Cobian. Photos: J. Wyatt

During intermission, special guests were introduced: (l to r) former coach/gym owner Joe Lopez, former Lightweight Champ Rodolfo “Gato” Gonzales who’s records stands at 80 wins 67 KOs, pro boxers Pablo Cupul, Emmanuel Diaz, Alan Sanchez, Oscar Molina, amateur Krista Aquino, pros Charles Huerta, Alfredo Contreras, Tony Valencia, Carlos Molina, Terrence Hendricks, Joshua Marks, ending with matchmaker/promoter Jorge Marron. Photo: Jim Wyatt

In Bout #4, a featherweight contest, Prince “Tiger” Smalls (4-0-1) of the San Diego Combat Academy won an easy four round unanimous decision over the winless Michael Haigood (0-3). Simply put, Smalls’ accuracy combined with his head snapping jabs plus the occasional two and three punch combinations stopped Haigood dead in his tracks. Things got sloppy in the third and fourth rounds after the battered Haigood went with this smothering tactic of grab and hold which helped him last until the final bell.

Prefight, the combatants in Bout #4, Prince “Tiger” Smalls (l) and Michael Haigood (r) look across the ring at one another. Photos: J. Wyatt

Talk about your one sided fights, it appeared Prince “Tiger” Smalls was in charge every step of the way. Action photos: Paul Gallegos

The above average action photo: They say even the blind squirrel gets lucky and finds a nut. Here we see Prince “Tiger” Smalls unleashing one of his lethal, head snapping jab on the unsuspecting Michael Haigood. Photo: J. Wyatt

(bottom) At the conclusion of Bout #4, Prince “Tiger” Smalls has his arm raised in victory by referee Pat Russell. Photos: J. Wyatt

In Bout #5, a featherweight contest, Chula Vista’s Jorge “Tito” Ruiz (6-1-0, 2 KOs) won an impressive, unanimous decision victory over the hard punching Oscar Venegas (3-4-0, 2 KOs) of Maywood, CA. In the action packed first round, Ruiz did well after establishing his stiff jab which set Venegas up for the occasional left hook or right cross. If that didn’t work, he’d wait on Venegas to throw his jab, then counter with the more accurate left hooks. In round two, Ruiz mixed things up and soon had Venegas’ face red. After becoming even more elusive in round three, he went back to the well placed counters. In round four, as if punctuating his fine performance, Ruiz landed the hardest punch of the fight, a big overhand right.

(bottom, center) In Bout #5, Jorge “Tito” Ruiz (r) is about to unleash a devastating left uppercut on the chin of an unsuspecting Oscar “Pescador” Venegas. The great action shots have been provided by Paul Gallegos

One can almost imagine Jorge “Tito” Ruiz (l) issuing Oscar Venegas (r) an advisory with this punch, ‘Here she comes my friend.” Photo: Paul Vallegos

Oscar Venegas issues his own warning, “I’ll be back.” Photo: J. Wyatt

To the victor goes the spoils. Everyone wanted a photo with their hero Jorge Ruiz. (bottom, right) Ruiz poses for a photo with his father. Photos: J. Wyatt

Jorge “Tito” Ruiz has his arm raised in victory after he defeated Oscar Venegas in Bout #5. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Venegas was certainly a worthy opponent but accepting the fight on just three days notice may have been his downfall. A Special Edition of “Ringside at Del Mar” will take place on Thursday, May 15th at 7 p.m. and be a part of the popular Golden Boy Live! On FOX Sports 1 boxing series presented by Corona Extra and O’Reily Auto Parts. This event will be televised live on both FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes and be promoted by Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions in association with Paco Presents, A&T GYM, Don Chargin Productions, and San Diego based Barron Entertainment.