Boxing results: “Trouble on the Border” at El Rancho Grande

On Thursday evening, March 12, 2015, Velazquez Boxing Promotions returned to El Rancho Grande on Revolucion Bl. in Tijuana’s downtown to showcase 26 hotly contested matches – 13 Amateur and 13 Professional.

On Thursday evening, March 12, 2015, there was another packed house for the latest Tijuana boxing extravaganza. Twenty-six bouts were on the card, 13 Amateur bouts followed by 13 Pro bouts. Labeled “Trouble on the Border” the show was the fourth in a series presented by Velázquez Boxing Promotions under the able direction of CEO Chino Velázquez, brother of super featherweight legend Hector Velázquez. The event took place at El Rancho Grande Bar located on Avenida Revolucion between 5th and 6th streets in downtown Tijuana.

It’s important to note their undersized ring had a lot to do with the patrons being treated to one exciting bout after another. To quote Willie Kuhn, the head of officials for our local USA Amateur Boxing program who was sitting at ringside: “There’s no where to go. If the ring was any smaller, they’d be fighting in a telephone booth.”    

(bottom) The combatants in Bout #1, the victorious Jesus Trujillo (r) and runner-up Luis Javier Ruelas (l).

Bout #1 featured Jesus Trujillo from the Anderson Silva Muay Thai College in Torrance, CA going up against Luis Javier Ruelas from Tijuana. Even though both boxers were making their pro debuts, you wouldn’t know it by their savvy performance.

As promoters usually do, they like to start their show off with a contest they know will get the spectators riled up. Well, that’s what happened on Thursday night after the introduction of Trujillo and Ruelas. Back and forth they went with neither dominating for long. The momentum swings came and went until possibly late in round three when Trujillo started landing several bombs and establishing his inside game.

Abraham “Choko” Rodriguez (top, left) earned an impressive victory on Thursday night by scoring a second round TKO of Cristian Quezada (bottom, right).

Abraham “Choko” Rodriguez (12-0, 6 KOs) has his arm raised in victory by referee Fernando Renteria after scoring the TKO victory over Cristian Quezada.

Building on the excitement created by the Trujillo win over Ruelas, Bout #2 featured another of Tijuana’s favorite sons Abraham “Choko” Rodriguez (12-0, 6 KOs) earning an impressive victory with a second round TKO of Cristian Quezada (0-8 with 6 losses by TKO).

In the first round, both young men threw and landed some scary punches but that soon ended when Rodriguez settled in to land the punches of the unanswered variety, the ones that lead to punches in bunches.

Even though, Rodriguez looks so good in the ring, you have to wonder when his management is going to allow him to fight someone of note. After checking over the list of Rodriguez’s past opponents you soon learn their combined record was 8-48.

(photo left) Referee Fernando Renteria is shown stopping the fight after Angel Zamora was getting hit repeatedly in the neutral corner. (top, right) After the stoppage, you could see the torment in his eyes as Zamora looked dejectedly at his support staff, “Do you believe what just happened.” All photos: Jim Wyatt

(bottom) The victorious Carlos Martinez (c) has his arm raised in victory by referee Fernando Renteria. All photos: Jim Wyatt

Bout #3 featured an upset of sorts as Carlos Martinez now (1-1) won his first super middleweight bout after landing this sudden barrage of punches on a surprised Angel “El Domeodor” Zamora. Deciding Zamora was in trouble, referee Fernando Renteria quickly stepped in to call a halt to the contest, a contest that Zamora, now (0-2) appeared to be winning.

In the collage above you see Gilberto “Cuate” Huidobro (white trunks, yellow trim) on the attack against Antonio “Chelas” Villa who at the time was covering up.

(photo, top) Gilberto Huidobro along with the ring card gal pose for photos after his victory. (bottom, right) For the disappointed Antonio “Chelas” Villa, there’s hope that he can somehow head back to the gym and regroup.

In Bout #4, it was Gilberto Huidobro improving to (5-0, 4 KOs) after receiving a well deserved unanimous decision victory over Antonio “Chelas” Villa (1-13, 1 KO) in their non-competitive lightweight contest.

(top) Juan Carlos Moreno looks across at the very tall Daniel Arambula and thinks, ‘And I thought I was big.’ On Thursday night, Arambula from Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico did well in his first appearance in front of the Tijuana boxing crowd.

Daniel Arambula sits with his proud father to see the remaining bouts on the expanded fight card. His Dad thought nothing of traveling the great distance from Tlaquepaque just to see his son’s first fight in Tijuana. All photos: J. Wyatt

Bout #5 featured the Tijuana debut of cruiserweight 6’4” Daniel Arambula (2-0) from Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico, who now trains at the Marron Boxing Camp in Lakeside, CA. A large group of family and friends which included his father made the long trek from Tlaquepaque to see their pride and joy win a fourth round TKO victory over Juan Carlos Moreno (0-7).

The heavy blows, mostly to the midsection, kept raining down on Moreno until the referee finally decided he had taken far too much punishment.

After putting Adrian Diaz on his back, Alex Hernandez patiently waits to see if he can get up and continue before the referee completes his 10 count.

(top, left) After stopping Adrian Diaz in the third round, Alex Hernandez has his arm raised by veteran referee Juan Manuel Rincon. In the remaining photos Hernandez poses for photos with his corner and the lovely ring card girl.

In Bout #6, featuring two gentlemen making their pro-debuts, Axel Hernandez looked most impressive in his third round destruction of Adrian Diaz. On the way to victory, Hernandez scored a knockdown in round two.

At the conclusion of Bout #7, Manuel Sandoval (l) and Carlos Sanchez (center, right) await the announcement of the judges’ scores.

At the conclusion of Bout #7, it was Carlos Sanchez (r) being declared the winner.

In Bout #7, it was Carlos “Taquerito” Sanchez winning a heated battle with fellow debutant Manuel “Vaquero” Sandoval. Just before the final round began, several people at ringside were wondering if the bout might end in a draw. Then, just like a rainbow that suddenly appears after a summer rain, Sanchez landed these two hard shots to Sandoval’s head in the closing seconds to make the judges decision easier. Two judges had Sanchez winning every round. The other had Sanchez ahead three rounds to one.

In Bout #8, it was Elmer Perez (black trunks, white trim) coming away with the victory over Oscar Estrada (white trunks).

(bottom, right) At the conclusion of Bout #8, we see referee Juan Manuel Rincon raise the arm of the victorious Elmer Perez.

Bout #8 was another heated, seesaw battle between debutants. This one featured super bantamweights Oscar “Bebito” Estrada and Elmer Perez. While darting in and out to do his scoring, Perez always seemed more elusive, ducking at the right time and avoiding payback from the slightly taller Estrada. As in the preceding bout, ringsiders thought the scoring would be close. Wrong again, judge Sergio Lechuga had it a shut out for Perez while Esteban Franco and Leo Ibarra saw it 39-37 for Perez.

After the destruction of Obert “Cachorro” Gastelum (l), you could see Jose Manuel Hernandez (r) was wrapped up in this air of invincibility. The words ‘easy, peasy’ were likely reverberating in his mind.

Bout #9 was a quickie. Middleweight Jose Manuel Hernandez (2-1-1, 2 KOs) landed a body shot to Obert “Cachorro” Gastelum’s midsection at 2:27 of round one and the fight was over. The winless Gastelum (0-5) has yet to get passed the second round.

(bottom left) Ricardo Aguilar (l) is shown pummeling a crouching Eduardo Jimenez.

(photo above) After his victory Ricardo Aguilar first celebrated with Adan Casanova who assisted Aguilar by working in his corner. Then, (below) Aguilar has his arm raised by referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee.

In Bout #10, it was lightweight Ricardo “Richie” Aguilar (2-1) who doubles as an MMA fighter, getting the best of Eduardo Rivera who was making his pro-debut. Aguilar put the fight on ice after sending Rivera to the canvas in round two with a straight right. The judges scores were unanimous. Leobardo Ibarra Bracamontes scored the bout 40-35 while Sergio Lechuga and Esteban Franco both had it 39-36, all for Aguilar.

In Bout #11, it was Erik Gonzales (white trunks) making it look easy against Rodrigo Ruiz (red trunks). After seeing their boxer getting walloped repeatedly, the Ruiz corner wasted little time and through in the towel.

After the stoppage it was Erik Gonzales (l) of the Zapata Boxing Gym having his arm raised in victory by referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee. All photos: J. Wyatt

In Bout #11, a super flyweight match, it was Erik “Lobito” Gonzales (2-0, 1 KO) from Tijuana’s Zapata gym getting the TKO victory over Rodrigo Ruiz who was making his pro-debut. After Ruiz took several unanswered, extremely hard blows to the head, the Hernandez Boxing Team simply felt it was time to throw in the towel. Visibly upset by the move, Ruiz had no recourse but accept his fate and return on another day.

At first, the Fabian Naranjo (green trunks) versus Enrique Guzman (shocking pink trunks) match-up looked extremely competitive.

(photo right) At the conclusion of their contest one of the excitable Naranjo supporters came up into the ring and lifted Fabian high up on his shoulders.

The number of Fabian Naranjo fans was certainly sizable and it seemed like the photo taking was never going to stop. All photos: J. Wyatt

In Bout #12 they had super featherweights Jose Fabian Naranjo (1-0-1) going toe to toe with Enrique “Cid” Guzman (1-4-1), both of whom are from Tijuana. For the first two rounds, this was a tight one with Naranjo doing a slightly better job, especially in the closing seconds to make certain his point total was greater. Come the third round, the boxers began a series of head butts (five in a row) which led to Guzman developing a raised bump on his left forehead (a hematoma). From that point on, Naranjo became even more confident and Guzman less. In the end, all three judges had Naranjo winning every round.

(top) At the conclusion of Bout #13, Miguel Martinez (r) has his arm raised in victory by referee Juan Manuel Morales Lee. (below, right) Unable to trade leather with Martinez, Ivan Ojeda looks despondent as he looks down at the canvas.

Before leaving the facility, family and friends of Miguel Martinez Jr. came up into the ring for a group photo. Photo: J. Wyatt

Bout #13, the six round Main Event of the evening, featured 22 year-old welterweight Miguel Martínez Jr. (4-0-1, 2 KOs), the son of legendary Miguel “Maikito” Martinez (41-28-1, 31 KOs), a Tijuana resident who just happened to be born in San Diego. His opponent, a late substitute, was Ivan “Pantera” Ojeda also from Tijuana who was sporting a 0-1 record.

From the opening bell it became evident that Martinez enjoyed a substantial advantage in skill level. As soon as Ojeda sampled some of Martinez’s offerings, this bout was over. After one barrage which included a punch to the stomach followed by an uppercut, Ojeda turn his back to both Martinez and referee Juan Morales Lee and went to rest his arms on the ropes. At that point he was likely asking himself, ‘What on earth am I doing here?’

At that point, 2:20 of the first round, the ref began to administer his eight count and when reaching eight, he waved his arms in the air to indicate a stoppage and for all intense purposes, the end of a very long day.

(l to r) Super featherweight Francisco Vargas, Will Tomlinson.

Also on Thursday night at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, Super Featherweight Francisco Vargas (22-0-1, 16 KOs) now living in Mexico City but born in Tijuana won a TKO victory over Will Tomlinson (23-2-1, 13 KOs) from Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia to win the WBO International and NABF Super Featherweight titles. The end came at :32 of round eight. You might remember Tomlinson, back on December 4, 2014, he defeated Miguel Zamudio (31-5-1) on the Paco Presents fight card at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.