Friday, March 27th, it’s another classy “Ringside at Del Mar”
Prediction – the light heavyweight clash between Manuel “El Venado” Ceballos and Ronald Mixson will be the bout of the night. Photo: Jim Wyatt
It’s that time again! Professional boxing, the latest in a series of “Ringside at Del Mar” shows, returns to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, tonight, Friday, March 27, 2015. And, to say the least, the veteran matchmaker, Jorge Marron has put together one of the most interesting fight cards this reporter has ever seen.
For instance they have top prospect Elias Espadas in the Main Event. Written into each of Espadas contract is the provision that the promoter must set aside two ringside seats for actors Angelique Boyer and Sebastian Rulli. Photo below shows promoter Jorge Marron standing next to the two honorary seats for the actors who played Montserrat and Alejandro in the extremely popular telenovela, Lo Que La Vida Me Robo. It’s a long story but Espadas met the pair while traveling and like the rest of us telenovela fans, Espadas is one of their biggest fans.
When it comes to the telenovelas coming out of Mexico, there aren’t many actors who are as popular as Sebastian Rulli (photo left with boxer Elias Espadas) and the lovely Angelique Boyer (center photo with Espadas). Espadas wants both super stars to know they are always welcome to come and see him perform.
Main Event
Super middleweights (24 year-old, 5’11”, 74” reach) Elias “Latin Kid” Espadas (7-1-0, 3 KOs) of Merida, Yucatán, Mexico is taking on (5’9”, 70” reach) Adan “Borrego” Leal (9-4-0, 7 KOs) of Tucson, Arizona who was born in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
In his last outing at the same Fairgrounds, Espadas defeated the tough as nails Carlos “Macho” Lopez of Humacao, Puerto Rico (5-1-1, 3 KOs).
Top of the line professionals, Elias Espadas (l) and Adan “Borrego” Leal always put on a great show.
Next we have heavyweight 40 year-old Michael Robinson, a beloved boxing coach at the Encinitas Boxing Club for 11 years. Believe it or not, he will be making his pro-debut versus the very tall Rafael “El Grande” Rios (1-1) who is also from San Diego. Last time out, Rios lost a split decision to Roman “Chino” Borquez of Ensenada, B. C., Mexico. His decision victory came against Edgar “Porky” Najera of Tijuana.
Expect the unexpected! The heavyweight bout between 40 year-old Michael Robinson of the Encinitas Boxing Club weighing in at 346 lbs. making his debut against the Rafael “El Grande” Rios (1-1) also from San Diego, who weighed 238 lbs.
Next they have light heavyweight Manuel “El Venado” Ceballos (4-0-0, 3 KOs) from Merida, Yucatán, Mexico who has fought three times at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. He will be facing Ronald Mixson (2-0, 2 KOs) from San Bernardino, Calif. who fought twice at the Quiet Canyon Casino, Montebello, Calif. Both fighters have had “sensational” amateur backgrounds.
They don’t come much better than these two rising stars. Prediction – the light heavyweight bout between Manuel “El Venado” Ceballos and Ronald Mixson will be the bout of the night.
Then we have welterweights (140-147 lbs.), 27 year-old Brian Nevarez (2-0) of Oceanside, Calif. who trains at the Rhino’s Gym in Vista, Calif. facing 28 year-old Daurend Niyazbayev of The Boxing Club in La Jolla. Niyazbayev, who started his training at 15 and trained for 10 years, had recently been an exchange student at UCSD and after just a short while speaks perfect English. Before arriving in the U. S., Niyazbayev, who is from Kostanay, Kazakhstan, competed on the Kazakhstan National Boxing Team and won a Bronze Medal. With Kazakhstan being the home country of Triple GGG, he’s had an opportunity to meet several of the country’s world champions. Kazakhstan, directly below Russia, northwest of China, is just about three times the size of Texas.
(photo, top) The question in the Brian Nevarez (r) versus Daurend Niyazbayev (l) bout is whether Nevarez, the power puncher, can get in close.
While training at The Boxing Club in La Jolla, Niyazbayev has had the privilege of meeting, not only it’s 28 year-old owner Artem Sharoshkin, a current Muay Thai champion but the gents shown here. Photo above: (l to r) former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd, boxer Trent Rawlins from Melbourne, Australia, Daurend Niyazbayev, and boxers Steven Nelson and Stephan Shaw.
Our interesting tale about Gennady Golovkin, Triple GGG: As one of four brothers to a Russian father who was a coal miner, and a Korean mother who was an assistant in a chemical laboratory, his older brothers, Sergey and Vadim, kept pushing him to be a fighter.
Growing up, Sergey and Vadim would walk the streets with Gennady and pick boys out of a crowd. Then ask their little brother, “Are you afraid of him, they would ask? When he said no, they would tell him to go and pick a fight. Sometimes they’d wrestle and other times they would box. Believe it or not, his brothers did this while he was in kindergarten, and every day it was a different kid.
When Triple GGG was eight, both Sergey and Vadim joined the Russian army. In 1990, his brother Vadim was killed in action. In 1994, Sergey was also killed in action. There were no details given by the government officials and there was no funeral for either. Both brothers were lost before Gennady turned 14. Golovkin however pressed on and used the family tragedy as motivation to continue his fighting.
Getting back to Mr. Daurend Niyazbayev. He also had an obliging brother and when Niyazbayev reached eight years-old, his older brother who was 16 at the time, had his little brother go around challenging perfect strangers. Then, one day, the older brother pointed to this National champion by the name of Gennady Golovkin who was four years older than Dauren and said go pick a fight with that guy. Both had a hearty laugh.
Next, they have super featherweight Roque Ramos (5-0-1, 1 KO) of Vista, CA set to face Raymond Chacon (5-14-0, 1 NC). Last time out, Ramos, who has fought four of his six fights at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, defeated Jesus Sandoval by unanimous decision at the Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, Calif.
After performing in 20 bouts, fighting only three boxers with a losing record, Chacon has never failed to go the distance. However, h did fail to show up for Thursday’s weigh-in and for an excuse he claimed his auto broke down. My guess, he had pressing business elsewhere and he will be reporting for the fight on Friday.
The super featherweight clash between Roque Ramos (5-0-1, 1 KO) of Vista, CA and Raymond Chacon (5-14-0, 1 NC) should still be doable even though Chacon missed Thursday’s weigh-in. (photo, below right) has Chacon doing battle with Jorge Ruiz, a well contested fight at this same venue.
The super middleweight bout between 6’1”, 26 year-old Ulises Sierra (8-0-2, 5 KOs) of San Diego, Calif. and 30 year-old, 6’1” Alfredo “Galan” Contreras (13-18-2) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (who has fought such notables as Lester Gonzalez, Sakio Bika, Anthony Dirrell, George Groves, Rigoberto Alvarez, Craig McEwan, James Parison, Sebastien Demers, David Lemieux, Marco Antonio Periban, Anatoliy Dudchenko, Cedric Agnew, Paul Mendez, Shawn Estrada) had to be cancelled after both Dashon Johnson and Contreras failed to report. Take note, Contreras had signed a contract to face Sierra.
To fill out the fight card, they added a super welterweight bout with 31 year-old Jose Mejia (0-1) from Palmdale, CA facing 24 year-old Julian Bautista from Santa Paula, Calif. who will be making his professional debut. Both gentlemen agreed to the fight with less than a 48 hour notice. And as a counterbalance to the Gennady Golovkin tale, Mejia has an interesting tale about how his son got him started in boxing.
The 31 year-old Jose Mejia (0-1) from Palmdale, CA (r) will be facing 24 year-old Julian Bautista (l) who often times trains at the Robert Garcia Academy in Oxnard, Calif.
Tickets starting at just $30 for this Friday, March 27, 2015 show at the Activity Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds are still available – doors open at 6:00 p.m.
