Not even March & already several contenders for Fight of the Year
Friday, February 16, 2018, just before the start of their Super Flyweight Championship bout, Dewayne Beamon (l) and Angel “Diablito” Ramos along with their coaches met at center ring to receive final instructions from referee Fernando Renteria.
Friday afternoon at the Salon Mezzanine in Tijuana, the Borizteca Boxing Management Group and the production crew of BestInBoxing.com were hard at work setting up for what they had hoped would be a spectacular night of boxing. Being a purveyor of the fighting sports plus realist, Saul Rios, the CEO of Borizteca Boxing Promotions, has learned to be a multi-tasker, and of course he was hustling about the venue checking and rechecking with his support staff, ring announcer, color commentators, officials plus the 22 boxers on his fight card to make certain everyone was prepared.
Rios needs to be mentally-sharp, quick-witted so he can minimize the unavoidable glitches and ensure that all of his performers have the wherewithal to do the very best. When you’re the type who keeps striving for perfection, it’s surprising how often you reach that plateau. On Friday, Mr. Rios and his staff hit paydirt with a classic show with more than a few of the most memorable fights of all time.
Candidate #1 for Bout of the Year, Friday’s Main Event
Things have certainly gotten off to a quick start for the 32-year-old Dewayne “Easy” Beamon who only recently signed a promotional contract with San Diego’s Borizteca Boxing Promotions plus a separate contract with a new manager. Because of his late start in the sport, his college diploma came first, the 32-year-old, gifted athlete insisted that he fight only the top people in his division. To honor this request, Borizteca’s CEO arranged to have him fight Angel “Diabolito” Francisco Ramos (21-1-1, 12 KOs) in just his second fight on the West Coast. Ramos, a 24-year-old southpaw from Ensenada, B. C., Mexico, has a reputation for being a gutsy, tenacious, upper echelon, in-your-face brawler.
On Fight Night, the promoter had the Main Event slotted to go in the final bout of the evening which did turn out to be an error in judgment since the majority of the BestInBoxing.com $2.99 Pay-Per-Viewers would be East Coasters, namely Beamon backers from North Carolina. This meant if those East Coasters wanted to see Beamon’s fight Live, they would need to stay up until 2:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and then stay awake another 45-50 minutes until this 10 rounder had concluded and the winner announced. That’s no way to treat a loyal fan base. http://bestinboxing.com/live-fight-night/
In regards to the scoring of the Main Event, the consensus had Beamon winning round one and then Ramos winning the next four rounds. Therefore, all Ramos had to do was win one of the remaining five rounds to secure a draw or two rounds for the outright victory. The overwhelming amount of patrons felt Ramos had done more than enough when he won the final round. One judge, based on his view of the fight, scored the bout 97 to 93 for Ramos. While the two remaining judges, looking on from a different perspective, scored the bout 95-95 even, which made this remarkable back and forth struggle a Majority Draw.
The points of contention for the Ramos side involved the three times Beamon used this tactic of placing his left glove on the back of Ramos’ neck to bring his head down so he could deliver two fully leveraged right uppercuts to Ramos’ head in rounds four and eight plus a nasty low blow in round 10. After delivering the blows to Ramos’ head in round four and eight, Beamon did capitalize. By Round 10, the referee had caught on to Beamon’s earlier tactic and stepped in to issue him a warning. When the low blow occurred, it seemed almost miraculous that Ramos was able to stay on his feet. By grabbing and holding Beamon, Ramos was able to finish out the round.
The points of contention for the Beamon camp involved the two times Ramos lost his balance and went down, once in Round one after Ramos’ foot got entangled with Beamon’s and again from a slippery-when-wet corner, his own, which caused Ramos to go down a second time. Since referee Fernando Renteria was in the proper position to see what happened, both of these disputes were ruled groundless.
Despite what anyone says, conditioning had to play a part in the performance of both athletes. Prior to taking this fight, it was mentioned that Ramos had just 17 days to prepare and there was a mention of a nagging left shoulder ailment. The overconfident Beamon, the constant self-promoter, hurt himself by doing a lot of running around and even ended up in the high altitude of Big Bear, Calif., elevation 7,000 to 8,000 feet to spar with Carlos Cuadras. After returning to sea-level, it had to affect his blood pressure. Then, in the latter stages of Friday night’s fight, the 10th round to be specific, patrons saw Beamon’s nose begin to bleed profusely. We suggest you watch the fight and register your own opinion. http://bestinboxing.com/live-fight-night/ At higher altitudes, the body works harder to process oxygen. The stress of this fight obviously caused higher than normal blood pressure. The longer someone trains at that higher altitude, the better acclimatized their body becomes. It’s tricky business.
The consequences of this Draw is also tricky business. After Beamon and Saul Rios, his promoter, made such a big thing of coming up into the ring right before the Viktor “El Chaky” Sandoval vs Jairo Gutierrez fight and promised to fight Sandoval in June, where does that leave Sandoval who at this point feels slighted, completely ignored, when he entered the ring on Friday night. And after watching Beamon’s performance against Ramos, Sandoval then stated that he can’t wait to face Beamon to gain another “W”.
Immediately following the announcement of a “Draw”, the lead announcer for Borizteca Boxing Promotions, Marcos Gallegos, went up into the ring to quiz the boxers in regards to their thoughts about the decision.
Ramos fans, to include WBC Female Flyweight Champ Kenia Enriquez, were everywhere, hoping to have a word with their local hero.
As mentioned there were a great many local boxers and fans on hand to support Ramos, such as Oscar Negrette who recently fought Rey Vargas for his WBC Super Bantamweight title, plus the female standouts (l) Sandra Robles and Kenia Enriquez (r), standing alongside the show’s promoter Saul Rios.
And now the complete results from Friday evening’s memorable show
Bout #1 was a bit onesided as the 22-year-old super bantamweight Dilan Miranda (left) in his Pro Debut had a relatively easy time versus Carlos “Viveal100” Escobedo (0-6) from Tijuana, B. C., Mexico, Global ID 770177, DOB 4-9-95. Miranda, who resides in Chula Vista, Calif. by way of Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, trains at the Bound Boxing Academy in Chula Vista with its highly respected owner/trainer Juan Medina Jr.
Simply put, Escobedo didn’t have the pedigree of Miranda, who fought 5 years as an amateur, was a Golden Gloves State champ, plus two-time Tijuana State Champion. With the win, Miranda goes to (1-0) while Escobedo drops to (0-7).
Bout #2 featured the 21–year-old, DOB 2-5-97, 123.2 lbs. featherweight Jorge “Kid Bash II” Munoz, Jr. (7-0-1, 5 KOs), Global ID 706259 from San Ysidro, Calif. by way of El Centro, Calif. going up against the 29-year-old, DOB 9-16-88, 121 lbs. Gabriel Villar (0-3) from Tijuana, B. C., Mexico, Global ID 770164.
Bout #2, featherweights Jorge “Kid Bash II” Munoz (l) with his coach Dale Soliven from The Jab Boxing Gym in Eastlake, Calif. meet center ring to pose for a photo with his opponent Gabriel Villar and his coach along with veteran referee Alberto “Cookie” Ramos (c).
After trapping Gabriel Villar in the corner, Jorge Munoz (r) begins to dominate.
Even though it took the entire four rounds, Munoz systematically broke his opponent down to gain the easy 40-36 victory on all 3 scorecards. With the win, Munoz improves to (7-0-1, 5 KOs) while Villar now drops to (0-4).
Bout #3 featured the 24-year-old, 5’7″ tall featherweight Aleem Jumakhanov (6-1-1, 3 KOs) who is from Horog, Tajikistan but now resides in Reseda, Calif. and trains at Black House Boxing in Los Angeles. His opponent was the 23-year-old Saul “Peque” Gonzalez (2-2, 1 KO) who lives in La Paz, B. C. Sur, Mexico but is formerly from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. This well-fought bout went into the second round and then bang, Jumakhanov caught Gonzalez with a left hook that put Gonzalez down for the count.
With the victory, Aleem Jumakhanov improves to (7-1-1, 4 KOs) while Gonzalez’s record drops to (2-3, 1 KO and a victim of 3 KOs).
Bout #4 featured 19-year-old, DOB 11-22-98, 123.2 lbs. featherweight Brandon “2 Smooth” Cruz (2-0) Global ID 811833 from San Diego, Calif. taking on 18-year-old, DOB 5-19-99, 125.8lbs., 5’11” tall Mario Diaz record (0-2), who was without the proper identification. With this being such a common name, Box Rec had Mario Diaz with a record of (1-14, a victim of 11 KOs) which seems a bit off kilter when you consider this youngster is so young. He can’t possibly be 23 and have turned Professional in 2013 which would mean this 18-year-old would have begun his Pro boxing career at the age of 13 to have competed in the fifteen fights. It just so happens that this boxing scribe was in attendance at Papas & Beer in Rosarito, B. C., Mexico when the original Mario Diaz who stands just 5’3″ tall made his Pro Debut against San Diego’s Emmanuel Diaz.
It was bad enough getting knocked off your feet once but then repeatedly? Brandon “2 Smooth” Cruz was having a field day sending his opponent Mario Diaz to the canvas.
At the conclusion of their bout, referee Alberto “Cookie” Ramos raises the arm of the victorious Brandon Cruz who now improves his record to 3-0 with 1 knockout. The jury is still out as far as the true identity of this Mario Diaz.
Bout #5 featured a six-round super bantamweight contest between 19-year-old Brandon Valdes (left) (9-0, 5 KOs) Global ID 750565, DOB 9-3-98, 121 lbs. from Barranquilla, Columbia taking on 23-year-old, 121.7 lbs. Jonathan “El Diabolito” Perez (right) DOB 9-8-94, (3-4-1, 2 KOs) Global ID 641426 from La Paz, California Sur, Mexico.
After taking quite a drubbing from Brandon Valdes, the gentleman with the quicker hands, we finally saw the Jonathan Perez corner throw in the towel.
After the stoppage, we saw Brandon Valdes (l) having his arm raised in victory by referee Fernando Renteria. With the victory, Valdes now improves to (10-0, 6 KOs) while Jonathan “El Diablito” Perez slips to (3-5-1, 2 KOs).
Bout #6 had 35-year-old superwelterweight Simon Torres of San Diego (3-0, 2 KOs) Global ID 759478, 149 1/2 lbs. (left) taking on 21-year-old, orthodox boxer, Giovanni Ponce from Ensenada, B. C., Mexico (right), who was making his Pro Debut, DOB 9-4-96. All photos: Jim Wyatt
What viewers of this match didn’t realize was the fact Torres had awoken that morning with a swollen throat, an obvious sign he had been stricken with the flu bug. Regardless, Torres went through his regular preparation and pressed on to defeat his unflinching, determined opponent to win this difficult bout by a mixed decision. With the win, Torres improves to 4-0, 2 KOs while the disappointed Giovanni Ponce ends up with an (o-1) record.
Bout #7 featured 21-year-old welterweight Kevin Torres (l) (6-0-1, 5 KOs) (144.4 lbs.) who currently resides in San Ysidro, Calif. but calls Bellingham, Washington his home, taking on 19-year-old, Christopher “Medusa” Garcia (0-1)(143.8 lbs.), Global ID 792227 from Tijuana, B. C., Mexico.
Bout #7 was over in a hurry after Kevin Torres repeatedly battered Christopher Garcia with these big blows to the head. With the win, Torres improved to (7-0-1, 6 KOs) while Christopher Garcia now drops to (0-2).
Bout #8 had 21-year-old super featherweight Roberto “The Ram” Meza (left, 8-1) from Temecula, San Diego County, Calif. Global ID 759481 taking on tough guy 27-year-old Javier “Zurdo” Meraz (right) Global ID 383984 (6-10-1, 2 Kos) from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.
Using tactics you see NFL linemen use, Javier “Zurdo” Meraz pushed and shoved until he had Roberto Meza pinned in the neutral corner.
With fists flying in every direction, it was Robert Meza who finally gained the upper hand on the relentless Javier “Zurdo” Meraz.
There was one knockdown after another and referee Fernando Renteria kept checking Meraz’s eyes and asking him if he was ready to throw in the towel.
In the end, it was the more polished boxer, Meza, with the 70% to 30% edge in the number of punches thrown and landed. What a workout! Roberto Meza comes away with the thrilling victory to improve his record to 9-1.
In Bout #9, it was the 27-year-old, super lightweight, 136.69 lbs. Armando Tovar (8-1, 6 KOs), DOB 2-26-90, (left) from San Diego’s House of Boxing, Global ID 727547 taking on Jorge “Murdock” Valenzuela (6-1, 1 KO) Global ID 640493 from Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. All photos: J. Wyatt
In this comeback fight, Armando Tovar (r) demonstrated his never-say-die attitude by overcoming both an early knockdown plus a point deduction for a low blow to improve his record to 9-1, 6 KOs by defeating by UD the intensely competitive Jorge Valenzuela who enjoyed both a height and reach advantage.
Bout #10 featured Mario “El Guero” Ramirez Global ID 767438 (9-1) from Camalu, Ensenada, B. C., Mexico taking on 28-year-old Jorge Luis Babuca from Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, Global ID 640493, DOB 3-20-89, Record (5-24-2). This one was so onesided it was like watching Floyd Mayweather Jr. hitting the mitts with Floyd Mayweather Sr. After two knockdowns, the bout mercifully ended in the fourth stanza by way of knockout. With the victory, Ramirez improved to 10-1, while Babuca now falls to (5-25-2).
(left) Mario “El Guero” Ramirez has his arm raised in victory by referee Jesus Soto. With the victory, Ramirez improves to (10-1) while his opponent Jorge Luis Babuca adds #25 to his loss column.
