The good and bad news concerning local Boxing

On Friday, October 4, 2019, there was coach Carlos Barragan Jr. (right) of the House of Boxing assuming the duties of Master of Ceremonies at a Press Conference announcing the return of Pro Boxing to the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel in San Diego.

With San Diego County being the home of the world’s largest Military Complex with its 16 Military Installations, it comes as no surprise that within its borders you have 80+ gyms dedicated to the fighting sports and as a result it has a reputation worldwide of being the breeding ground of some of the best fighters in the world. That’s why it became such a head-scratcher when so many boxing promoters moved their operations across the border. And now, surprise, surprise, we’re seeing some of them make their way back home.

The first being the Borizteca Boxing Promotions Group who first set up shop at the Salon Mezzanine in Tijuana back in 2014 and later moved to the Big Punch Arena where the owner basically let them use his venue free of charge in order to secure the proceeds from the sale of liquor. And now their CEO Saul Rios has signed an agreement with the even more experienced Hall of Fame Boxing Promoter Bobby DePhilippis of Bobby D Presents, which might be the only locally licensed Boxing promoter in San Diego County. Their goal? To return Pro Boxing to southern California. Insiders are predicting that this business decision by Borizteca to combine forces with Bobby D Presents could be huge.

Then it came to light, there was another reason for the move. As they say, some people are lucky and some people make their own luck. Over the past three to four weeks, the Tijuana Boxing Commission was not fulfilling their duty as the official record-keeper to report show results to the international record keeper BoxRec and this situation soon reached the untenable stage. The number of unrecorded shows soon reached 20, with the participating Promoters and boxers becoming incensed. When a delay in recording an event turns into a week, two weeks and then a full month, the job of backtracking to insure the records are error-free becomes a major headache. The international record keeper, Box Rec.com, who has had similar problems in the past, stated the fault with the current debacle in Tijuana and Rosarito lies squarely on the shoulders of the two Boxing Commissions, and as a consequence, more and more boxers and their managers have begun to look elsewhere for commission that follows of a stricter protocol as it pertains to ensuring a boxer receives his or her proper credit.

Today, Friday, October 4, 2019, we witnessed two of the more established Boxing Promoters calling it quits in Tijuana and announcing future plans to host shows in San Diego at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel. Why would they do such a thing when it’s far and away more expensive to host a show in the U.S.? The answer we got: “With the boxers in Mexico now maintaining better records, they’re going to need better opponents. So, as a consequence, they’re going to have to come North, not only for the bigger fights but the bigger and better paydays using legitimate sponsors.”

Plain and simple, Box Rec.com, the encyclopedia of boxing’s record-keeping, was not receiving the information needed to post the results of the shows in Tijuana or Rosarito. For example, there was a show held on September 20, 2019, on the balcony of the Grand Hotel Tijuana and as of today, Monday, October 7, 2019, Box Rec.com has yet to receive the necessary paperwork from the Tijuana Boxing Commission. Imagine you are one of the 10 fighters who were victorious on that fight card and spent your hard-earned cash to train and travel to that show. Then, after winning your bout, it appears you’re not going to receive credit for your work. In other words, you’ve been swindled and now you’re thinking how can I prevent this from happening again? Travesties like this do not occur in other sports.

Here’s another example of this absurdity. Just ask a boxer like Victor “Sina” Fonseca who lives and competes in Tijuana. After Fonseca won his last two fights, one in Rosarito and the other in Tijuana, he has yet to receive credit for either win. Wins put a boxer in contention for a title. For a boxer, wins can be likened to getting a promotion at work and as a consequence, your pay scale goes up.

Inaugurated in May of 2000, with its huge database of more than 20,000 bouts, BoxRec.com (Boxing Records Archive) has grown exponentially, by leaps and bounds, to over a million boxing bouts by 2005. Then, as of July 2016, they announced they had gone over two million pro fights entered. With all their volunteers worldwide, they not only deserve our thanks, but they also deserve our praise for the compilation of this data. They have a network of people around the world attending shows, plus their reporters closer to home in the United Kingdom working diligently to maintain their connections with the many boxing commissions worldwide.

Unlike record keepers of old, BoxRec provides us with the exact venue, referees, judges, weights, knockout times, descriptions, images, and other data from each bout to make it the most informative boxing website of our day. If a coarse criticón like Donald Trumpeta were to involve himself in this latest mess/debacle with the Tijuana Boxing Commission, he’d likely be sending the guilty parties a nasty Tweet and be calling them “a bunch of lazy bast@&ds!” And, how can anyone defend them? Especially after these lethargic boxing commissions keep ignoring their responsibility to report the results to this “free service”, Box Rec. They’re not only hurting the sport but the hard-working people in it. Imagine if it was mandated that each of these officials was forced to pay an out of pocket fine plus arrange for a sit down meeting with each of the boxers they have wronged.

It’s important to note that last year, the American Boxing Federation awarded Saul Rios, the CEO of Borizteca Boxing Promotions, their annual award for being the top Boxing Promoter of 2018. And now he’s leaving Tijuana and moving his operations to the U. S.

The mention of the difficulties south of the border was a prelude to our introduction of the participants in Friday’s show at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel on Aero Drive in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego. The San Diego faithful are quite familiar with this venue since Bobby D Presents hosted at least 30 Pro Boxing Shows at this site with headliners such as Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker, Danny Garcia, Russia’s Denis Grachev and local champions like Chris “The San Diego Kid” Martin. We could go on and on. On a yearly basis, Borizteca will now be sharing this venue with the equally established Epic Fighting MMA and Dennis Warner’s WCK Muay Thai. Word to the wise: There are a limited amount of tickets still left for this October 11th event.

Bout #5, the super lightweight, co-Main Event will have Gonzalo Vallera (6-5, 4 KOs) coming all the way from Buenos Aires, Argentina to face tough guy Jorge Marron Jr. (below) (15-1, 5 KOs) who is from nearby Lakeside, Calif.

Bout #4, a 6-round lightweight scrap features the 26-year-old, Ricardo “The Blessed” Valdovinos (left) of San Diego, Global ID #767464, (7-1, 5 KOs), who will be making his return to the ring after dealing with a knee injury suffered September 28, 2018 in his KO loss to Kevin Shacks at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Ca. which aired on Showtime’s Showbox.

Valdovinos’ opponent is 29-year-old, 5’6″ tall, tough guy Giovannie “King Gio” Gonzalez (9-3, 7 KOs) Global ID 791016 who hails from Stockton, Calif. As of late, “King Gio” has been facing less than stellar opponents. His last five opponents had a combined record of 16 wins 77 losses. I’d say it’s time for the “King” to man-up and show the Boxing World what he’s made of.

Sandwiched between Kevin “Diamond Boy” Torres (left) and James “Fresh Prince” Earle (right) is another local standout, 24-year-old, 5’7″ tall, welterweight Adrian Gutierrez (9-0-1, 4 KOs) Global ID 779057 from Chula Vista, Calif. who will be taking on 26-year-old, 5’7″ tall, righty Carlos “Guerrero Indio” Huerta (6-3-2) Global ID 578570, who will be traveling to San Diego from far off Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. (photo below, right side)

Attendees at Friday’s Press Conference included (l to r): Pacific Coast Training Center’s Co-owner/Head Boxing coach Eddie Loco, cruiserweight Darnell Tyrone Price II, Hall of Fame Promoter Bobby DePhilippis, boxer James “Fresh Prince” Earle plus well-known trainer Vince Parra.

In Bout #2, they have southpaw Darnell Tyrone Price II, Global ID# 898670, who stands 6’1″ tall. This former Marine Corps Staff Sargeant was involved in five tours of duty, three were Combat tours. Mr. Price was born and raised right here in San Diego where as a youngster he trained at the ABC (Anybody Can) Mongoose Boxing Gym on Market Street. He is now married and has three children, two daughters, and one son.

Price has put his boxing career on the fast track. After Friday’s fisticuffs, he’s headed north to Los Angeles for his second Pro fight. In his Pro Debut, he’ll be facing the 6-foot tall, 25-year-old cruiserweight Nicholas Gay (0-1) Global ID 898670 who will be coming from Houston, Texas.

Back on August 11, 2017, Gay made the mistake of taking on the far more experienced Thomas Knox (3-0) and only lasted three rounds. With Gay, two years removed from that loss, and further along in his training, he feels much improved over that younger version of himself.

Returning to Mr. Price: the big guy has over 80 Amateur bouts plus time spent on the Armed Forces Boxing Team. This reporter first met Mr. Price back in 2012 while working for the Military Press. Price was stationed at Camp Pendelton in Oceanside, Calif. where we got to cover both of his fights in the yearly Armed Forces Tournament.