It took Frankie Gomez all of 25 seconds to silence his critics

Thursday evening at L.A. LIVE’s Club Nokia in Los Angeles, it took East LA’s Frankie “Pitbull” Gomez (9-0-0, 7 KO’s) all of 25 seconds to finish off Jason Davis (11-9-1, 3 KO’s) of Vancouver, Washington.

The bout ended so fast the newly crowned welterweight champion, Victor Ortiz, the show’s celebrity commentator, could utter only one word: “Wow!” This was his reply after being asked a rather involved question concerning Gomez losing his focus just as the bell sounded to begin Round One.

“There’s your answer,” finished Ortiz.

Before the fight, tales circulated that the 19 year-old wasn’t trying as hard and missed several workouts. Analysts figured this six round welterweight affair against the 27 year-old veteran of 20 pro fights might just be his Waterloo. The test of how serious Gomez is about his career ended so quickly, the analysts will have to defer that query till a later date. An overhand right sent Davis, now a loser in 6 of his last 7 bouts, to the canvas for good.

Another East LA prodigy, Ramon Valadez (8-1, 4 KO’s), out-boxed the undersized Rafael Lora (11-5-0, 5 KO’s) from Irvington, New Jersey by way of the Dominican Republic in their super-featherweight six rounder. Not much can be said for Valadez’s performance especially when you consider Lora took the fight with just a week’s notice and he has now lost five in a row. It would have been a complete shutout, if one judge hadn’t given Lora a 10-9 in the fourth round.

Valadez has now made the successful transition from fighting as a super-lightweight down to fighting as a super-featherweight.

In the first televised bout, light welterweight Fidel Maldonado Jr. (10-0-0, 9 KOs) made quick work of Jorge Cordero (4-7-0, 4 KOs). The bout lasted one minute and three seconds.

The best or perhaps the only contested bout of the evening involved welterweights 23 year-old Ernesto Ocon (3-0-0, 2 KOs) of the Broadway Boxing Club located in South Central Los Angeles going up against 25 year-old Miguel Pizarro (1-2-0) of San Antonio, Texas by way of Puerto Rico.

Back on November 18, 2010, Ernesto Ocon had his arm raised in victory by referee Tony Crebs after scoring a third round TKO victory over Juan Carlos Diaz. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Local fight fans may recall Ocon. His last appearance was November 18, 2010 at the Crown Plaza Hotel right here in San Diego’s Mission Valley, a very impressive TKO victory over Juan Carlos Diaz.

In Thursday night’s contest, there were many good exchanges in Round #1, but Ocon was definitely in charge and landing the better combinations. It wasn’t long into Round two that you could see Ocon taking control of the fight and begin to landing uppercuts and big left hands. In Round three, Ocon started working over the midsection and after eight right and left hand pile-drivers to the stomach, Pizarro cringed in pain as he sank to the canvas. There was no way he could get up after those body shots.

The LA Times once wrote: “The Broadway Boxing Gym is like an aging prizefighter with an iron jaw, it has taken its share of punches. The gritty, no-frills gym was once a beacon for world-class fighters.” Perhaps Ocon is the trailblazer for the next generation of great fighters coming out of this gym.

If the walls could only speak, over the years the Broadway Boxing Club Gym has helped develop many great fighters..

Not to open old wounds but it’s now been 19 years since the most destructive American riot of the twentieth century broke out near the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central which is not far from the Broadway Boxing Club gym.

After the show, Club Nokia threw a party in their 4th floor VIP Room for Victor Ortiz, the newly crowned WBC Welterweight Champion, who is fresh off of his stirring 12-round unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten Andre Berto.