Boxing Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds a success
You could almost hear the snapping of fingers from that New York City gang in the Broadway musical West Side Story (video below) as members of Christian Bojorquez's entourage approached Wyland Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds for Friday's Bobby D Presents boxing show. Photo: Jim Wyatt
For those of you who attended, Friday’s Bobby D Presents “Champions of Tomorrow” Boxing Show at the Wyland Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds, you’re probably thinking the event went off without a single complication and of course the 10 combatants did an admirable job of providing the five exciting contests.
But now you’re going to get an insider’s perspective of what happened.
At Thursday’s weigh-in James “El Chocolate” Parison (15-1-0, 4 KOs) of South San Diego appeared to be anorexic, so drained of strength that he might pass out from the weeklong fasting. His opponent, Lester “El Cubanito” Gonzalez (12-6-3, 6 KOs) of the Clairemont area of San Diego, by way of Havana, Cuba, seemed rejuvenated and in the best shape of his career. Both men made weight, Parison 162 pounds and Gonzalez 161 pounds.
The question of how Parison’s need to cut weight and his inactivity would affect his performance was answered on Friday night.
This photo was taken 15 minutes prior to the announcement of the first fight of the evening. The crowd was still up milling about, socializing with other fight fans. Photo: Jim Wyatt
In Round two, Lester Gonzalez (L) had James Parison (R) pinned against the ropes and began landing his combinations. Photo: Jim Wyatt
In one of Lester Gonzalez's moments of weakness, we see James Parison (R) getting ready to deliver one of his devastating left hooks to the body. Photo: Jim Wyatt
The pendulum swung and back came Lester Gonzalez (R) forcing James Parison into the corner. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Round #1, the feeling out round, was so even, you could not score for either side. Gonzalez took Round #2, making a statement with his straight left and on occasion mixing it up with a left, right combination. Round #3 featured even exchanges and again was so close you couldn’t possibly award it to either boxer. By Round #4, Parison had gotten himself into this pattern of waiting on Gonzalez’s initial punch and then trying to counter. The problem, he couldn’t make contact as Gonzalez either slipped a punch or astutely ducked under punches. Gonzalez’s confidence was growing to the point where he was initiating most of the exchanges. After the round ended, both fighters touched gloves in a show of respect. The show of respect would continue to the bitter end.
By sheer will, James took the necessary three out of four remaining rounds. After the bout, someone argued that the accidental head butt in the sixth round may have affected Gonzalez’s equilibrium because from that point on, he lacked the spontaneity to initiate the exchanges.
After their grueling contest, both boxers saluted the appreciative crowd. James Parison (R) is shown having his gloves removed by his brother and coach, David Gutierrez. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Through it all, James Parison (R) and Lester Gonzalez (L), shown hugging each other in the center of the ring, remain good friends. Photo: Jim Wyatt
After the bout, Lester Gonzalez is joined by the lovely Ring Card Girls. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Likewise, the young ladies wanted to have their photo taken with Sir James. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Since the boxers knew the scoring would be close, they both worked the crowd with their hands held high. The scoring was close as Judge Jose Cobian gave every round except for two to Parison 78-74, Alejandro Rochin Mapula scored the bout 77-75 for Gonzalez and Judge Fritz Warner scored the bout Even 76-76.
After the bout, yours truly ran around polling both the spectators and media. The majority were firm in their belief that it should have been declared a draw. Felipe Leon, my colleague from Fight News, added, “This is the best fight I’ve seen all year.” Like Mr. Leon, I feel blessed to be ringside to witness such a great fight.
As the bell sounds to begin Round #1, Amaris "Diamond Girl" Quintana (l) heads toward her opponent Blanca Raymundo (r). In the rear we see Hall of Fame referee, Pat Russell and two of the judges, Jose Cobian (l), Fritz Werner (r). Photo: J. Wyatt
In a female Bantamweight bout, Amaris “Diamond Girl” Quintana of Chula Vista, CA thoroughly out boxed Blanca Raymundo of Riverside, CA.
In Round #1, it was all jab, jab, combination to give Quintana the early lead. Then in Round #2, the heads clashed and suddenly Quintana had this ugly black-eye which gave the appearance she was getting the worst of it. Nothing could be further from the truth as Quintana went on her merry way to take every round. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 for Quintana.
To her credit, Raymundo took Quintana’s best shots and kept on coming. For whatever reason, Raymundo plans to stay in the fight game. For her it’s still a learning process.
Despite the bruises and a black eye, the confident Amaris Quintana said she had no problem dealing with the punching power of Blanca Raymundo. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Over the past three days, Quintana’s life has been like a roller coaster ride, up one day and down the next. At Thursday’s weigh-in, she weighed 108 pounds and sat there for over two hours waiting for an opponent that never showed. She was told her original opponent, Elizabeth Cervantes, was unable to attend Thursday’s weigh-in because her coach couldn’t get off work. In other words, the Cervantes camp was reaching for a feasible excuse or perhaps they were holding out for more money.
During intermission, this cast of local celebrities posed for a photo inside the ring. To the right is super bantamweight Chris Martin, center right is Bobby DePhilippis with his sidekick, boxer Emilio Bojorquez, on the far left is matchmaker extraordinaire Jorge Marron, then next to the young lady is former boxing great Tony DeLuca. Photo: Jim Wyatt
This is when Jorge Marron earns his keep. As far as matchmakers go, he has become the magic man of West Coast Boxing. I can’t tell you how many times this quarterback of the boxing circuit has faced a fourth and long, then scrambled to make the impossible first down.
On Sunday, after several substitutions, the boxing card had been declared written in stone. By Tuesday afternoon, just days before the weigh-ins, that boxing card was firm as a worm. Rosendo Alvarez couldn’t make it, which left Juan Jose Beltran without a dance partner. Alfredo Contreras and Loren Myers were contacted. Myers, who had to work on Wednesday would have but six hours of sleep before getting his blood test and updated MRI.
Then Friday, it was discovered that Parison and Gonzalez, who were told on Thursday that their medical papers were in order, needed updated MRIs.
Then it was back to the Quintana fiasco. If Quintana would agree to put on an additional eight pounds she could fight Blanca Raymundo at 117 pounds. After all her training, Quintana would have agreed to fight a 500 pound gorilla. With a huge bag of Oreos, she immediately set off to visit her nearest Golden Arches (McDonalds restaurant).
Back to the fights
In this photo we see Christian Bojorquez (R) getting set to unload a left hook on the chin of Pablo Cupul (L) in Round #1. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Moments later Christian Bojorquez landed a punch flush on the chin of Pablo Cupul to get an early knockdown. Photo: Jim Wyatt
After his unanimous decision victory, Christian Bojorquez (L) has his arm raised by referee Tony Crebs. Photo: Jim Wyatt
In a four round super bantamweight bout, Christian “Huevo” Bojorquez (5-0, 2 KOs) of Tijuana, who trains at the Undisputed Fitness and Training Center in San Diego’s Downtown looked impressive in his bout with Pablo Cupul (6-3, 1 KO) of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, which began with an early flash knockdown.
Then in round #2, Cupul, determined as ever, caught Bojorquez with a glancing blow to open a nasty cut over his right eye. Ignoring the gash, Bojorquez finished the round strong with combinations that kept stopping Cupul, the continual aggressor, dead in his tracks.
Even though Cupul did better in rounds 3 and 4, he was no match for Bojorquez, the much better boxer. All three judges had the same exact score, 40-35 in favor of Bojorquez.
In Round one, Johnny Boy Quiroz (R) got off to a quick start against the dangerous Christian Lorenzo who was always setting himself up to counter. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Back and forth they battled, Jonathan "Johnny Boy" Quiroz (R) of Oceanside, CA and Christian Lorenzo (L) of Los Angeles, CA. Photo: Jim Wyatt
In a Super Flyweight match-up, Jonathan “Johnny Boy” Quiroz of Oceanside, CA, who works out at the Rhino’s Boxing Gym in Vista, CA made his pro debut against another first-timer, Christian Lorenzo of Maywood, CA by way of Ensenada, B. C., Mexico.
Lorenzo currently trains at the famed Maywood Boxing Club where a who’s who of boxing talent trains – people like Raymond “Bad Boy” Chacon, Peruvian female champion Kina Malpartida, Kaliesha West, Ponce De Leon, Charles Huerta, et cetera.
At the end of the final round, referee Pat Russell knew he was going to have somehow step between Christian Lorenzo and Jonathan Quiroz in order to stop their furious exchange. Photo: Jim Wyatt,
In an atmosphere of budding talent, Lorenzo must be a quick learner for in his interview, he mentioned only training for a year and a half while Quiroz has been at it on and off since he was nine years-old.
In this extremely entertaining bout, it didn’t take long before the trading of blows became nonstop. Lorenzo gained an advantage by sitting down on his punches to get better leverage, thus more power. What he did was show more patience and allow Quiroz to get off first, while he waited to counter with the harder and more meaningful blows to impress the judges.
To the victor go the spoils as we see Christian Lorenzo (C) getting all the attention after being awarded the split decision victory over Jonathan Quiroz. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Well, at least two of the judges were impressed. Jose Cobian scored the bout 40-36 and Alejandro Rochin 39-37 in favor of Lorenzo. In contrast, Judge Fritz Warner had Quiroz winning every round, 40-36.
Loren Myers (L) gets a taste of Alfredo Contreras' glove. Photo: Jim Wyatt
Simply put, Alfredo Contreras (R) was in better condition than his opponent, Loren Myers, who had to take the fight on short notice. Photo: Jim Wyatt
In the final bout, a six rounder between Loren Myers (11-14-1, 2 KOs) and Alfredo Contreras (11-13-2, 5 KOs), Contreras put on a boxing clinic. In one round he was Hitman Hearns and the next, Mohammad Ali doing his best rendition of the Ali shuffle.
Talking about the shuffle, here’s that video of the Jets strutting their stuff in the famous Broadway musical West Side Story.
