Carlson retains WBC belt with narrow victory over Torres
On Friday night, Carlos Carlson of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico successfully defended his WBC Latino Bantamweight title against the game Jose Cen Torres of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. All photos: Carlos Baega/Thompson Promotions
Friday night, in the Thompson Boxing Promotions’ “Locked n’ Loaded” main event at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA, Carlos Carlson (15-0, 10 KOs) won a hard fought majority decision over Jose Cen Torres (13-5, 1 KO) and with the win, retains his WBC Latino Bantamweight Championship.
When the judges’ scores of 76-76 and then 77-75 twice for the winner Carlson were announced, you knew it had been a close one.
With both boxers remaining active throughout, it was Carlson who landed the most telling blows and kept pressing forward to engage. The fact Cen Torres spent much of his time back peddling and circling, he gave the opposite impression of someone who was unwilling to engage. As a result, the judges ended up favoring Carlson.
That being said, Cen Torres did beat Carlson to the punch in the first half of the fight and landed a lot of straight rights and hooks to the body. After Carlson made his adjustments, picked up the pace and established his rhythm, it was clear he was in control of the fight.
The Co-main event featured junior welterweight Jonathan Garcia (15-0, 11 KOs) of Watsonville, CA and Michael Balasi (10-5, 7 KOs) of Hawaii. Garcia used a variety of combinations and consistent pressure to win an unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73, 80-72).
Balasi’s only hope of winning the fight was to get inside, and Garcia made certain that wasn’t going to happen. His right uppercut, left hook combinations stunned the southpaw impeding any and all advances. Garcia also used his stiff jab to stop Balasi in his tracks. As the scores indicate, Balasi had no chance in this one.
Colombian lightweight Cesar Villarraga (4-0, 2 KOs) added another win to his resume by out-boxing the game and more experienced Dominic Coca (8-9, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles. All three judges had Villarraga winning every round (60-54).
As is usually the case with the mighty mites of the Flyweight Divisions, the Super Flyweight contest between Javier Lapizco (5-0, 1 KO) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico and Christian Lorenzo (2-2, 1 KO) of Los Angeles was a thriller. In this one, Lapizco ended up with the majority decision (39-37, 38-38, 39-37). Both boxers dished out plenty of combinations and neither took a step back. With Lapizco connecting at a higher rate, he appears to be the more polished prospect.
The opening bout featured the super welterweight clash between Malik Bazille (2-2) of Los Angeles and Tavoris Teague (2-1, 1 KO) of La Habra, CA, the Kevin Hart lookalike. In this one, the 6’1” Bazille won by way of an unanimous decision, 39-37 on all three scorecards. The taller southpaw fought most of the fight from the outside utilizing his lunging jab to routinely frustrate the shorter Teague.
Up next, Thompson Boxing Promotions is planning to host a show in San Diego on August 16, 2014 at the immense Harley Davidson Store at 4645 Morena Boulevard, just up the road from the Costco. For this event they hope to feature many of San Diego’s top pugilists to include Giovani Santillan, Chris Martin, Christian Bojorquez, Ulises Sierra, Jose Toribio and Adrian Vargas.
