Packed house for Boxing’s glorious return to the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel


Before introducing you to the Friday, October 11, 2019 line-up at the Sheraton, we thought you’d like a rundown of the many smiling faces in attendance. (top, l to r) We have the Boxing insiders to include Eddie Messina, followed by a Hollywood starlet and her escort, the trio of Jorge Ruiz Sr., boxers Jorge Ruiz Jr. his son, and Emilio Bojorquez, followed by the show’s co-promoter Saul Rios with Canelo’s trainer/confidant Eddie Reynoso. Next, we have ring announcer Pablo Flores with two charming Ring Card Gals, boxer Anthony Franco, then two blocks of supportive fans, followed by the heart of the sport, boxers Alan Sanchez, Alfredo Contreras, Flavio Martinez, and Jose Gomez.
Then, on both the right and left of Joe Stidman (2nd from the left), the owner of the Heartland Meat Co., are his dear friends/invited guests. To be upfront with you, the goal of our clever photographer was to get a photo of the hotel owner Luci Burni (on the right, with her hands clasped under her chin). From the smile on her face, it appears she had become aware of his clumsy attempt.

Before naming every single person who attended this show, which could take weeks, we should mention the evening’s special honorees: like Hall of Fame boxing judge Fritz Werner plus official timekeeper Mike Millsap; next we have Hall of Fame trainer Joe Gomez (center), plus four representatives from the Bound Boxing Academy which includes (center) USA Amateur National Champion and 2020 Olympic hopeful Andrea Medina, (then left to right), we have Medina’s Mom, younger brother Juan “Johnny” Medina Jr., plus one of the gym’s assistant coaches/assistant manager Cesar Arturo Vargas who is obviously in disguise.

A favorite of the local paparazzi has always been the jovial boxer/entertainer Emilio Bojorquez, shown here with an unknown trainer, then with the show’s promoter Bobby DePhilippis and his better half, Fabiola Laija, and finally it’s Bojorquez’s family and friends.

Shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the Boxers’ dressing rooms at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel were all abuzz as the boxers and their support staffs prepared for their evening of combat. With it now being 5 years, 4 months and 26 days since that last Pro Boxing Show in San Diego, imagine the excitement this event was generating in town and especially inside the Hotel Ballroom. The last local boxing show featured, among others, the 5’7″ tall Antonio Orozco (at the time 19-0 with 15 KOs) from the House of Boxing Gym in the Paradise Hills neighborhood of San Diego taking on the well respected 5’10 ½” tall veteran Martin Honorio (32-8-1, 16 KOs) from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico out at the Del Mar Fairgrounds battling for the Inaugural NABF Light welterweight title.

Back then, local boxing fans had gotten themselves whooped up since the outcome would surely concern Orozco’s prospects, especially if he could snatch this victory from the more accomplished veteran. Late in that contest, with Honorio behind on the scorecards, the veteran resulted to throwing a low blow to Orozco’s kidneys. Fortunately, Orozco was able to survive that flagrant foul and went on to win a unanimous decision. Officials working that event included referees Pat Russell and Jose Cobian plus judges Fritz Werner and Alejandro Rochin, and coincidentally all four would be present this evening, three working the show while the fourth, Hall of Fame Boxing Judge Fritz Werner, since retired would be sitting at ringside. Still, having three of the same officials officiating this event had to evoke feelings of nostalgia, déjà vu.

In the opener, Bout #1, they featured 23-year-old, 5’10” tall, 135 lb. lightweight James Earle (66-11 as an Amateur) from San Diego, Calif. by way of West Chester, Penna., who now trains at the Pacific Coast Training Center in Bird Rock, a small coastal community in La Jolla. Earle trains with Vince Parra (of Mighty Mo Hooker fame) and the gym’s owner Johnny Loco. Earle was making his Pro Debut against the 31-year-old, 5’5″ tall Edgar Ivan “El Profe” Garcia (7-20-1 with 2 KOs) from San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico who had the Quinones family in his corner.

During their skirmish, Earle controlled the bout with his stiff jab and on multiple occasions (four) sent Garcia to the canvas after landing several, big overhand rights. All three judges scored the bout the same, 40-35 for Earle. On a positive note, Garcia (7-21-1, 2 KOs) did break his streak of 4-consecutive losses by stoppage, either TKO or KO.

Bout #2 featured the pro Debut of the 193 lb. cruiserweight, 6’1″ tall, 28-year-old Darnell Tyrone Price II born and raised right here in San Diego. The only time he spent away from home was when he was serving in the U. S. Marine Corps and representing the Marine Corps in their annual Armed Forces Boxing Tournaments. To break down Price’s service career: This local hero served 10 years in the Marine Corps with 7 tours of duty, three of which were in a combat area.

Price’s opponent on Friday, the 6-foot tall, 24-year-old Nicholas “The Shadow” Gay is from Houston, Texas and like Price, Gay (0-1) was a newcomer to the sport. However, Gay did fight 11 times as a Mixed Martial Artist and had a commendable record of 7 wins with 4 losses. On Friday evening when the boxers were introduced, they announced both Gay and Price as weighing 200 lbs. which would still qualify them as Cruiserweights. Those weights were corrected later after it was discovered that Price weighed 193 lbs. and Nicholas Gay weighed-in at 195 lbs. at the official weigh-in.

From the opening bell, Gay spent the majority of his time either on the run or holding on for dear life. In other words, someone was in this contest purely for the money while his opponent was taking the bout serious. It showed bigtime in their performance or lack thereof. Though it appeared Price was visibly upset by someone’s lack of competitiveness, it’s always nice to settle in and secure that first victory.

Prior to the opening bell for Bout #2, we see both sides looking across at one another. Nicholas Gay (left, blue corner) is with his able cutman Juan Ramirez and cornerman Gabriel Quinones, while Darnell Price (red corner) looks across at Gay offering nothing more than a menacing stare while his cutman/second Johnny Loco and trainer Vince Parra looked on.

This is when the trouble first began for Nicholas “the Shadow” Gay, just seconds into round number one.

As far as the scores rendered by the judges. All three judges awarded the winner, Darnell Price, four 10-8 rounds, for a total of 40-32, a complete and unadulterated annihilation.
During round two, someone mentioned Gay may have missed his calling, believing he would do better in the WWF, World Wrestling Federation. Or as the heckler called it “rasslin.” Adding further insight: “All he needs to do, is learn how to kick out at the count of two.”
After the first knockdown came at 1:05 of round one. The second knockdown followed at the 2:50 mark of the same round. A third knockdown came at the 1:04 mark of Round 2 and a fourth knockdown at the 1:10 mark of Round 3. Price then had the audacity to ask his trainer Eddie Loco for advice: “You want my advice? Simple, just keep doing what you’re doing.”
At the conclusion of this one-sided affair, Darnell Price appeared to be looking out at his audience to inform them, “Hey boxing fans, this is just the beginning.”

In Bout #3, it was 24-year-old, 146 lb., 5’7″ tall, orthodox boxer Adrian Gutierrez, Global ID# 779057, from Chula Vista, Calif., improving his record to (10-0-1, 4 KOs) after defeating fellow welterweight 26-year-old, 5’10” tall Carlos “Guerrero Indio” Huerta from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico by a unanimous decision with scores of 60-54 on all three of the judges’ scorecards. Surprisingly, the formidable Mr. Huerta, standing 5’10” tall, Global ID# 578570, weighed the very same 146 lbs.

Adrian Gutierrez (left) in the red corner and the three-inch taller Carlos Huerta (right) in the blue corner, are shown making ready for the opening bell.
You have to like this photo which shows the boxers, Huerta (left) and Gutierrez (right) awaiting the opening bell or should we say their moment of truth.

The challenge within a challenge was to assist the boxers in keeping all that blood out of their eyes and make certain these cuts didn’t get any worse.

Here we see the matching blows landing at a high velocity.
At the conclusion of their match, both fighters knew they had been in a war. Both had been severely marked up, especially around the eyes. With the nasty cut over Gutierrez’s left eye, the ref had to do some consulting with the fight doctor in order to allow the fight to continue. Gutierrez’s take on the battering he received, “Oh well, if this is the price of victory, so be it.”
To the victor goes the smiles, so says Adrian Gutierrez who gets a thumbs up from his Dad. With Huerta’s decision loss in this six-rounder, his record now goes to (6-4-2, 3 KOs).
Bout #4: Gonzalo Carlos Dallera wore this scary mask as he made his way to the ring for his six-round super lightweight bout versus Lakeside, California’s very own Jorge Marron Jr.

In Bout #4 it was 25-year-old super lightweight Jorge Marron Jr. Global ID#762901 (142 lbs.), 15–1–0, 5 KOs) from nearby Lakeside, Calif. coming away with a six-round, shutout victory (60-53 on all three scorecards) over the 31-year-old, 5’8” tall Gonzalo Carlos “El Malo” Dallera (142 lbs.) Global ID# 768896 from Ciudadela, Buenos Aires, Argentina. With the loss, Dallera’s record now drops to (6-6, 4 KOs). In this one, Marron, a southpaw, had little if any problem controlling the flow of the bout as he kept popping that hard left jab to stymy any advance from Dallera.

Here we see Gonzalo Carlos Dallera being issued a stern warning from referee Angel Mendes Ramos for some of his dirty tactics.

At the conclusion of Bout #4 it was Jorge Marron Jr. having his arm raised after winning a unanimous decision victory over Gonzalo Carlos Dallera.
What better moment is there for a proud father than to be standing in the center of the ring celebrating your son’s latest victory, win #16?

Bout #5, a six-round lightweight contest, had 26-year-old Ricardo “The Blessed” Valdovinos, now (8-1, 5 KOs) from San Diego, Calif. winning an oh so close split decision victory over 29-year-old, 5’6” tall Giovannie “King Gio” Gonzalez (9-4-0, 7 KOs) from Stockton, Calif. The scores in this extremely close match were 57-56, 58-55 for Valdovinos while one judge had it the other way, 58-55 for Gonzalez. With both men being at the crossroads of their career and having gone 5-1 in their last six outings, this fight was so intense and decision meant so much. These are the bouts that either put a boxer’s career back in a positive light or they can be ruinous, so disheartening a boxer reflects about quitting. This is why the difference in the scoring of a close match-up like this are long debated.

“Sure it’s a bad cut, just patch me up!

This devastating uppercut from Valdovinos…may have been the clincher.

“How can I expect the ref to understand, he’s a local yokel. That last punch was clearly below the belt.”
He loves these right uppercuts so much, might as well give him another one.
Putting words in a boxer’s mouth is a bad habit but that’s the read you get while watching this maneuver from Ricardo Valdovinos. He’s likely wondering if there are any restrictions from hitting an opponent with both hands at the same time.
Their face to face, head to head in-fighting was wearing them out.
Now where’s he going, sneeky ….
Ricardo Valdovinos is overjoyed after the announcement of his favorable score from judge #3. His opponent appears incredulous that he didn’t get the majority decision.
After noticing referee Jose Cobian’s shirt, you know his wife isn’t going to be pleased. Perhaps she’ll make her husband take it to a professional laundry and send the bill to the boxers. Lord knows it’s going to take a lot of scrubbing to get all that blood out of her husband’s shirt.

In Bout #6 we saw 5’7″ tall, 139 lb., super lightweight, Kevin “Diamond Boy” Torres control the action from the opening bell while spending all six rounds chasing after his opponent Andrew Rodgers as if it were a foot race rather than a boxing match. With his win, Torres now moves up to (15-1-1, KOs), while the elusive 140 lber., Rodgers, now drops to 4-8-2 after amazingly dodging the worst of Torres’ heavy blows. Being on the run for the full six rounds led to three score cards of 59-54, all for Torres.

On hand to provide the show’s play-by-play and offer their inciteful commentary were former boxer, now marketeer Kevin Ottley, former boxer now gym co-owner Chris “The San Diego Kid” Martin and Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV who is also under contract with the big boys, Fox Sports. 

If you would rather watch these boxing events on the Internet you can go to:

1. Fight Hub TV on Youtube: youtube.com/fighthub

2. bestinboxing.com

3. twitter.com/gsstreaming

4. facebook.com/bestinboxing

5. facebook.com/gsstreaming

As a rule, Live Fights usually begin at 7:30 PM PST 

 

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