Sports Bar Perro Salido hosts latest Tijuana Boxing Show

On Thursday evening in Tijuana at the Sports Bar “Perro Salido” (The Salty Dog), the “Fight of the Night,” a nonstop, toe to toe, slugfest between Manuel Roman (l) of Los Angeles and Pedro Palma (r) of Tijuana was a classic. Photo: Jim Wyatt

On Thursday evening, the popular Tijuana Sports Bar, Perro Salido (Salty Dog) hosted the latest pro boxing show and of course there were quite a few popular fighters on this fight card presented by Promociones Quinones/Ocean Promotions in association with the Borizteca Boxing Management Group.

By way of an introduction, the promoters featured the following exhibition bouts.

In the female exhibition it was Paulette Valenzuela (r) giving Slugey Fonseca (l) a boxing lesson. Veteran referee Juan Manuel Rincon handled the ring duties.

In the male exhibition bout, it was Luis “El Tiberon” Lorenzo of Chula Vista, Calif. (l) battling it out with a fellow Amateur for three hard fought rounds.

The results from the pro bouts are as follows:

In Bout #1, it was super lightweight 32 year-old Rashad Dewain “The One” Ganaway (16-5-1, 9 KOs) out of Pochiro Boxing in Las Vegas, Nevada, who came to Las Vegas by way of Little Rock, Arkansas, getting the easy win over Ramon “Muneco” Palma (0-6-0) from Tijuana, B. C., Mexico.

Palma, who is now managed by Jaime Munguia, began his pro-career on June 27, 2014 and initially fought as a featherweight. On Thursday night, he held his own for two rounds, and then by the third round, he was basically finished. 

At the conclusion of Bout #1, Rashad Ganaway of Little Rock, Arkansas had his arm raised in victory after defeating Ramon Palma of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico.

In Bout #2, it was 27 year-old, super welterweight Brian “Sweet” Jones of Los Angeles, Calf. (11-3-0, 4 KOs) coming away with the easy victory over 19 year-old Juan Zuniga (1-14-1) from Tijuana.

(top, right, l to r) Combatants in Bout #2, the eventual winner Brian “Sweet” Jones, veteran referee Juan Manuel Rincon and Jones’ opponent Juan Zuniga.

In Bout #3, it was 23 year-old featherweight Jorge “Tito” Ruiz of Chula Vista, Calif. and fighting out of the Undisputed Fitness Gym in San Diego’s Downtown coming away with the easy victory over Christian Viscarra (0-3) of the Sarmiento stable of Tijuana. One left hook to the liver and Viscarra’s night was over.

(bottom) Jorge Ruiz poses for a photo with his coach Jose Cital and the rest of his corner people after he defeated Christian Viscarra (above, top) shown kneeling in pain.

In Bout #4, it was 17 year-old super featherweight Xavier Martinez from Sacramento, Calif. (129.85 lbs.) making his pro debut a successful one against the punchless Mario “Ippo” Hernandez (0-3-1) from Tijuana.

On Thursday evening, 17 year-old super featherweight Xavier Martinez from Sacramento, Calif. made his successful pro debut at Perro Salido in Tijuana.

In the dressing room before the fight, the irrepressible showman Repo Rick wasted little time going around promoting his newest, highly touted prospect: “After 80 Amateur bouts of which (Xavier) Martinez won 71 with a slew of knockouts, this youngster, at just 17 years of age, is more than ready to make his professional debut. We’ve already received overtures from Top Rank.”

Martinez, who has the Diego Corrales family in his corner, looked mighty good in his opener. You might counter and say, “Against the likes of an Ippo Hernandez, most anybody is going to look good.” We’ll just have to wait and see.       

In Bout #5, it was welterweight Aaron “Gemelo” Rueda from Merida, Yucatán, Mexico (2-0-0) getting the easy victory over Dario Cervantes (0-2) of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

Simply put, Rueda had the more accurate and better leveraged punches. After Rueda’s KO of Cervantes, a face in the crowd had everyone chuckling, to include Rueda, when he yelled out, “Te deje, Aaron!” as if Aaron Rueda had been following the bystander’s instructions from the git-go.

At the conclusion of Bout #5, Aaron Rueda
from Merida, Yucatán, Mexico has his arm raised in victory after he defeated Dario Cervantes of Tijuana. All photos: Jim Wyatt

When the announcer introduced Bout #6, it was like Ground Hog Day: “In the same red corner, we had super welterweight Abel Rueda (2-0), the twin brother of Aaron Rueda from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico going up against Jesus Andres Valdez (0-3) of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico. Like his brother Aaron, the twin brother was equally as proficient and ended up matching his brother’s efforts by scoring an early knockout. Valdez never had a chance. After falling face-front to the canvas, the referee called for an immediate halt to the bout.

In Bout #6, it was Abel Rueda of Merida, Yucatan,
Mexico securing the KO victory over Jesus Andres Valdez of Tijuana.

In Bout #7, it was 26 year-old super flyweight Diuhl “Elegante” Olguin (11-3-3) from Guadalajarra, Jalisco, Mexico and managed by Jorge Marron taking on Cristian Alexis Quezada (0-7) of Tijuana. In his seven losses, Quezada had only gone the distance twice and Olguin wasn’t about to let that happen on Thursday night. This one ended early after Olguin, who had Quezada pinned against the ropes, landed four straight unanswered blows to the head which prompted referee Juan Manuel Rincon to stop the bout.

Something you don’t often see? After being asked to pose for photos with the two ring card gals, Olguin gave both young ladies an unexpected peck on the cheek.

(bottom, right) At the conclusion of Bout #7, it was Diuhl “Elegante” Olguin having his arm raised in victory after defeating Cristian Alexis Quezada of Tijuana.

Bout #8 featured super-middleweights Cristian Olivas (3-0-1) of Mexicali, B. C., Mexico and managed by Gabriel Quinones and Luis Lorenzo taking on Francisco Martinez who was making his pro-debut.

The punishment came early and often. Veteran referee Juan Manuel Rincon was quick to recognize this development and wasted little time stepping in to stop the one-sided match.

In Bout #8, the power puncher Cristian Olivas of Mexicali made quick work of his opponent Francisco Martinez who was making his pro-debut.

The development in Bout #9 had the jaws dropping. After two successful rounds of boxing, Jonathan “Johnny Boy” Quiroz (5-2) of Oceanside, Calif., clearly ahead on the scorecards, ended up losing his match to Leonardo Reyes (0-6) who hails from the Jaime Munguia Gym of Tijuana. What happened? Early in round #3, Quiroz got caught by an overhand right that somehow opened a cut over Quiroz’s left eye. After a quick stoppage and an examination by the ringside physician, the bout was stopped. Since the cut was not caused by a head butt, there was no need for the referee to go to the judges and ask for their scores up to that point. Without further thought, Reyes was declared the winner.

The question raised by many, “Why the stoppage when the cut did not look that serious?”

In his match against Jonathan Quiroz of Oceanside, Calif., Leonardo Reyes of Tijuana was declared the winner after a cut developed over Quiroz’s left eye.

Bout #10 featured light heavyweight Manuel “El Venado” Ceballos (4-1) of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico landing these big, hard shots, mostly left hooks, to Juan Carlos Moreno’s liver which eventually had Moreno (0-7) on his knees and grimacing in pain. To his credit, Moreno did land three big blows, all left hooks to Ceballos’ head.

(bottom, left) In Bout #10, it was Manuel Ceballos stopping Juan
Carlos Moreno with a hard body shot.

Bout #11, the final bout of the evening, turned out to be a war between the favorite Manuel Roman (17-4-3) of Los Angeles, Calif. and the shorter underdog Pedro “Inquieto” Palma (4-14-1) of Tijuana.

At the outset, Roman, the more accomplished boxer, was in charge and most people felt it was just a matter of time before his systematic destruction of Palma would lead to an early stoppage. His one, two combinations, though delivered over and over again, didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the durable Palma who after a while began to match and at times surpass Roman’s output. Before long, the local fighter had three quarters of the venue chanting his name … Palma!!, Palma!!!

At the conclusion of their nonstop bout, the judges sided with Manuel Roman over the mighty mite Pedro Palma. All photos: Jim Wyatt

Palma’s persistence continued right up until the final bell. With it being such a well fought, seesaw battle, the judges took their time to check and recheck the scores which in the end reflected the win by Roman in what has to be deemed “The Fight of the Night.”