Over the weekend, Tijuana hosted back to back boxing shows

Long after Friday’s show ended, the Morales brothers, Ivan (far left) and Diego (4th from the left) went on to entertain friends and patrons. When it comes to hospitality, it appears the customers at Restaurante Olivaritos always come first.

January 10, 2014

On Friday evening, it was PM Promotions, the Morales clan, represented by Diego “Pelucho” Morales and Ivan “Niño Maravilla” Morales along with their Mom, hosting their latest boxing show on the second floor of the family’s sports bar, Restaurante Olivaritos, in downtown Tijuana.

With the sheer numbers of boxing greats of Mexican decent, it seems preposterous, almost laughable that Mexico doesn’t have an internationally recognized Boxing Hall of Fame. In the meantime, the walls of the Morales’ family restaurant will have to do.  

For a sports memorabilia fan, it was a delight. It was like visiting a museum before the curators had a chance to put all of the memorabilia in their glass cases. There were over a dozen world title belts, signed gloves from memorable fights and the fancy boxing robes they wore into battle. All that was missing was the movie theatre to showcase the highlights from the brothers’ remarkable careers. On the many shelves were trophies from their glorious past dating back to the ’70s.

Among the movers and shakers in attendance for Friday’s show were Ken Thompson, the president of Thompson Boxing Promotions plus his GM/matchmaker Alex Camponovo, plus the TV producer for the Time Warner Cable Deportes show “Boxeo Estelar.” Their entourage drove all the way from Orange, Calif. which most likely took them over two hours.

Back in early December, 2013, Time Warner Cable Deportes, the nation’s first-ever 24/7 Spanish-language regional sports network, and Thompson Promotions announced a programming agreement which stated the cable giant would air “Boxeo Estelar,” a weekly, one-hour boxing telecast beginning on December 12, 2013 and as part of this agreement, Thompson Boxing would be simulcasting “Boxeo Estelar” on their website at thompsonboxing.com. No doubt, this boxing show would need of a large cadre of talented boxers. The increased exposure would surely benefit the up and comers from south of the border and perhaps the people from Thompson Boxing Promotions who would attend the shows and do their recruiting.

While preparing for his bout against Javier Lapizco, Efrain Gonzalez (r) takes a moment to pose for a photo with one of his young admirers. Photos: Jim Wyatt

(bottom) At the conclusion of the hotly contested bout versus Efrain Gonzalez (l), we see referee Juan Manuel Rincon raising the arm of the victorious Javier Lapizco.

In Bout #1, it was flyweight Javier Lapizco (4-0-0, 1 KO) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico earning the victory over Efrain Gonzalez (1-3-0) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. 

In the hotly contested opening round, Lapizco prevailed after catching Gonzalez with several big shots to the head just before the round ended. Gonzalez made a comeback of sorts in round two by exploiting his jab to get in close and then landing a series of powerful uppercuts. 

Round #3, the Wow! round, saw both fighters going nonstop and landing more than a few home run blows to their opponent’s head. In the fourth and final round, it was Lapizco landing the more accurate and better-leveraged punches to earn the close, mixed decision victory.

In Bout #2, Carlos Valenzuela (r) got the TKO victory over Jesus Marquez. (top left) shows Marquez with his trainer in the upstairs dressing area prior to the fight.

In Bout #2, it was the more experienced Carlos Valenzuela (6-0-0, 3 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, getting the quickie TKO victory over fellow lightweight Jesus Marquez (0-1) of Tijuana. The end came at the 1:49 mark of round one. After getting caught repeatedly with solid left hooks to both the body and head, Marquez went down and stayed down. It’s likely, he figured out that it was better to return on another day.

In Bout #3, it was Ruben “Canelito” Tamayo (l) getting the TKO victory over Ivan “Titan” Reyes.

In Bout #3, it was Ruben “Canelito” Tamayo (23-4-4, 17 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico earning a second round TKO victory over southpaw, super featherweight Ivan “Titan” Reyes (4-5-0, 4 KOs) of Tijuana.

Despite an economy of punches thrown in round one, every punch Tamayo threw landed and was meaningful, while Reyes’ punches were wide and off target. Halfway through round two, Tamayo’s measuring and calculating ended and he went in for the kill. After his onslaught of power shots, mostly to the head, down went Reyes on one knee. At that point, referee Juan Manuel Rincon could see he was a beaten man and called for a halt to the match at the 2:49 mark of round two.

(top) After securing the early second round stoppage of Carlos Mendoza, referee Juan Manuel Ramirez (r) raised the arm of the victorious Carlos “Memin” Carlson. (bottom) Carlson (second from the left) is joined by his support staff. 

Bout #4 was a super bantamweight matchup between Carlos “Memin” Carlson (13-0-0, 10 KOs) of Tijuana, another signee of Thompson Boxing Promotions, and southpaw Carlos Mendoza (1-8-1) of Tijuana. This bout was a repeat of the preceding bout. The early stoppage came at 1:21 of the second round after Carlson kept working over Mendoza’s midsection. Despite an occasional crisp jab to the face, Carlson pressed forward and kept up the pressure until the towel was thrown in.

Interesting to note, of Mendoza’s 10 opponents, he has only fought one boxer with a losing record. That was in his pro-debut against Jose Guadalupe Tapia who had a record of 2 wins and three losses.

In Bout 5, it was Jesus Delgado (white trunks with purple stripes) getting the early 2nd round stoppage of Jose Antonio Torres (top, right).

In Bout #5, it was Jesus “Bolitas” Delgado (3-0-0, 1 KO) of Tijuana, moving up from super flyweight to featherweight (123½ lbs.) to get an early, 1:22 of the second round, TKO victory over Jose Antonio Torres (124¾ lbs.) of Tijuana who was making his pro-debut. 

After a while these matches began to have a common thread as the more experienced boxers kept breaking the will of the less experienced. 

When you’re the son of a legendary boxer like Jose Luis Ramirez, a lot is expected. (top photo) Ramirez has his hands wrapped by Monica Abedith Rico, his trainer. (below) Ramirez’s opponent, Cristian Scott (down on the canvas) had no answer for the aggressive Ramirez.

Following in your father’s footsteps can be a daunting task. After Jose Luis Ramirez Jr. secured victory #6, TKO #3, he needs 96 victories, 79 TKOs to match his father’s totals.

Bout #6 featured two, 131¼ lb. lightweights, 26 year-old, southpaw Jose Luis “Zurdo” Ramirez Jr. (6-0-1, 3 KOs) from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, an extremely, serious boxer and son of the former World Lightweight Champion Jose Luis Ramirez, going up against Cristian Scott (1-1) of Tijuana, a boxer who only fights once every two years. 

Over a career that spanned 17 years, Ramirez’s dad had a remarkable record of 102-9-0, with 82 KOs). Less we forget, this Hall of Famer faced such notables as Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez, Ruben Olivares, Hector Macho Camacho, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Terrence Ali, Edwin Rosario, Alexis Arguello and Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini.

Like the preceding matches, the Ramirez Jr. bout ended early, at 1:24 of the first round, after Scott went down after getting beaten repeatedly by hard shots to the stomach.

Over a career spanning 17 years, Ramirez’s father (l) had a remarkable record of 102-9-0, with 82 KOs). Less we forget, this Hall of Famer faced such notables as Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez (top, rt), Ruben Olivares, Hector Macho Camacho, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Terrence Ali, Edwin Rosario, Alexis Arguello (bottom rt) and Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini.

In the final bout of the evening, Bout #7, they had super bantamweight, Heriberto “Tremendo” Delgado (9-0-0, 5 KOs) of Tijuana, another Thompson signee, Jesus Delgado’s older brother, taking on Hector Alvarez (0-1) of Tijuana.

Delgado, who was appearing in his first bout since signing with Thompson Boxing Promotions, was well aware of the high stakes, the in-house VIPs and went after his opponent early. As it turns out, “Tremendo” stopped his opponent at the 1:16 mark of round one. He had barely worked up a sweat. With the loss Alvarez drops to 0-2 while Delgado improves to (10-0, 7 KOs).

(top) The Delgado family poses for a photo just before Friday night’s show. (below) Heriberto “Tremendo” Delgado has his arm raised in victory by referee Juan Manuel Rincon after the defeat of Hector Alvarez. All photos: Jim Wyatt

In summation, you had seven matches with only one getting past the second round. Despite the lack of competition, everyone enjoyed the tortas, frosty Tecate beer and the camaraderie between friends.