V & B Promotions has arrived – entertaining bouts, substantial attendance
Both coach and fighter were ecstatic when hearing the announcement of victory.
Friday, March 29, 2013
It appears V & B Promotions has hit their stride. Their second in a series of monthly boxing shows dubbed “Champions of Tomorrow” had an unexpectedly large attendance on March 29, Good Friday. The event at Tijuana’s Municipal Auditorium (Auditorio Municipal Fausto Gutiérrez Moreno) featured nine bouts with undefeated Super bantamweight Christian Bojorquez featured in the Main Event.
You could see Joe Vargas, the show’s organizer was pumped. Vargas is the “V” portion of V & B Promotions, the newest of the boxing promoters from the San Diego/Tijuana area. His partner in crime is the former standout boxer Emilio “Yori Boy” Bojorquez of Tijuana, the “B” portion of V&B Promotions.
Vargas’ post fight comments: “We had a great turn out. I just wanted to thank my fellow San Diegans who came down to Tijuana to support us. Our paid attendance was 1,368, not bad for a brand new promotion company. Our next show will be in May, followed by one in June, July and then we’ll be making our San Diego debut sometime in September. Look out fight fans because here we come.”
In the Main Event, Bout #9, it was super bantamweight Christian Bojorquez (10-0-0, 2 KOs) taking it to the durable Cesar De La Mora (3-4-1, 2 KOs) in a bout where Bojorquez’s hand speed and accurate punching made the difference. As a result, Bojorquez won the hard fought battle by an unanimous decision with scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56.
The Main Event featuring Christian Bojorquez and Cesar De La Mora was one of those memorable bouts you never forget.
Christian Bojorquez is shown celebrating with family and friends. Photos: Jim Wyatt
Bout #1 featured flyweight Angel “Diablito” Ramos of Ensenada (2-0 0, 1 KO) taking on Norberto Espinoza of Villa las Rosas, Chiapas who was making his pro-debut.
After taking a lot of punishment and being knocked down in round one, you would have thought Espinoza might quit. Oh contraire! After each adversity he came back even stronger. By round #2, Ramos had Espinoza’s head snapping back. Right through until the final bell, Espinoza kept coming and Ramos kept delivering. The scores of the judges were all the same, 40-35 for Ramos.
Angel “Diablito” Ramos (white trunks, blue stripe) of Ensenada tried everything but he just couldn’t get the tough Norberto Espinoza to quit. All photos: Jim Wyatt.
Bout #2
In this bantamweight clash, the rookie Jesus Briseno (1-0) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico impressed the judges by simply scoring more points to get the win over his Tijuana rival, Marino Canete (0-2-0).
Canete seemed more intent on setting up these crowd pleasing overhand rights, while Briseno stayed true to his plan of being busier and landing more blows in short combinations. Judge Brenda Lopez scored the close bout 39-37 – Briseño, judge Diana De La Mora scored the bout 39-37 – Briseño, and finally Carlos La Bastida scored the bout 38-38 – a draw.
(top panel) Jesus Briseno with his support group before his bout with Marino Canete. (bottom left) Canete is with his support group. (3rd panel) Briseno throws a stiff jab. Photos: J. Wyatt
Bout #3 featured a surprise ending. From the outset, welterweight Rolando Perez (1-0) from the Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, making his return to the ring after a two year and three month layoff, appeared to be the more polished boxer and in full command of the fight. His opponent, Julio Cesar Nario of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico seemed more skittish, after all he was making his pro debut. Perez may have lacked his usual hand speed, but he was right there, setting up his punches and easily in full control.
When round two began, Nario made a concerted effort to assert himself, be busier and he soon had Perez back-peddling. With Perez’s back against the ropes, the first short left hook reached pay dirt. After that first punch landed, Nario came with an even harder right cross. From that point on, Nario went nonstop until Perez dropped to the canvas. Initially, it appeared Perez had no chance of surviving the pummeling and when he first got up his legs were not steady. Before reaching the count of seven, you could see the referee was mulling over the possibility of calling an end to the bout.
In the far off corners, the boxer and his coach awaited the call and were ecstatic, on cloud nine, when seeing the referee wave off the bout to award the young boxer his first professional win.
Pre-fight, the boxers were in the dressing room preparing. (top right) Julio Cesar Nario with his support group; (top left) Rolando Perez with his trainer Adrian Melendrez.
These outstanding photos were taken by Renzo Novara of BoxeoTijuana.com.
- Photos taken on the opposite side of the ring by Jim Wyatt
Special guests to the V&B Promotions Show included top super bantamweight Chris Martin and his immediate family to include his wife, mother, father, brother and sister-in-law.
Bout #4 saw super-welterweight Pastor Elenes (4-1-0) have his way with Adrian Gonzalez (0-3). With both boxers being from Tijuana, the winner of this match must have been a foregone conclusion. Gonzalez, shorter and not in the best of shape, lasted all of one minute and one second.
Prefight, Pastor Elenes posed for several photos with his support group. After the quick ending, Elenes (bottom right panel) gave his opponent Adrian Gonzalez a hug. Photos: J. Wyatt
Bout #5 was another mismatch. Super middleweight Ulises Sierra (2-0-1) of the Undisputed Gym in North Park, San Diego, CA, a serious up and comer, had no problem dispatching Jose Luis Esparza, another debutant, who outweighed Sierra by 13 pounds, which would make him a cruiserweight.
After Sierra went to the body, Esparza’s hands started to drop and that made his headhunting a lot easier. With his left eye almost completely shut, the referee, Juan Jose Ramirez, decided to call in the fight doctor who counseled Ramirez to stop the bout.
Ulises Sierra (left) dominated Jose Luis Esparza in their shortened match, Bout #5.
Bout #6 featured a match between Erick Flores (1-0-1) from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and Jose “Tremendo” Arteaga (1-1-1) from Tijuana.
In this one, the fighters were so evenly matched, their back and forth struggles reanimated the crowd. Every time you thought Flores had Arteaga in trouble, back came Arteaga with a vengeance. In Round #2, the crowd went wild when Arteaga had Flores in the neutral corner and landed this head-snapping straight right.
Round three was even more exciting as the two men went toe to toe for even longer periods. After every round, you thought surely the next round would decide the fight.
(top photo) Erick Flores (center) is joined by his support group. (bottom left) Eduardo Iniquez (r) poses for a photo with Jose Arteaga in the dressing room. Final photo shows Arteaga (r) and Flores facing off at the outset of their bout.
Bout #6 was surely one of the most action packed. (top panel) we see Jose Arteaga (right, green trunks) delivering a solid left hook to the chin of Erick Flores. All photos: Jim Wyatt
Nobody likes a draw, but with the boxers throwing hands nonstop, it made the judges job very difficult, near impossible. Photos: Jim Wyatt
In the end, the judges were faced with an unmistakeable draw. Judges Carlos La Bastida and Joselyne Ortiz handed in scores of 38-38 while judge Jesús González Cesena gave more credence to the power behind each of Arteaga’s deliveries. He scored every round in his favor 40-36.
Bout #7 featured super flyweights Jose Toribio (1-0), trained by Joe Vargas of Undisputed Downtown and Cristian Ciciliano (0-0-1) of Tijuana.
This was another exciting match with two guys who gave the fight fans their money’s worth. Regarding the punches thrown, it seemed Toribio was the more accurate of the two, slipped more punches and ended up with the numbers to secure the majority decision.
Collage of photos shows the boxers of Bout #7, Cristian Ciciliano (blue trunks) and Jose Toribio (red trunks) pre-fight and later during the battle in the ring. Photos: J. Wyatt
Top two photos show the boxers awaiting the decision for Bout #7. (below) Jose Toribio has his arm raised in victory by referee Juan Jose Ramirez.
Bout #8 was the third mismatch of the evening. Light middleweight Victor Fonseca (4-1-1, 2 KOs) is a serious power puncher ready to deliver pain from either hand. His opponent, Eduardo Iniquez (2-10-1), has the fundamentals down but he would be better suited to be one of those leading men on the nightly novelas.
After Fonseca delivered his shot to the liver, Iniquez went directly to his knees to endure the undeniable pain.
(top) Boxer Victor Fonseca poses for a photo with his support staff. (below) Referee Juan Jose Ramirez is shown questioning Eduardo Iniguez if he wants to continue. Photos: Jim Wyatt
Like the action in the ring, the San Diego/Tijuana boxing scene is heating up. Just check out the schedule at: http://sportofboxing.com/pro-boxing-schedule-update/ On Monday night, April 8, were at El Foro in downtown Tijuana; two days later it’s back to Las Pulgas. They have female flyweights, Kenia Enriquez (5-0) from Tijuana taking on Rosa Diaz (4-0) from Agua Prieta, Sonora. Then we’re back to the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in San Diego on Friday, April 19, for another Bobby D Presents show featuring Emmanuel Robles (7-0) putting his undefeated record on the line against Joshua “Superman” Marks (8-4, 8 KOs) from El Centro, CA.
