Who’s Who of Boxing to include the Prince on latest Bobby D Fight Card
Proud Mom and Dad, proud sister and brother gather around for a photo with their hero, Prince Tiger Smalls. All photos: Jim Wyatt
Tuesday, at the San Diego Combat Academy, the local Media was invited to attend Idris “Prince Tiger” Smalls’ open workout. The 20 year-old’s father and coach, Priest Tiger Smalls, wanted to showcase his son’s amazing talent as he went threw the varied exercises to finish his last full day of training before beginning to wind down in preparation for Thursday evening’s fight against Christian Cartier (0-1) at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in San Diego.
So how did Smalls look? Outstanding, sharp, lightning fast and most importantly focused. In addition, he’s currently just 1½ pounds over the catch-weight of 128 pounds which he will be required to weigh at Wednesday’s weigh-in.
So, who will have the upper hand in Thursday night’s contest?
On April 27, 2013, Cartier, weighing 123½ lbs. was the victim of a second round TKO to Juan Funez (1-0) who outweighed Cartier by two pounds. Now, he’s going up in weight to fight at 128 pounds. Why?
In Smalls’ pro-debut last month at Las Pulgas in Tijuana Smalls, weighing 127¾ lbs. fought Erick “Monkey” Aguirre to an inexplicable draw. Smalls controlled the action through three rounds, then went on his bicycle for the fourth and final round. This flub was one of those things you never do in a four rounder, and you especially never do when fighting in your opponent’s backyard. A local fighter knows every local judge, and on occasion has even shaken their hand.
Prince’s coach has always been his dad, a former featherweight title holder, now veteran coach. Together they’ve polished and fine tuned “the Prince” as if he were a diamond or the finest Swiss watch. Not that anything has been handed to him, but Prince sure has a leg up on the competition when you consider his coach sleeps under the same roof, he’s right there to make certain his fighter is out the door early to complete his roadwork, in the gym early to train, eats properly and is constantly pushing his son to go beyond what he could ever imagine.
Rumor has it Prince Tiger Small’s mom used to date Rick Fox. Was that before or after the singer, actress, producer Vanesa Williams came along?
After his workout, family members and a friend gather around their hero, Prince Tiger Smalls for a group photo. The children’s names flow from your lips like a title of a song: Ali, Serenity, Makayla, Priesha, Ralik and of course Idris the Prince, the current Pride of the Wild.
So there you have it, San Diego has another young pugilist plying his wares in one of the most difficult sports there is. He’s done the hard work and he’s certainly well schooled.
On the same fight card, you have the undefeated 25 year- old junior welterweight Emmanuel “Renegade” Robles (8-0-1, 3 KOs) who according to the latest schedule is set to face the 33 year-old Arthur Brambila from Phoenix, Arizona in a six rounder.
Around the horn we go with the cerebral Leon Spinks III (left), Emmanuel Robles (top right) having his arm raised by ref Jose Cobian, and our traditionalist Aaron Garcia (bottom).
In Brambila’s last 18 fights, dating back to September 17, 2005, he has one win. Revenge for that one win came almost exactly a month later in the form of a first round knockout.
As a co-feature, Bobby D Presents added another rising star, light welterweight Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (9-0-1, 7 KOs) from Dallas, Texas. Hooker, who just recently moved to Southern California to train, has an exciting style that has given way to five stoppages in his last six contests.
The matchmaker, perhaps fearing Hermosillo (12-10-3, 2 KOs) Robles’ initial opponent, might be in some way unsuitable, switched opponents and now has Hermosillo fighting Hooker.
Also, returning to San Diego is that wild and crazy guy, lightweight Leon Spinks III (5-0-1, 3 KOs) from Huntington Beach, CA by way of St. Louis, MO, to do battle in a four rounder against Jesus Aguinaga (1-0) from Arizona who, at the age of 18, is seven years younger than Spinks. Is Aguinaga that good? Or that mature?
In Spinks’ last outing, he had only minor difficulty with the 10 fight veteran Dominic Coca. After sizing him up and going ballistics on him, confounding him with these rapid fire combinations, Spinks eventually took every round.
Another head scratcher is the Aaron Garcia (11-3-2, 3 KOs) super featherweight matchup with Johnny Frazier (2-16-4, 2 KOs).
Frazier, not to be confused with the Fraziers of Philadelphia, has now gone 20 straight fights without a win. But don’t think disparagingly of Mr. Frazier, he works hard. Harder than most boxers you know. How do I know?
In March of this year alone, Fraizer fought three times culminating with this loss to Luis Hernandez that most patrons thought he won. Let me explain.
At the conclusion of their bout, the announcer read off the scores, first starting with this, “38-38 a draw”. Even Hernandez showed this look of disbelief on his face. Boo!!!!!!! went the patrons.
When you hear your hometown start to boo a decision in your favor, you know deep down you lost.
It was all Frazier in the first two rounds of the fight, as he continually landed these counter right hands to Hernandez’s head. On more than one occasion in those first two rounds, Hernandez was actually unsteady and had to hold on just to stay upright. The remaining rounds were more even.
Then came the other scores, both 39-37 for Hernandez. The crowd was shocked, appalled, stunned, all-of-the-above. Anyway, that hard luck journeyman boxer is headed our way to fight our local chum Aaron Garcia.
If you’re familiar with Garcia’s past, you know he’s also been a victim of some shenanigans.
They also added flyweights Christian “Calzador” Torres (2-1) of Tijuana who will be facing the southpaw Jesus Sandoval (0-2) from Riverside, CA and super bantamweights Joe Perez (3-0, 3 KOs) from Iowa to face Tyshawn Sherman (0-1) from the Sacramento area. Note well, Sherman’s one loss came to the formidable Guy Robb (12-1).
The Four Points by Sheraton Hotel is located at 8110 Aero Drive, San Diego. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the first punch being thrown around 7:30 p.m.
