This is no puff. Wednesday evening, Promociones Mayen hit another home run at the Salon Las Pulgas in Tijuana with an exciting show spearheaded by the performance of undefeated super bantamweight Edivaldo “El Indio” Ortega along with three hard fought contests against fighters from San Diego.
In the 10 round Main Event, Ortega, the pride of Tijuana, wasted no time in establishing that he had the quicker hand speed while facing Jose Guadalupe Tapia of Mexicali. With each exchange, Ortega came away with a three to one superiority. By round #3, the only thing Tapia established was the fact that he can take a punch.
Then came the shocker in Round four. After getting caught by two lunging straight rights, Ortega was surprised by a beauty of a left hook and down he went. Ortega didn’t get to 15-0 without demonstrating resiliency. He was up in an instant. Now Brimming with confidence, Tapia tried to capitalize on his advantage but couldn’t. His wild and looping punches kept missing their mark.
From that wake-up call forward, Ortega went after Tapia with a Manny Pacquiao-like vengeance. With the relentless, unchecked combinations landing at will, the stoppage came at the 2:37 mark of the sixth round. While Ortega improves to (16-0-1, 8 KOs), Tapia falls to (7-7-0, 3 KOs).
The first of three visitors from San Diego was knockout artist Israel “Mr. KO” Arellano (5-0-0, 4 KOs). He faced Jose Ezequiel Avilez (5-1-1, 3 KOs). With both being big punchers, you knew this one would not go the distance and it didn’t.
After Avilez took round one by the slimmest of margins, Arellano came back in Round #2 and appeared to be dominating with his superior boxing skills. But then Arellano became careless and got caught by an overhand right that sent him to the canvas. He too was up in an instant, but his right leg was unsteady and gave way to a wobble. This was the indicator that gave referee Juan Jose Ramirez justification to call an end to the fight.
Like Israel, his older brother, Antonio Arellano (6-0-1, 2 KOs) had a difficult time. His opponent 19 year-old Jesus “Bombardero” Valadez (6-1-0, 3 KOs) and his staff had a well devised plan. It involved a lot of movement and circling away from the prodding Arellano’s power alley. Once Arellano caught up to him, Valadez would fire off a quick volley of punches, then move off again.
For those who scored the bout, Valadez took Round #1 by the slimmest of margins. Arellano came back and dominated in Round #2. Back came Valadez in Round #3. Once again winning the round by the slimmest of margins. The fact Arellano’s nose had become red most likely swayed the judges. Round #4 was a toss-up.
The judges never wavered. They had Valadez winning three of the four rounds for an unanimous decision victory.
Another clash that had everyone’s attention was the Sandra “Perla Negra” Robles (1-0) versus Diana “La Cazadora” Marquez bout. If I’m not mistaken, on Marquez’s trunks was written, “La Guerita” which means “The Blondie.” Since boxers often change their nickname on a weekly basis, we must take note of the revision.
In Round #1, it was welcome to the pro ranks for Marquez as Robles came on like a raging bull and literally chased her about the ring. Every time Marquez turned her head away, she got hit on the back of the neck. It was nothing like she had ever experienced in the gym. Robles even added a two punch combination after the bell.
The pummeling continued into Round #2, until Marquez showed her moxie and hit back, occasionally landing an hard right to the left side of Robles’ face. As a result, Robles soon had a welt or mouse, under her left eye. Robles did the majority of her damage with the straight left and left hooks to earn an unanimous decision.
Also on the undercard was Robles’ younger brother, 16 year-old “Sexy Boy” Robles facing 17 year-old Marino Canete. Both were making their pro-debuts.
On the composure scale, Robles, who came out calm, cool and collected, gave the impression he had been boxing for awhile. He began to land these big booming overhand rights. One had Canete’s legs wobbling.
To his credit Canete did well and never skipped a beat as he went back and forth from orthodox to southpaw. In the end, it was Robles having his arm raised.
Another teenager, 16 year-old Carlos “Baby” Castañeda (4-1-0, 2 KOs) was matched up against the winless 24 year-old Carlos Alberto Avila (0-1-1).
Simply put, Avila must have wanted the win more than Castaneda. In the opening three rounds, he was sharper and busier. Then, between rounds, sitting there on his stool, Castañeda was told the bitter truth, “Hijo, you are behind, you need a knockout or at the very least a big round.”
Castañeda finally woke up and gave Avila a beating in that final round. Did it matter? After being down the three rounds, Castañeda needed a knockout which never came to be.
With Ivan Reyes (4-3-0, 4 KOs) defeating Rosalio “Aspid” Rios (5-0-0, 4 KOs) as an amateur, Reyes most likely figured their rematch in the professional ranks would be a piece of cake. Only one problem, since that time Rios has improved big time and Reyes’s career had fallen on hard times.
In Round #1, Rios went for broke and clobbered Reyes from every direction. In Round #2, he slowed his pace a bit but still landed more of the heavier blows. Reyes seemed unfazed and kept coming as if he were hoping Rios would tire by punching himself out. By the end of Round #3, there was this incredulous look on Rios’ face, ‘What’s it going to take to get this guy out of here?’
At the 1:49 point of the final round, referee Cristian Curiel finally stepped in to stop the onslaught. If he hadn’t, the Arturo Gatti-like Reyes would have still been in there banging away.
Jorge “Tito” Ruiz (1-0) from the Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista, CA was the third boxer making the trek south to challenge a Tijuana boxer. His opponent was the much shorter Gustavo “Canelito” Munoz who was making his pro-debut.
Ruiz’s defensive style, replicating Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s, never allowed Munoz to get in close. With his shorter arms, Munoz’s punches always seemed to be an inch or two away from connecting. Meanwhile, Munoz had to deal with Ruiz’s stiff, stinging jab. After the jab softened him up, Ruiz would land his impressive combinations.
The bout was never in doubt as Ruiz improves to 2-0 and Munoz drops to 0-1.
Also on the docket they had middleweights, Francisco “Vago” Flores (1-2-0) going up against Jose Manuel Hernandez (0-0-1).
Soon after Hernandez began exploiting his reach advantage, a cut appeared over Flores’ left eye. As the fight progressed, the cut got worse, a whole lot worse, until referee Cristian Curiel, with the fight doctor’s urging, decided to call for an end to the bout. Hernandez goes to (1-o-1) while Flores drops to (1-3-0)
Next, they had super middleweight Antonio Gutierrez (8-0-1, 6 KOs) pounding Angel Estrada into submission. The difference in experience levels was evident from the start. For Estrada, being his first venture into the ring, he lasted all of 4 minutes and 10 seconds before his corner threw in the towel.
Flyweight Hector Flores took care of business by dominating Francisco Pedroza. From the outset, Flores was busier and landed the sharper punches. At the 2:02 mark of the second round, referee Juan Morales Lee felt Pedroza had eaten enough leather and called for a halt to the match.
In the final bout, it was Kevin “Lobo” Moreno (0-1) versus Jose Angel Suarez making his pro-debut. In Round #1, Moreno caught Suarez flush and down he went. More embarrassed than hurt, Suarez spent the remainder of the round trying to do the same to Moreno.
From that point on, the two went toe to toe and many thought Suarez had done enough to overcome that early knockdown. When the scores were announced, judges Sergio Lechuga and Jesus Gonzalez Cesena had it 38-37 for Moreno and judge Leobardo Ibarra Bracamontes had it 38-38, a draw.
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