Mexico City Boxing News

May 29 RESULTS Cayetano Sesmas, under the direction of Ricardo Maldonado, fell to 15-2-1(12)after getting knocked out in the first round by Francisco Mateos. Mateos stunned Sesmas one minute into the fight and dropped him hard 30 seconds later. Sesmas beat the count but was out on his feet and the ref stopped the contest. Mateos now 13-3-2(9), bout was scheduled for 10 rounds in the bantam division.

8 rounds lightweight - Erick Perez defeated Fernando Trejo by a close unanimous decision. Trejo is a fighter who I once thought had a good chance to ascend the boxing ladder, but his association with trainer Nacho Beristien has corrupted his natural aggression and power. He is now a tactical boxer and dull. Nacho can do great things with a certian type of fighter, Ricardo Lopez or Juan Manuel Marquez, but not all fighters fit into this mold and Trejo is one who should return to his younger, aggressive, hard left hook style of fighting (not boxing). This was a match Trejo should have easily won, he had Perez hurt in both the 1st and 2nd rounds, but when he had his chance you could see him stop and think "box, box, lateral movement, hands up, jab, one-two, box" when he should have put Perez on the deck. This caution in the ring led to another loss on his record. Also, 6rds light- Urbano Mendoza Wtko1 Joaquin Garrido; 4rds bantam- Trini Cordoba Wsplit4 Marcelino Cruz; 4rds fly- Jorge Romero Wtko2 Alejandro Contreras. In other news, Enrique Jupiter is now aware of his fight with Romero on the 11th of June and is looking extremely fit in the gym. Danny should be ready for a tough night!

May 27 ESPN2 is listing Enrique Jupiter as the opponent for Danny Romero on the June 11th show from Texas. Hopefully someone will contact Jupiter or his manager Rodolfo Rodriguez and let them know they have a fight because as of yesterday afternoon neither knew anything concerning this bout. As I stated back on May 17, Jupiter is in excellent shape and if the match is finalized I expect a distance fight.

Some background on the CINTURON DE ORO tournament. This is the 4th year of a single-elimination tournament sponsored by Multivision Cable, Corona Beer, and Reyes Equipment(the expensive cousin of BOXING CLASSICS WORLDWIDE). The tourny lasts thru the 1st week of August, features 4 and 6 round fighters in weight classes mini-fly thru welter. Very well organized and hosted this year at Salon 21, a dance hall in the upscale Polanco neighborhood. Past champions of note include super-fly Jorge Lacierva ('97), lightweight Pedro Alonso Teran ('97 and '98), and welter Miguel Rodriguez ('98) - who by the way is promoted by Raul Cruz. The shows take place every Wednesday and begin at 8 pm.

May 26 RESULTS CINTURON DE ORO 99 - 6 rds welter-Luis Santos Suarez Wtko1 Juan Carlos Conde; 6rds welter- Noe Zamora Wtko1 Jorge Gloria; 6rds welter- Jose Antonio Soriano Wtko3 Davis Suarez; 4rds welter- Jose Ignacio Benitez W4 Rogilio Munoz; Ricardo Rodriguez W4 Miguel Angel Flores; 6rds bantam(non-tourny)- Cecilio Santos W6 Sergio Lopez. Cecilio Santos moved up from 112lbs. and didn't have any problems with the larger Lopez, but wasn't able to knock him down. Santos is a good prospect who moves to 7-0-1(4).

May 26 140lbs. Cory Spinks 17-1 has pulled out of the June 11 ESPN2 matchup against Juan Antonio Lopez 12-0(11). The hard punching Lopez is still on the card and promoters are searching for a credible opponent. Also, on the Chavez-Alvarez undercard, Miguel Carnica stopped Omar Duarte in the 6th round of a scheduled 10 round bout, lightweight division.

May 23 WOW!!! Last nights fight between Jesus Chavez and Julio Alvarez was a war. Chavez entered the ring wearing a bull fighters outfit and pulled out a red fighting cape before the match, taunting Alvarez like he was a bull that "El Matador" was going to put down. The first round was explosive with both fighters landing solid shots. More toe-to-toe action in the second with Alvarez getting the nod on my card for the opens two rounds. Chavez scored with hard rights in the 3rd, backing Alvarez to the ropes and attacking the body. Chants of Ole Ole erupted from the crowd in the 4th as Chavez used lateral movement and bobbed under Alvarez' combinations. Alvarez almost put Chavez on the canvas early in the 6th with a left hook to the body that doubled over Chavez. He was seriously hurt as Alvarez mounted an all out assault but didn't go down. The last 30 seconds of the 6th, with Alvarez winded, Chavez came on strong. Rounds 7 and 8 were for Chavez, 9 was even on my card, and in the 10th both went to war standing and trading blows. No knockdowns in the fight, but Chavez was close to the canvas in the 6th and Alvarez almost went down in the exciting 10th. Rounds 11 and 12 were also action packed, non-stop fighting. My final scorecard read 118-113 Chavez. The official cards were 115-114, 115-113, 115-113 all for Chavez. So Alvarez had some help from the judges, but Chavez showed his skill, determination, and abilities to get the deserved decision. Following the battle Chavez went to congradulate Alvarez on a tough fight, but Alvarez pushed him away in a show of bad sportsmanship. He got booed for this lack of class while the Matador left the ring with his title belt and the respect of the fans.

Also, 4rds bantam- Ramon Campos Wsplit4 Francisco Raredes; 4rds feather- Isaac Chavarria W4 Raul Sandoval; 4rds bantam- Gilberto Martinez W4 Arturo Hernandez.

Oscar De La Hoya needs to get Big George to work his corner. I thought Foremans analysis was right on - DLH needs to be bouncing around and boxing, not trying to be a slugger. Oba Carr was fighting with a plan and it was working up until the 11th. Too bad Richard Steele was on the DLH pay roll. His work is inexcusable and he should be investigated by the feds too. I'm confident now that Tito will defeat DLH, either by boxing his ears off or by knocking him out!

May 20 RESULTS CINTURON DEL ORO '99 - 4rds light:Isreal Xolatenco Wtko2 Jose luis Cuautle; 4rds light: Randy Guevara Wtko1 Genaro Leon; 4rds feather: Martin Sanchez W4 Jaime Dominguez; 4rds feather: Ricardo Martinez Wko1 Miguel Barranco; 4rds feather: Carlos Ramos Wdq1 Yurifred Diaz; 8 rounds bantam (not part of tourny) Andres Ferrer W8 Enrique Zavala.

OK, I'm picking Jesus Chavez to stop Julio Alvarez in the 8th round this Saturday night. Chavez has fought the better opposition and is a superior fighter all around. I expect Alvarez to give a solid effort and he'll be in top shape. Alvarez' conditioning will allow him to take a severe beating before the fight is stopped, much like he did vs Jose Luis Castillo. After reviewing my notes from the Castillo fight I wrote him off as shot, even though he got a win due to a cut that Castillo received. Chavez is the better fighter and has been training in Mexico City for 2 months. I think he is up for this fight and see no reason why he cannot stop Alvarez late in the match.

I just read that Goyo Vargas has pulled out of his bout with Floyd Mayweather due to complications from a recent illness. This is bad, because I was picking Goyo to pull off the upset. Fighters.com is reporting that Mexican Javier Jauregui is the replacement. Jauregui recently won the Forum 130lbs. tournament, was the former Mx. Feather Champ, and lost a 12rds decision to the above mentioned Jesus Chavez. Looks like Mayweather will get to keep his belt a little longer. Mayweather via Decision.

De La Hoya, well, there is just no way Oba Carr can get a win in this fight. I would like to see DLH be explosive (and for more that just one round or the last 10 seconds of a round). If DLH can trade leather and keep his eyes open I think this will be another fight like the David Kamou fight, DLH early. But if he closes his eyes as he is apt to do in a good exchange, then it could be another long night waiting for DLH to get strecthed. And Carr won't be the one to do it, we'll have to wait for Tito or Ike to make it official. Eyes open: DLH early. Eyes closed: De La Bore-Ya by decision.

May 17 Jose Luis "Maestrito" Lopez was training in a Mexico City gym and looked close to 200lbs. Remains to be seen if he can prepare himself for a June bout scheduled in Texas. Enrique Jupiter, whose planned fight with Kevin Kelly on the undercard of Morales-Ramirez last week was scratched due to visa problems, now has his visa and is looking for action. Jupiter is in the best shape I've seen him in along time and is ready to travel on a days notice. Congrats to Cosme Rivera who lifted the NABO title from hard-punching Hector Quiroz. Rivera is from the Mexican West-Coast (maybe Culiacan) and has fought a few times in Mexico City, recently losing a decision vs. awkward Antonio Pitalua. Saturday nights NABF 130lbs. match between Jesus Chavez and Julio Alvarez will take place at the Arena Mexico, not the dangerous Arena Coliseo. I say dangerous because the Coliseo neighborhood is frought with thieves and murderers. So any of Chavez' fans from Texas planning to attend can be comfortable going to the Arena Mexico.

May 15 Saul Briseno schooled Mx. 122lbs. Champ Oscar Larios for the first 8 rounds of the fight. Textbook boxing: short, crisp punches that found the mark every time, good mix of punches to the head and body, solid defense with small head movements that had Larios swinging wildly at the air. It was a pleasure to watch the subtle moves and technique that Briseno brought to the fight. Larios, on the other hand, loaded up on big shots that hit nothing but air, illiciting jeers from the fans. Rounds 8 - 12 finally saw Larios land some left hooks, but Briseno was never hurt and always answered back. But, as seems his lot in life, the hard-luck Briseno was robbed yet again by the judges, who took an unusually long time to tally the corrupt scorecards. Larios retains his belt by decision. Bad scoring, Larios is damaged goods. Which unfortunately will probably qualify him for a title shot.

Former Prospect (sounds nice,huh? kinda like e x-champ) David Murillo of Cd. Juarez intentionally got himself DQ'd in the 7th round of his 10 round bout with Gilberto Corrales in the S.Bantam division. Referee Gelasio Perez had earlier deducted 2 points for low blows, but the "vato-loco chic" Murillo kept throwing them. He was trailing badly on points and looked to be running out of gas. His gangster buddies were not too happy when the bout was stopped, but I guess they can now let their hair grow back. The vato-loco look isn't too popular amoung the Chilangos and these guys were all Mexico City fighters before they jumped on the David Murillo bandwagon. Also, 6rds. 118lbs.-Alejandro Barrera Wtko1 Orlando Rojas; 4rds. 126lbs. Armando Hernandez Wtko3 Pedro Carbajal; 4rds. 126lbs.Antonio Ramos W4 Oscar Monter.

Later this week I'll put up my prediction for the Jesus "El Matador" Chavez vs Julio Alvarez bout scheduled for next Saturday, May 22.

May 10 Nice matchup this coming Saturday at the Arena Coliseo in Mexico City as Oscar Larios goes against tough Saul Briseno. A few months back Briseno KO'd #3 WBC Bantam Genaro Martinez, upsetting his World Title shot plans. Briseno also beat former champ Jose Luis Bueno twice in the past 18 months, but politics resulted in Bueno getting a gift decision and a gift draw, as well as an undeserved payday against Eric Morales. But Bueno did pay, getting drilled by Morales early.

Larios is a hard puncher with solid skills and I expect him to stop Briseno within 7 rounds, though it should be competitive. If Briseno presses his attack and stays busy, taking the fight into the late rounds he might have a chance - b ut I don't think that's how things will turn out.

May 9 Results Mexico City: Hugo Dianzo WTKO11 Erick Lopez (Dianzo retains WBC Continental Americas Title - Bantamweight); Edgar Barcenas WTKO7 Sammy Ventura (Barcenas retains WBC CA Title - Feather); Marino Jiminez Wsplit6 Luis Perez - bantamweight; Miguel Huerta WTKO1 Ramundo Rojas - light; Ernesto Olarte WTKO2 Alejandro Mendoza - light.

Concerning Erik Morales' win over Ramirez, I wasn't to impressed with the backpeddling style of Morales. Ramirez seemed nervous the first four rounds, but after that was taking the fight to Morales. I'm not sure why the ref stopped the bout and don't think Ramirez is the type to quit on his stool. Morales' learning days are over and if he gets in the ring vs. Marco Antonio Barrera as scheduled in September he will get DESTROYED!!

May 6 Look for Eric Morales to retain his WBC Superbantamweight Sat. night vs. Juan Carlos "Ranchero" Ramirez. However, Ramirez is going to be a tougher test than Wayne McCollough - the easy to hit former champion who packs no punch at all. Ramirez gave Luisito Espinoza a good run at 126lbs. and was taking control when Espinosa was cut, causing a stoppage. I think Morales will have to go the distance, win by decision, and everyone will say what a tough fight Ramirez brought to the dance.

Many will think I'm crazy, but I'm trying to establish my reputation here. OK, Floyd Mayweather will lose his title to Goyo Vargas on May 22. Why?? Because Mayweather does not have the power to keep Vargas at bay. My theory is based on the follow ing:

When Mayweather fought the South Ame rican on TNN a few months back the referee was Gelasio Perez, Mexico City's worst referee. This guy stops all fights when a guy gets caught with a good punch. If Floyd Mayweather cannot KO a South American import with Gelasio Perez as the 3rd man in the ring, then Floyd has no power. I also saw him in an uninspiring effort against Texas club fighter Larry O'Shields, who was able to push Floyd around and went the 6rd distance in a losing effort. Granted, Mayweather is talented and quick, but Vargas will lift his title. I'm on the record. How about you??

May 1,1999 Francisco Garcia retained his Mx. Minifly Title when challenger Paulino Villalobos was DQ'd at the end of the 5th when he took a cheap shot 3 seconds after the bell. Villalobos was leading on my card at the time of the disqualification. Also, hard punching featherweight Ernesto Fuentes knocked Simon Reyes down 4 times before the ref stopped the scheduled 6 round bout in the 4th.

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