Southpaw Alex Rincon overcame a seemingly scary moment just after scoring one of the more impressive knockouts of his nascent career.
The Carolton, Texas native made short work of Luis Sanchez in their eight-round junior middleweight bout, scoring two knockdowns in the second round, both courtesy of the right hook. Sanchez struggled to get back to his feet, compelling referee Rudy Barragan to halt the bout.
Yet as the parties awaited the decision to be announced, officials and the ring doctor rushed over to Rincon, who was shown lying on his back with his legs slung over the bottom rope. It turned out to be a false alarm. Rincon reportedly was suffering from leg cramps, nothing more.
In any case, the quick knockout turned out to be something of a blessing for the 26-year-old undefeated prospect.
The official time of the stoppage was 1:44 of the second round.
The opening round got off to a slow start, as both fighters looked to land their jabs.
In the second round, things began to heat up. Sanchez, San Juan, Puerto Rico, decided to turn southpaw and began taking it to Rincon. It turned out to be the wrong move. After a brief tussle, Rincon caught Sanchez with a right hook, dropping him.
A clearly buzzed Sanchez got right back up but then practically fell face first into another Rincon right hook. Sanchez beat the count, but referee Barragan discerned that he was in no shape to continue.
Rincon improves to 10-0 with 7 knockouts.
Sanchez drops to 9-3 with 6 KOs.
Local Los Angeles bantamweight product John “Scrappy” Ramirez did everything in the ring except get the knockout Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Ramirez connected on hard, clean punches on Robert Pucheta throughout their six-round 118-pound bout, but he had to settle for a unanimous decision.
All three judges had it 60-54 for the 25-year-old Ramirez.
Ramirez was hardly troubled. He repeatedly fired off combinations to the head and body and was generally too quick for the 31-year-old Pucheta, who landed maybe a handful of meaningful punches in the fight.
Ramirez improves to 9-0 with 7 knockouts, while Pucheta falls to 10-21-3 (6).
In the first round, Ramirez worked patiently behind his jab but towards the end he began putting his combinations together. A stiff uppercut caught Pucheta’s attention.
Ramirez came out aggressive in the second round, landing a trio of strafing right hands followed by a combination that caused blood to spurt from the nose of Pucheta.
A game Pucheta tried his best to press and landed a straight right, but Ramirez took it well. Ramirez continued to counter off his backfoot.
In the third round, Ramirez staggered Pucheta briefly with an overhand right. Ramirez hurt Pucheta again toward the end of the round with a clean combination.
In the fourth round, Ramirez, smelling blood, pounced on Pucheta. Pucheta, however, managed to fend off the initial assault. Pucheta landed a deft uppercut on the inside. Ramirez responded moments later with an overhand right that sent Pucheta back into the ropes. But Pucheta would answer back with an overhand right of his own.
Ramirez was in cruise control throughout the fifth round, landing numerous clean shots, but a game Pucheta did not wilt. Midway through the referee warned Ramirez about pushing Pucheta’s head down.
In the sixth and final round, Ramirez continued to outwork Pucheta. At one point he landed a nice double uppercut. But Pucheta remained unbowed, even as blood continued to flow from his nose.
Once Alejandro Reyes settled down, the game got that much easier.
Reyes, a 22-year-old prospect from Lancaster California, tried to take the head off of Mexican veteran Daniel Evangelista Jr. in the opening round of their 140-pound lightweight but looked largely ineffective doing so. Eventually Reyes switched tactics, slowed down his offense, scored a knockdown, and eventually earned a wide unanimous decision.
All three judges (Jonathan Davis, Edward Hernandez Sr., and Daniel Sandoval) scored it 60-51 for Reyes.
In the first round, Reyes set a fast pace, winging hard shots though few actually landed clean. Reyes stalked Evangelista but tended to smother his punches. A furious exchange midway through the round ended with Reyes landing a body shot but also eating a counter right from Evangelista.
In the second round, the referee warned both fighters for holding excessively. Reyes tried to fight more on the outside, using his jab, instead of wading in recklessly as he did the previous round. With a minute left, Reyes landed a hard one-two that caught Evangelista’s attention. The referee, seemingly without previous warning, then took a point away from Evangelista for hitting behind the head. Toward the end of the round, the two went back and forth with combinations but Reyes got the upper hand, landing an uppercut just as the bell rang.
After a mostly quiet third round, Evangelista threw some heated combinations. Reyes ducked or blocked most of them and at one point Reyes countered with two consecutive right hands, the latter of which sent Evangelista sailing to the canvas. Reyes dropped his foe again with a hook-overhand right just as the bell rang, but the referee ruled it as a slip.
In the fourth round, Reyes hurt Evangelista again with a left hook. Reyes tried to finish his opponent off, but Evangelista was able to fend him off with a counter off the ropes.
At the end of the round, the referee took a point away again from Evangelista for another infraction, twisting Reyes’ left arm in the clinch.
Tempers quelled in the fifth round. Reyes worked mainly behind his jab, while Evangelista was looking to survive. With 30 seconds remaining, the two began to exchange looping punches again.
Reyes continued to show poise in the sixth and final round. He hurt Evangelista midway through with a clean left hook, but the underdog, while thoroughly outclassed, remained undaunted, firing off shots to the very end. Reyes capitalized on Evanglista’s defense with yet another clean slew of punches to end the round.
Reyes improves to 7-0 with 4 knockouts. Evangelista drops to 20-13-2 with 16 knockouts.
Miguel Gaona went to the body and never looked back.
The 23-year-old southpaw from Los Angeles sprang out of his corner and drubbed Gilberto Aguilar with combinations to the body in their four-round lightweight bout Saturday night in Los Angeles. Aguilar took a knee and was eventually counted out by referee Ivan Guillermo 30 seconds into the opening round.
The 23-year-old Gaona, who is trained by veteran Joel Diaz, improves to 2-0 with 1 knockout. The 41-year-old Aguilar, who had trouble making weight for the fight, remains winless at 0-5.
Dalis Kaleiopu methodically broke down Manuel Lara.
Kaleiopu, a 20-year-old prospect from Hawaii, made his second professional bout a successful one, dropping Lara three times and getting the stoppage in the fourth and final round of their lightweight bout.
Kaleiopu dropped the woebegone Lara with a three-punch combination, compelling referee Rudy Barragan to put a halt to the fight.The official time of stoppage was 2:15 of the fourth.
A minute into the opening round, Kaleiopu dropped Lara.
Kaleiopu took his time, however, maintaining his distance and firing off sharp combinations. Kaleiopu landed a left hook that staggered Lara, sending him into the ropes and that could have been counted as a knockdown. No matter. Seconds later Kaleiopu dropped Lara for the second time with a hard right to the cheek. Lara returned to his corner on wobbly legs.
Kaleiopu continued to be patient in the second round, working behind his jab. Midway through the round he staggered Lara with a hard right to the body. Lara tried his best to counter off the ropes but was repeatedly out of range.
In the third round, Kaleiopu continued to bide his time and connected on hard shots.
Kaleiopu (2-0, 2 KOs) turned it up in the fourth and final round, whipping hard shots on an increasingly discombobulated Lara (2-8). Finally, with under a minute left, Kaleiopu fired off a three-punch combo that forced Lara to take a knee. The referee came over and promptly waved off the bout.
Ramla Ali hardly broke a sweat as she maintained her undefeated record.
The British-Somalian super bantamweight dropped Shelly Barnett twice in their eight-round bout en route to a second round stoppage at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Not even a minute into the opening round, Ali, Ali, a 2020 Olympian for Somalia, dropped Barnett with a furious combination punctuated with a right hand. Ali followed with another stiff right hand that seemed to buzz Barnett.
With 10 seconds remaining in the first round, Ali dropped Barnett again with a flurry.
In the second round, Ali continued to land clean on Barnett, working the body and connecting on hard one-twos. Barnett was clearly out of her depth against Ali’s superior technique.
A final flurry from Ali compelled the referee to stop the bout. The official time of stoppage was 1:23 of round 2.
Ali, 32, improves to 5-0 with 1 knockout. This was her first fight under trainer Manny Robles.
The 38-year-old Barnett drops to 5-7-2. This was the first time she failed to go the distance.
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