By Paul Gallegos, ringside

TEMECULA - Eddie Sanchez of San Diego, CA is one of those strange fighters that to his credit, is always prepared. One time, he showed up to watch the fights and he ended up being in the main event. Tonight though, he had ample time to prepare against a ring savvy veteran in Carlos “El Elegante” Bojorquez in a Jr. Middleweight GBU Americas championship at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA.

The long arms of Sanchez would be the huge difference in the fight. He utilized his jab all night long to keep Bojorquez of Mira Loma, CA out of range. Clean combinations on the inside scored well in the judges’ eyes too as Sanchez continually beat the former champ to the punch with excellent hand speed.

Neither man went down, but a clash of heads caused both men to fight harder during round 7 of the 10 round bout. Referee Ray Corona controlled the action and kept things gentlemanly in the ring as both fighters could have easily turned the contest into a street brawl.

A street brawl would have served Bojorquez just fine. All night long, his plodding style couldn’t catch up to taller and quicker Sanchez. In round ten, Bojorquez landed a huge left hook that ripped out the mouthpiece of Sanchez. It was too little as Sanchez weathered the storm against the ropes and cruised to the victory.

The crowd of 1500 rose to its feet in appreciation of the hard-fought action. All three judges gave Sanchez the nod with scores of 99-91, 97-93 and 96-94. Sanchez finally had things go his way as he improved his record to 16-6-1 with 9 KOs. Bojorquez fell to 25-10-5 with 22 KOs.

The opening fight of the evening turned out to be one of the most entertaining as Kalisha “Wild, Wild” West of Moreno Valley, CA and Elizebeth Cervantes slugged it out for 4 tough rounds in the ladies bantamweight division.

Though petite in stature, both ladies fired off hard shots to the body and head the second the “opening bell” rang. Someone forgot to bring a bell, so with a quick trip to the kitchen a salad bowl and a large spoon was used for much of the night.

The girls have improved a tremendous amount over the last couple of years, even upstaging some of the men’s contests. The ladies do something that many of the men’s bouts fail to do—they fight. Usually in better condition, the ladies start swinging with just as much skill as any male opponent. Doubt me. Match your weight against one of them and you’ll know that these girls are for real.

Even though West pitched a shutout on all three judges’ scorecards, Cervantes had her moments against the speedy nineteen year old. Cervantes’ record may not indicate much luck inside the ring, but she gave West all that she could handle for the duration of the bout. West improved to 6-0 while Cervantes fell to 1-7.

In the welterweights, Alex Bogarin of Riverside scored a unanimous decision over a game but outclassed Hugo Nunez of Philomath, OR. Bogarin peppered Nunez with solid combinations against the ropes to take a 40-36 victory on two of the three judges’ cards and 39-37 edge on the other. Bogarin improved to 7-5-0 with 3 KOs while Nunez tastes defeat again at 3-5-1, with 3 KOs.

Jerry Mondragon of Fresno, CA made his pro debut something to remember as he knocked out Hector “Dani Boy” Reynoso of Riverside, CA in the second round. Mondragon pummeled Reynoso scoring three knockdowns before referee Ray Corona called a halt to the contest.

Coming from higher altitude didn’t help out Julio Lanzas of Colorado Springs, CO as he fell to Alan Velasco of Boyle Heights, CA in a six round welterweight fight. The taller Velasco continually beat the shorter Lanzas to the punch and scored with the jab almost at will. Velasco improved to 8-0-2 with 2 KOs. Lanzas fell to 6-14-4, with 3 KOs.

Overall, it was an entertaining night of fights. The crowd got its money’s worth as all the fighters were fairly evenly matched. The fights were being taped delayed for viewing sometime this week in the Los Angeles area on channel 13.  Legendary commentator Al Bernstein hosted the show.