Ringside report and photos by Felipe Leon
WBO bantamweight queen Kaliesha “Wild Wild” West (15-1-3, 4KOs) traveled 150 miles south from her home town of Moreno Valley, CA, to successfully defend her crown versus the very tough and awkward Claudia Andrea “Chica 10″ Lopez (18-6, 4KOs) in a ten round championship bout held at the Ernesto Ruffo Appel Municipal Gymnasium in the coastal town of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, last Saturday night. The fight was presented by Erik “Terrible” Morales’ Box Latino with Golden Boy Promotions and broadcast live in Mexico by Televisa and in the United States by Fox Sports Net.
West had not stepped into the ring since last August when she traveled all the way to Manzanillo, Mexico to defeat Jessica Villafranca in her second defense of the title she captured in late ’10 by stopping Angel Gladney in seven rounds. The southpaw Lopez, a veteran South American from Trelew, Argentina, was coming a unanimous decision win over Sonia Paladino in July of last year.
The reigning champion began to show off her speed early in the first despite both holding back in the round of study. Knowing that perhaps West was much quicker than her and skilled, Lopez stayed in the pocket as she tried and at times succeeded in countering West while trying to make it into a brawl by manhandling Kaliesha in the clinches. With a bruise swelling up quickly on the right side of her cheek, West looked to be having trouble in the third finding her distance while Lopez began to apply the pressure.
The action opened up in the fourth as both ladies began to throw more punches with Kaliesha being the more traditional fighter with combinations while Lopez tried to score heavy artillery. West began to find a home for her right hand in fifth as she began to score it as a lead punch and then ended the sixth heat with a huge three punch combination to the face of Lopez. Despite Kaliesha being the more precise puncher, Lopez had her moments with an all out pressure style as she kept coming forward no matter what West scored. Lopez was more effective in the inside when she was able to land the harder punches.
Lopez welcomed West to the ninth round hard straight left and Kaliesha returned the greeting soon after with an even harder straight right hand. Both women went toe to toe in the tenth and final round to finish off the show.
At the end, judges Fabricio Lopez and Ericka Contreras scored it 98-92 each while judge Sergio Caiz had it an inexplicable 95-95 giving the majority decision win to West.
“Metro” Guevara Scores Most Impressive Win
With a unanimous decision over the much more experienced Khabir Suleymanov (13-2, 6KOs), Mazatlan, Mexico’s Alberto “Metro” Guevara (15-0, 6KOs) walked away with a huge win o his ledger.
Guevara, whose biggest win prior was over 15-14-1, 7KOs journeyman Ricardo Armenta, looked solid as he controlled the majority of the action with skilled boxing as he boxed and at times hopped on his bicycle around the ring. Suleymanov had trouble defending himself against the stiff jab followed with a straight right hand of Guevara and he was caught with one mid way through the second round that sent him to the canvas. Suleymanov beat the count but soon found himself cut over the left eye. Suleymanov did have his moments as he was able to score with a looping over hand right thrown from an awkward angle that Guevara never seemed to see.
Guevara was able to out box Suleymanov for the majority of the first half of the fight but by the seventh round, fatigue began to make its case on the legs of the Mazatlan fighter. Suleymanov was able to take advantage as he began to close the gap and the ring and begin to score more. Unfortunately, Suleymanov suffered another cut, this time over his right eye, that forced the referee Manuel Rincon to call the ringside physician for a second opinion. Fearing a stoppage from the third man in the ring and knowing he was behind on the cards, Suleymanov went for broke in the tenth and final round but wasn’t able to catch up to Guevara enough to inflict any major damage.
Official scores were 99-90 twice and 98-91.
Bojorquez in Best Performance Since Return
Former Baja California amateur stand out and now popular Tijuana fighter Emilio Bojorquez (20-1, 14KOs) looked focused as he scored his fourth win in a row since a two year hiatus which began in ’09. Bojorquez stopped Agua Prieta, Mexico’s Martin Rodriguez (4-6, 2KOs) at 1:15 of the second round of a scheduled six in the welterweight division.
Bojorquez, who began his career as a featherweight but campaigns as lightweight, is steadily getting back to his most effective weight as he rakes up the wins since stepping back into the ring in September of last year. Originally slated to face sixty-one fight veteran Juan Manuel “Palapa” Arellano, Bojorquez had to settle in very late sub Rodriguez after Arellano was unfairly denied permission from the boxing commission in his hometown of Mexicali, Mexico.
With a very pro-Bojorquez crowd behind him, Emilio wasted no time in showing the audience and Rodriguez who was in control in between the ropes and began to punish Rodriguez with straight right hands coupled with his now signature hard left hook to the body. By the second round, Rodriguez, who tried as he might just did not have enough skill to match up with Bojorquez, succumbed to a series of straight power punches from Bojorquez and met the canvas twice before referee Manuel Rincon waived off the beating.
Other Results:
NABF junior flyweight champion Pedro “Pedrin” Guevara (17-0-1, 13KOs), who was scheduled for the televised semi-main event until his opponent, former champion Erick Ortiz fell out, dispatched late sub Patricio “Chiquita” Camacho with a hard body shot in the second round of a scheduled ten.
Top rising super bantamweight contender Oscar “Finito” Gonzalez (26-1, 20KOs) made quick work of southpaw Manuel “Zurdo” Aguilar (19-10, 13KOs) of Agua Prieta, Mexico, when he stopped him at the 1:30 mark of the second round with a hard left hook to the liver. Gonzalez of Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico had dropped Aguilar in the previous round with the same punch and only felt obliged to keep scoring it. The super feather weight bout was scheduled for eight rounds.
Popular San Diego light welterweight Adrian Vargas (6-0-1, 4KOs) stopped the over matched Refugio “Pichon” Contreras (1-7-3, 1KO) of Tijuana, Mexico, at the 2:26 mark of the first round. Contreras almost survived the first round of a scheduled four but Vargas caught him with a thundering left hook. Contreras was able to beat the count but the always in control Vargas landed a hard right hand while Contreras’ was against the ropes and ended his night early.
The elusive Arcadio Salazar (7-11-2) of Agua Prieta, Mexico, turned out to be not as much in the third round as he was in the first two when Tijuana super flyweight Jose “Hollywood” Estrella (11-3-1, 9KOs) and landed a hard body shot that dropped Salazar.
Super middleweight Brian Sanchez earned a four round unanimous decision with scores of 39-37 three times over the barely there Edgar “Roca” Bojorquez. Sanchez of Mazatlan, Mexico, goes back home with an undefeated record of 10-0-1, 7KOs) while Bojorquez stays in nearby Tijuana with a ledger reading 3-3-3, 2KOs.
