Josesito Lopez and Mauricio Herrera’s Victories

The month of January was definitely a memorable one–and a championship one–for Thompson Boxing Promotions. Under their banner, a trio of tough and talented 140 pound champions have emerged victorious with brand new belts in tow.

Junior Welterweights Josesito Lopez, Mauricio Herrera and Timothy Bradley all won their recent bouts, giving their promoter a reason to celebrate. Ken Thompson is Herrera’s promoter and is Lopez and Bradley’s co-promoter. For over a decade, his company has brought exciting sold out fight nights to the Inland Empire and beyond.

Bradley has already reached the superstar status in the boxing sphere with talk of Amir Khan being his next possible foe, after Bradley’s victory over Devon Alexander. But with Lopez and Herrera, their latest victories–arguably the best wins of their careers to date–have pushed them even further into boxing’s radar.

For these two young sluggers, in their individual bouts, they gave as good as they got. But when the fights were over, both warriors gave more than their opponents, winning new belts in the process–and legions of new fans. Herrera earned the IBF North American Light Welterweight Championship and Lopez is the new NABF Light Welterweight Champion. And Bradley is the unified WBC and WBO Champ after his January 29 bout in Detroit against Alexander.

And the New Year really began with a bang as these hard-working guys, Herrera and Lopez, earned their new titles in competitive, punishing rounds–and in the spotlight of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights.” Both boxers had sustained cuts in the fight; their faces have since healed from their war wounds.

Their Southern California promoter celebrated with the punching pair at a victory party where Thompson proudly introduced his two new titlists. As the posed for photos and signed autographs, their red and green belts were shining bright alongside the champs. For Thompson, the WBC Legends of Boxing Museum’s “2010 Promoter of the Year,” is already ushering in 2011 with great success. And the icing on the cake is that it is the entrepreneur’s birthday on Thursday. So the whole Thompson Team has much to celebrate as you’ll see in these exclusive pics from the party. The businessman is even sporting a fun blingy necklace, given to him at the party by a guest.

For Mauricio (16-1, 7 KOs), he went toe-to-toe in 12 rounds against the formerly undefeated Ruslan Provodnikov (17-1, 11 KOs), upsetting the unbeaten Russian in a close battle. Receiving a unanimous decision of 115-113 and 116-112 twice, Herrera showed his fighter’s heart, guts and more after continuing on with his left eye badly swollen, almost shut completely. In the gutty bout, both guys’ eyes were battered and bruised. Provodnikov had a massive purple welt on his right eye; Herrera’s black-and-blue left eye was even worse. After each threw almost 900 punches; this was an exciting match for boxing aficionados.

At the weekend gathering, Herrera’s mug didn’t even show a trace of what he endured in the ring. He was accompanied by his trainer, Willy Silva and their wives. Mauricio, nicknamed “El Maestro,” dug deep for this victory. “It was a tough fight,” he admitted to me.

His wife Vanessa agreed. During Herrera’s fight, held on January 7 at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, the pretty brunette said it was hard to watch her husband as both his eyes were on the receiving end of his foe’s gloves. Mauricio never gave up–or gave in–even if the referee and doctor were considering stopping the fight. But his spouse tapped out a bit earlier. “After the third round, I couldn’t watch anymore!” she said with a small chuckle, now a month after Mauricio has added that bright red belt to his wardrobe. But since the victory, Vanessa said she has watched tapes of the fight.

The junior welter and his camp are happy with what the media calls an “upset win” but are already thinking ahead. Look for the Maestro back in the ring possibly in April. And the team has even more to celebrate when it was announced to the crowd that trainer Silva will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in June.

During the fiesta, Jose Lopez (29-3, 17 KOs) continued to go “green,” with his new NABF strap at hand. A former WBC Continental Americas and WBC Youth World Lightweight titlist, Lopez first fight was exactly seven years ago. With this KO victory over the heralded Mike Dallas Jr. (17-1-1, 7 KOs), Josesito is now being talked a lot about in boxing circles. Trained by Henry Ramirez, Lopez vs. Dallas was the featured co-main during the ESPN show at Pechanga Resort and Casino on January 28. Co-promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, Lopez even managed to steal the show from his stable mate and main eventer Chris Arreola. After his seventh-round knockout of Dallas, Lopez, out of Riverside, walked out of the ring to a huge group of new fans all wanting to meet the newest boxing star.

At the party, I greeted Jose while closely checking out the cut on his forehead. After suffering a gash from an unintentional headbutt in the beginning of the fight, Lopez battered on, never letting the increasing flow of blood bother him. After several stitches, I looked for the scabs or scarring, but his forehead was almost unmarked just a few days after the slicing.

“I can barely see the cut,” I commented. Jose smiled and said after the stitches came out, he’s healed very fast. After the Dallas camp has stated that they’d like a rematch, I questioned the boxer on the possibility. The new NABF Light Welterweight Champ shrugged and said with a smile that he’d fight anyone. “Sure,” he answered.

But his veteran promoter has his eye on a continued bright and even bigger future for Lopez. After the rematch question was posed to Thompson, he told me quickly, “Why? He (Dallas) had his chance–we’re ready for the next level now.”

With Lopez and Herrera both passing big tests, they proved that they are ready for that “next level” phase. Look for Jose to be back on the canvas soon.

Thompson may have celebrated a little, but it’s back to business for the well-regarded promoter. His first show of the year is coming up on Friday, February 25 at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. Known for their “New Blood,” “Locked ‘N Loaded,” and “Path to Glory” fight series, Thompson and Matchmaker/General Manager Alex Camponovo have presented thrilling live boxing shows for over ten years now.

If you’d like to see Thompson Boxing champions and contenders, mark February 25 in your calendar.

Congratulation to the new champs and see you at the fights!

Thompson Boxing Promotions
Friday, February 25
Doubletree Hotel
Ontario, California
Tickets: (714) 935-0900

Photos by Michele Chong