From San Diego, CA, at the Four Seasons Sheraton Hotel, Don Chargin Promotions and Jorge Marron Productions in association with Golden Boy Promotions and Bobby D. Presents offered “Solo Boxeo Tecate,” televised on Spanish language network Telefutura. In the eight round main event, fresh off his impressive upset victory over prospect Chris Avalos last month, California State featherweight champion Chris “SD Kid” Martin (20-0-2, 6KOs) knocked out Mexico’s Jose Luis Araiza (32-3, 23KOs), in the final round of an exciting bout.
Araiza came out quickly stalking the “SD Kid” and looking to make an impression from the outset as he worked the body with rights and lefts. The calm Chris Martin was boxing judiciously and studying his opponent when he began the first sequence of the brawl which saw Araiza land the most meaningful punch of a pretty uneventful first round, an overhand right to the head of Martin. Halfway through the 2nd, Araiza looped a long overhand right that touched Martin square on the jaw and woke him up causing him to acknowledge that he just got blasted then like all good fighters, Chris immediately came back with hard combinations trying to make you forget that he was clipped but nothing much landed. Chris went back to boxing and began to utilize the jab more and landed a crisp right-hand upstairs on Araiza midway through round two.
Araiza met Martin in the center of the squared circle to start the third round and caught Chris with a right to the body and hard left hook to the mouth. Martin came back with a hard one-two up top then started incorporating some uppercuts to his arsenal while Araiza was concentrating mostly on the body but was also having success with the looping overhand right and left hook to the dome. In the first three competitive rounds, Martin had a low guard, probably due to the fact that Araiza was dedicated to the body but this was allowing Araiza to land clean left hooks and rights to Chris’ head. In the 4th round, Martin switched to a high guard and was landing his right-hand behind the jab more frequently. Martin also found his accuracy with the left hook in the 4th which was his best round so far as he started landing thudding blows. The durable Araiza was game though and came back landing lefts and rights of his own which made for some very entertaining exchanges.
Martin was starting to find his rhythm and swagger as he used his whole body, lunging forward to dig into the liver of Araiza with left hooks. The 6th round was high paced as Martin began to take over but the game Araiza never stopped throwing punches keeping it entertaining and he landed numerous left hooks and overhand rights on Martin through out the contest. Martin responded to the crowds cheers for blood stepping up the pace and power in the 7th and at 1:47 Martin connected with a left hook that put Araiza on the seat of his pants for the count. Araiza, undeterred, rose and fought back landing a couple looping rights up top as Martin went in for the kill. Araiza got his bearings under him and the sweat began to fly as they traded good combinations for the rest of the round and got the pro Martin crowd amped.
In the 8th and final round, the “SD Kid” came out with a pep in his step and a ballroom of screaming San Diegans behind him to unleash fury, landing a hard right-hand up top that seemed to slightly buckle Araiza. At 1:00 a fan yelled out, “hit him in the gut,” and Martin acquiesced this demand three seconds later landing a stomach curdling left uppercut to Araiza’s gut that put him on his knees in a delayed reaction. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. only got to the count of one before he decided to count no more calling off the bout and giving Chris “SD Kid” Martin the knockout victory improving to his record to 20-0-2, 6KOs.
The fight was competitive but Martin was clearly winning and in control up until the knockout. Chris seems to be fighting to the level of his competition which makes for entertaining fights for the fans and at the same time there is no question that Martin is winning these fights and climbing the ladder to recognition at a good pace. Martin has fought three times in the last four months in three different weight classes ranging from bantamweight to featherweight. When I talked to Chris after the fight and pointed out the frequency of his fights lately and asked what would be a comfortable pace and how many times he would like to fight a year he stated, “I think that’s good, I mean four times a year, maybe like I said I’ll try to squeeze in five at the end of this year. Last year we did four and I was comfortable with that and this year the same.” When I asked him what weight class he was most comfortable at he responded, “I do feel more comfortable at 118lb because of the fact like I felt so much stronger then Chris Avalos, and today I would hit him (Araiza) and he was still there. I think 118lb is the best weight.”
Martin also relayed that he believes he is ready for a top-ten ranked fighter and I agree, if he continues to fight with the confidence he has displayed as of late, the “SD Kid” could being staring across the ring at a contender sooner rather than later.
In the eight round co-main event Chihuahua, MEX, prospect Luis Enrique Grajeda (10-0-1, 7KOs) fought to a controversial draw with Fairfield, California’s Alan Sanchez (5-2-1, 2KOs), in a fight that many thought the underdog Sanchez won.
The fighters came out fighting tall while Sanchez circled to his left pumping jabs to the head and body of Grajeda who was methodically stalking his foe but not cutting off the ring. It was a pretty uneventful feeling out type of a round until the end when Grajeda chased down Sanchez to the corner of the ring where they got in an exchange and their heads and feet came together causing Grajeda to hit the mat being ruled a slip. The 2nd round was much like the 1st, nothing noteworthy going on until the end of the round when with less then ten seconds to go Sanchez bobbed and weaved his way into range and clipped Grajeda with counter-right uppercut dropping Grajeda to the canvas for a 10-8 round. Grajeda landed his first significant punches halfway through the 3rd when he connected with a clean right-hand upstairs followed by a left-right combination to the jaw of Sanchez. Once again with only ten seconds to go in the round, the combatants got into a heated exchange that saw Grajeda land a clean right to the body after the bell in his best round so far.
Sanchez came back well in the 4th taking the round with good lateral movement and sound boxing. Grajeda claimed the 5th as he cut the ring off better and connected at a higher rate than Sanchez. The 5th round also saw the boxers heads coming together more frequently and Sanchez’s face was starting to show the affects. The 6th round was up for grabs when at 1:10 of the round Sanchez lunged forward with a lead right that zeroed in on the front of Grajeda’s jaw sending him to the canvas again. Grajeda immediately got up and smiled in embarrassment not seeming to be hurt all. When the fight resumed, Sanchez attacked with reckless abandoned and Grajeda held on a couple times betraying the belief that he was not hurt. Sanchez connected with a few more power punches to the head trying to finish Grajeda but the Chihuahua native survived to the bell, giving Sanchez another 10-8 round.
In the 7th Sanchez slowed his punch out-put considerably after the previous rounds high work rate and was on his bike moving to the left for most of the round. Grajeda only needed to land a few punches to win the round and once the time keeper slammed on the mat indicating there were 10 seconds left in the round, the pugilist got into another heavy exchange that saw Grajeda land a big right-hand above the left eye of Sanchez who landed a very hard left hook upstairs himself. In the 8th and final round the contestants did not come out as fast as you might have thought they would, instead opting for a methodical approach to start the round. Sanchez was winging hard rights and lefts but hitting nothing but air then at 1:30 to go Grajeda connected with a clean uppercut to the body. At 1:10 Sanchez landed a huge left hook to the head of his opponent that had Grajeda retreating but as he did so he landed a big right-hand uppercut on Sanchez who was closing in. At the end of the round Grajeda landed a nice right-hand left hook combination then Sanchez held onto Grajeda who was trying to quickly get away from the grasp of Sanchez so he could resume punching the tired fighter. Grajeda won the last round securing a controversial draw on the judges scorecards that had the crowd booing the decision in favor of Alan Sanchez.
Grajeda received the first blemish on his record putting him at 10-0-1, 7KOs, but it could have been worse as I thought he lost the bout, he will need to go back to the drawing board to shore up his defense. Alan Sanchez on the other hand was impressive and exciting, he fought smart and with a lot of heart showing good pop in his punches extending his record to 5-2-1, 2KOs.
In a four round featherweight match up, Pablo “Bronco” Armenta (3-0-1, 1KO) beat Alejandro Cruz (2-12-2, 2KOs), by TKO after the out-matched Cruz could not continue after an ear injury in the final round. Armenta dropped Cruz in the 1st round with a hard left to the liver, when Cruz rose back to his feet Armenta attacked full force until he punched himself out and Cruz made it to round’s end. In the 2nd, Armenta landed some big rights and lefts up top and seemed to be hurting Cruz often with his left hook to the head or body. Cruz showed heart fighting back but he was being outclassed and at 2:05 of the 4th and final round some blood appeared and was streaming out of Sanchez’s left ear. Once referee Jose Cobian noticed the blood he halted the action right away so the ringside doctor could have a look. With the possibility of a ruptured eardrum, the doctor took no chances and stopped the fight, giving Pablo “Bronco” Armenta the TKO victory improving his record to 3-0-1 1KO.
In a four round light heavyweight contest Lamont Williams (2-1, 1KO) defeated Raul Talamantes (0-3, 0KO) by 4th round TKO.
Lamont dominated the overmatched Talamantes from the outset with punishing blows that had Talamantes retreating for most of the fight. In the final round, Lamont unleashed a barrage of power punches, backing Talamantes against the ropes and at 2:49 of the stanza the third man in the ring, Raul Caiz Sr., had seen enough and waved off the action giving Lamont Williams his first knockout.
To flesh out the card San Diego native Manuel Robles (1-0) had a successful pro debut dominating Luis Sanchez (0-3), in a four round junior welterweight contest, winning 40-36 on all three judges scorecards.
All Photos by Paul Gallegos
