Last night from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Diego, CA., Bobby D Presents and Jorge Marron Productions in association with Coors Light, Crowne Plaza Hotel and The Law Office of David Gutierrez, presented the Coors Light Boxing Series “Showdown at the Crowne.” In the eight-round super welterweight main event it was a battle for local supremacy as 26-year-old San Diego product by way of Chicago, Ill., Chris “The Last Chapter” Chatman (9-1, 4KOs) kept his hot streak going with a unanimous decision victory over San Diego transplant by way of Havana, Cuba, Lester “El Cubanito” Gonzales (11-1-1, 6KOs), to win the California State super welterweight title in an action packed night of brawls.
Both main event combatants were southpaws and the 33-year-old Lester Gonzales began with a methodical come forward approach picking his spots, wasting no punches as he followed Chatman around the ring landing very little in the first stanza. Lester was having problems locating the US Navy veteran who landed a nice left-uppercut in the opening three minutes while light on his feet and dancing around the ring utilizing a good jab from a safe distance.
The contest had a good pace and Lester picked it up in the 2nd, landing a nice one-two jab straight-left up top followed by a nice counter-right. The animated and somewhat cocky Chatman began shaking his shoulders and shuffling his feet in the center of the squared circle just before he got caught with a huge counter right-hook by “El Cubanito.” Chatman was the busier fighter but Lester was landing the bigger cleaner 
blows. For some reason Chatman kept looking off to the side of the ring or to the crowd, releasing his stare on his adversary in a trend that lasted throughout with almost no repercussions. Chatman was launching a high volume of strikes but many of them were catching Gonzales’ gloves, not getting through as he continued to move using the whole perimeter of the ring. Chatman began adding power to his combinations at the end of the 2nd round catching Gonzales with a body blow that seemed to hurt Lester a little as he retreated although the Cuban still won the round with the cleaner punches.
The 3rd and 4th rounds were close and saw Chatman landing good right-hooks and left-uppercuts while Lester was connecting with straight-lefts upstairs and the rounds were hard to score. In the 5th round, “The Last Chapter” Chatman started zeroing in on his target to the body and head with quick crisp combinations using all ten knuckles while Lester fell into the habit of plodding after Chris but not cutting off the ring allowing Chatman to take over. Chris Chatman’s showboating continued, which I normally don’t care for, but Chatman did it in a humorous harmless way which resulted in laughter and smiles on the faces of the fight fans. Heading into the late rounds, Chatman was keeping a high pace with good footwork as he again began starring off to the side of the ring down at the canvas while keeping Lester in his peripheral vision trying to bait the Cuban.
Chatman was connecting with numerous left-uppercuts as Lester threw lots of the same punch but was not nearly as successful as the Chicago native. Chatman was leaning on Gonzales in the later rounds trying to tire him out with his thicker frame while beating Lester to the punch all night with an answer to everything the Cuban presented. Lester had a few more moments and got in a couple more back and forth exchanges but “The Last Chapter” closed the book on this fight by the 6th round and tried to finish Lester off in the 7th and 8th round as he peppered “El Cubanito” who seemed ready to go. Lester Gonzales almost went down but held on by the skin of his teeth making it to the final bell in a fight in which he was only competitive for the first half then was taken to school in the second and most important half of eight rounds giving Chris “The Last Chapter” Chatman an eight round unanimous decision victory claiming the California State super welterweight championship belt with scores of 77-75, 79-73 and 78-74 for the victor.
“I knew from the look of him at the weigh-in, drained with every vein showing, that he struggled to make the weight. I knew that he wouldn’t be able to compete at my level. I knew by his posture, look at mine, I stand like a champion,” said the confident Chris Chatman after winning his shiny trinket.
Parison Punishes Myers
In the six-round super middleweight co-main event, 28-year-old San Diego talent James “Chocolate” Parison (13-1, 4KOs) made it an early night for Oregon’s Loren “Rock” Myers (7-10-1, 2KOs) as he crumbled the “Rock” in two.
“Chocolate” came out shooting left-hooks to the body and was catching Myers with a stiff jab before he landed a big right-uppercut to the mouth of Loren shortly into the fight. Myers was following Parison around the ring, trying to get off his left-hook while “Chocolate” used his jab and Myers did not. The boxers traded blows to end round one with Myers landing a left-hook to each the head and body en-route to losing the first three minutes.
In the 2nd round, the crowd was chanting “Choco, Choco,” and Parison made his admirers happy as he blasted Myers with a left-hook to the dome that dropped the 29-year-old Myers flat on his back. When the fighting resumed, Parison landed another stout left-hook then a series of strong right hands up top followed by a big right uppercut to the jaw that had “Rock” badly hurt against the ropes. “Choco” couldn’t miss and was landing right hand after right hand to the skull of Myers until third man in the ring Raul Caiz Jr. stepped in ending the fight at 1:59 of round-two awarding James Parison with a 2nd round knockout.
After the fight Parison said, “I thought it would be a little tougher but he caught me with some shots in the beginning but once I started listening to my corner I did well.”
The only time Parison has stepped up in competition was against Wild Card Gym standout Craig McEwan in his last fight in which he was defeated by unanimous decision. With his the victory over Myers, James will look to get another shot at top competition in the search of boxing glory.
Armenta Impresses His Local Fans
In a four-round super featherweight duel, hometown favorite Pablo “Bronco” Armenta (4-0-1, 1KO) out of South San Diego, satisfied his supporters with a majority decision victory over San Jacinto, California’s Ronald Hurley (4-5-2).
Hurley came out strong landing his jab, left-hooks to the head and right crosses to the body of Pablo Armenta who was slow out of the gates and not throwing enough punches. Hurley had quicker hands and was employing lateral movement nicely in the early going as he landed a couple nice hybrid left hook-uppercuts. Armenta’s best punch of the opening round was a left hook in the final seconds which would be a preview of what was to come.
Armenta turned up the volume in the 2nd, throwing left hooks and right crosses to the body that were moving Hurley about the ring. Hurley was snapping his jab while landing crisp shots of his own to the body of Pablo who was ignoring the jab in favor of all power punches. At the end of the 2nd round, Armenta landed a huge left hook followed by a nice flurry of rights and lefts to the head and body that got Hurley’s attention and had the onlookers chanting Pablo’s name in a good comeback round for “Bronco.”
In the 3rd round, which was probably going to decide the fight, both men came out trading power shots with Armenta getting the better of the exchanges as he pushed Hurley against the ropes connecting with uppercuts and hard right hands to the chin. Pablo let his hands go, delivering punches up high and down low, never looking back as he took over and won a majority decision with the scores reading 38-38, 39-37 and a suspect 40-36 in favor of Armenta.
Okada Bullies Modad
In a four-round super flyweight contest, Okayama, Japan’s Takashi Okada (3-0-1, 1KO) battered Tijuana, Mexico’s Daniel Modad (2-3, 1KO) all over the ring en-route to a unanimous decision victory.
The southpaw Takashi Okada entered the ring looking like a Mexican samurai with his shaved head which had a braided pony tail sprouting from the top while donning a poncho and showing the spirit of both a samurai and a Mexican warrior with his aggressive and exciting fighting style.
To start the 1st round, Daniel Modad connected with a right uppercut on the Japanese fighter who was advancing in a hostile demeanor and throwing lots of lefts and rights to
the body of Daniel. Modad was moving to his left and boxing while trying to weather the Japanese hurricane’s early onslaught. The Tijuana based pug landed a couple counter punches in the round but was completely overwhelmed by the work rate of Okada and spent a good portion of the round covering up. Okada was throwing big right hands and uppercuts to the head but was mainly focusing on denting Modad’s torso with both fists.
Modad had a better 2nd round landing some nice counter right hooks but was still being trampled by his foe who was just too much of everything. It was an inside fight consisting of power punches as neither boxer paid much attention to the jab. Modad’s punch output dropped significantly after the 2nd round as he spent a majority of his time with his back against the ropes taking fire. Takashi Okada used good head movement that caused Modad to connect with nothing but air on many of his counter strikes in the last two rounds. Okada thrashed Modad some more in the final round and landed some huge shots up top in the last 10 seconds to put an exclamation point on his performance.
Okada, who had the stamina of a five year old hopped up on energy drinks, never stopped coming forward and unloaded power punches to the body like a machine gun and that storyline never changed as Modad was a statue in a defensive guard for most of the night. Okada dominated the fight with work rate and aggression leading to a unanimous decision win with scores of 40-36 on all three judges score cards.
Ernesto Ocon Runs Over Diaz
To flesh out the five-fight card, Los Angeles, CA., native Ernesto Ocon (2-0, 1KO) earned his first knockout dispatching of Neza, Mexico’s Juan Carlos Diaz (7-11-1, 6KOs) inside of three brutal rounds of a scheduled four in the welterweight division.
Ocon, a southpaw, seemed to hurt the flat-footed Diaz 45 seconds into the match with a right hook upstairs that had Diaz backing away. Diaz had a loose guard and wasn’t utilizing his jab but looking to land a big right hand on Ocon who was using lots of head and lateral movements as well as some nice foot work that had Diaz searching but finding nothing. Ernesto’s attack consisted of a steady jab in front of his straight left and right hook to the head and body. Once Diaz began coming forward aggressively, he got caught with a right hook by Ocon that stopped him in his tracks followed up by a straight left that floored Juan Carlos, who was hurt but survived to the 2nd period.
Diaz hurt Ocon with a left hook to the body in the 2nd but after that, it was all down hill for him as the overmatched Diaz was flattened two more times in the 2nd and twice in the 3rd making for five knockdowns and prompting referee Tony Crebs to stop the fight after the fifth knockdown at 1:43 of the 3rd round.
Faces in the Crowd: California State featherweight champion Chris “SD Kid” Martin, trainer/manager Vince Parra and boxer/mma fighter KJ Noons took in the nights festivities.