A sold out 900+ crowd witnessed the first ever Rogue Boxing Promotions fight card last night at the Woodstock Terrace of the beautiful Hard Rock Hotel in downtown San Diego, Calif.
While the San Diego Padres whacked balls against the San Francisco Giants a mere two blocks away at Petco Park, plenty of hits were had as part of the five bout fight card in the open air venue.
In the featured bout, San Diego’s by way of Cebu City, Philippines lightweight Mercito Gesta stopped Tijuana’s 2008 Fighter of the Year Alain “Konan” Hernandez with a quick burst of punches in what many ringside considered an early stoppage.
As soon as announcer David Diamante bellowed “It’s fight time!”, the action began with Gesta circling the ring for a couple of seconds and then catching Hernandez with quick southpaw jabs that “Konan” never saw coming. Gesta 
noticed and as he trapped the tough Hernandez against the ropes, he unleashed a barrage of punches that prompted referee Pat Russell to hug Hernandez and waive off the fight at the :44 mark of the first round. Hernandez protested furiously but he could not convince Russell otherwise.
“He was out on his feet,” Russell stated immediately after the bout.
“I was surprised that it ended so early, I was ready for a tougher fight,” Gesta said joyously after the bout. “I didn’t even get hit!”
With the win, Gesta stays undefeated with a record of 15-0-1, 6KO while Hernandez loses for the first time in eighteen months and goes to 14-7-2, 7KO.
In the co-feature fight of night, undefeated hot west coast prospect Carlos Molina (7-0, 3KO) of Commerce, CA earned a unanimous decision over Costa Rica’s Anthony Martinez (21-30-3, 9KO).
Molina went to the body as soon as the bell rang to start the first as he trapped Martinez against the ropes but the game Costa Rican counterpunched with his own set of hooks to the body. In the second, both fighters began to exchange bombs in the center of the ring with Molina, who fights out of the Espinoza Boxing Club, getting there quicker and harder.
After toying with the jab and the quick straight right hand in the third and fourth rounds, Molina took Martinez back to the ropes and unloaded a barrage of punches but the tough journeyman took them and more as Molina tried to finished him off but no such luck.
Midway thru the fifth round, Molina scored with a hard right hand that hurt Martinez but soon after he asked for more. Molina obliged with a flurry of punches but Martinez took a licking and kept on ticking all the way to the end of the round.
In the sixth, Molina went after Martinez with everything in his arsenal to end it quick but Martinez turned out to hard headed and would not follow Molina’s lead.
Official scores were 60-54 three times.
In a six round middleweight bout of undefeated warriors El Paso, TX’s Abraham Han took on south Florida’s Ibahiem King.
Han looked the quicker of the two as he landed quick hooks to the body that made the south paw King wince more than twice but his opponent had success with the straight left to the head in the first couple of rounds.
In the third, King landed a hard left hook that softened the legs of Han but he was able to stay on his feet and land the more telling shots in the round as he walked down King around the ring. King began to let his hands more in the fifth after an accidental head butt opened a cut on the top of Han’s forehead.
Han took over the sixth round to win the unanimous decision with scores of 60-54 and 58-56 twice. With the win, Han (4-0, 3KO) stays undefeated while King (6-1, 2KO) loses for the first time.
In the first scheduled six round fight of the night, the “San Diego Sensation” Sergio Espinoza came back to the ring after a year lay off to have his hands full with the always tough Benito Abraham of Tijuana, MX.
The super flyweight Abraham started off strong in the first couple of rounds as he manhandled the rusty Espinoza around the ring landing hard wild shots to the head and body. By the middle rounds, Espinoza tried to time Abraham’s charge and catch him with a hard right hand that met its target more times than not.
By the fourth round Espinoza kept landing that right hand more and more but in the middle of the round the San Diego native developed a cut over his left eye due to a butt that seemed to bother him. Abraham continued with his charge in the fifth as Espinoza tried to box and utilize his jab to set up the right hand. By the end of the round, Espinoza began to land hard punches to the head and body while Abraham clinched to stay on his feet making it to the end of the round.
In the sixth, Abraham’s (9-16-4, 6KO) fatigue was evident as he could barely keep his hands up which gave Espinoza (16-5-1, 5KO) to land every punch imaginable, from jabs to hooks to uppercuts from either hand awarding him the unanimous decision in a fight that was tougher than it was scored. Official scores were 60-54 three times.
The quick hands and feet of Santa Ana, CA’s Ronny Rios made another appearance in San Diego as he dropped Alvaro Muro of Durango once in the first round with a left hook and again in the second with a right hook to the body to stop his over matched opponent at 2:26 mark of the second.
Rios, of the Espinoza Boxing Club, looked quicker and with more pop than in in the past as the game but much slower Muro tried the best he could to stop the storm but to no avail.
With the win, the super bantamweight Rios keeps his record perfect with a 5-0, 2KO while Muro drops to 6-15, 5KO.
Notables around the ring: 2007 Manager of the Year Frank Espinoza, NABO-WBO lightwight champion Antonio DeMarco, up and coming super featherweight Marvin Quintero, five time lightweight champion Manuel “Mantecas” Medina, Hall of Famer “Terrible” Terry Norris and two time WBC female super bantamweight champion Jackie Nava.
Photos by Paul Gallegos