Last night from downtown Los Angeles, CA., outside in Parking Lot 7 of LA Live, Golden Boy Promotions and Tecate presented “Solo Boxeo Tecate,” also televised on Spanish Language Network Telefutura. In the 8-round main event, Montebello, California’s Nestor Rocha (23-2, 8KOs) overpowered South Central L.A. native Jose Navarro (27-6, 12KOs), by unanimous decision in an entertaining bout in front a lively crowd in town to celebrate Mexican Independence.
It was a star-studded event in the city of angels as Mexican Independence Day is being celebrated this weekend in Los Angeles, CA., as well as many other places, along with the boxing festivities. Many boxing stars were in attendance as ring announcer Joe Martinez introduced the combatants to an electric crowd.
Nestor Rocha came out the aggressor taking control of the ring and cracked Navarro with the first hard punch, a hard right-hand to Navarro’s chin while his back was against the ropes. In the 1st, the fighters were trading shots with Rocha getting the better of it as he was digging into the body of Navarro. Rocha was very aggressive throwing mostly knockout punches while Navarro was pumping the jab trying to pick his spots for a straight left, in an entertaining opening stanza.
Navarro countered Rocha well at the start of the 2nd, connecting with a hard left uppercut followed by a left-right hook to the head. The fight was taking place on the inside and the boxers were trading shots at a good pace and swelling appeared on the right eye of Navarro midway through the round. Rocha started getting the better of the exchanges again with thudding strikes especially to the body, but Navarro landed some nice rights and lefts to the head of Nestor in good see-saw action for the fans celebrating the Bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence.
The fighters kept trading in the third and Rocha began landing the harder blows at a higher rate again, consisting off rights and lefts up top and sledgehammer left hooks to the body.
In the 4th, Navarro’s accuracy improved and he started zeroing in with his straight left and right hook while he bobbed and weaved well, eluding many Rocha punches.
By the 5th round Rocha’s size and power seemed to be too much for Navarro whose face was lumped up but Jose showed mettle and kept trading. Rocha was now throwing uppercuts and hooks from all angles looking to dent the body and head of Jose whose right eye was completely swelled shut.
That template continued in the later rounds, Rocha came forward throwing and landing hard punishing blows while Navarro kept fighting backwards and boxing while countering well, but Rocha’s style was the one winning out, and big.
The 8th and final round was similar to the rest and Nestor Rocha won a unanimous decision with scores of 79-73 three times improving the tough gloved Rocha to 23-2, 8KOs. Nestor Rocha was just too big, too powerful and too much for the overmatched Navarro who showed a lot of grit staying in the fight and keeping it competitive the whole time with a lumped up face and closed eye.
In the co-main event of the televised portion of the card, Santa Ana, CA., product Luis Ramos Jr. (17-0, 8KOs) defeated Salinas native John Figueroa (7-7-3, 3KOs), in another action packed scrap.
The southpaw prospect Ramos Jr. came out snapping a quick jab in front of right hooks to the head and body. Luis was looking swift with his hands and at the end of the first three minutes Ramos Jr. connected with a couple straight lefts that threw Figueroa off balance, followed up by another hard left uppercut to cement the round.
Ramos Jr. continued his legal assault on Figueroa in the 2nd, landing a solid uppercut followed by a right uppercut – right hook combo. With Figeuroa’s back against the ropes Luis opened up with hooks and uppercuts using both hands bringing the fight to his adversary. There were not many jabs after the 1st and Ramos Jr. could not miss with his hooks and uppercuts to the head, and especially the body. After getting hit with numerous blows, at :50 seconds of the 2nd, Figueroa seemed to be hurt from the accumulation and grasped onto his nemesis. Figueroa was firing back with mainly right and left hooks to the body and head but Ramos Jr. walked through his punches with ease. At the end of round two Ramos Jr. blasted John with two laser beam straight lefts that formed a look of despair on the face of Figueroa.
The punishment resumed in the 3rd and Figueroa was showing some good whiskers as he got smacked with everything but the kitchen sink. Figueroa found some success towards the end of the round landing some hooks up top and a solid right – left uppercut that swelled the left eye of Ramos Jr., but he was still getting socked about by Luis.
To start round four, referee Raul Caiz Jr. said, “Box,” and that is what Ramos Jr. did, rededicating himself to the jab and boxing beautifully with controlled aggression. The pace slowed a little in the 4th, and towards the end, Ramos Jr. connected on hard left counter-hook that snapped back Figueroa’s head pushing his body back as well.
Luis began the 5th fast throwing punches with bad intentions digging into the body and head of Figueroa against the ropes, who was receiving a beat down. Ramos Jr. didn’t have the power to seriously hurt John although he stunned him many times. The scrappy Figueroa was fighting back on the inside and the fans were being treated to the kind of fight fans come to see, albeit one-sided.
Ramos Jr. continued to box masterfully showcasing all his talents for the L.A. crowd, like good stamina, combination punching, quick hands and pop in his hands just to name a few.
At the outset of the 7th, Ramos Jr. came out throwing a barrage of strikes and staggered Figueroa with a left uppercut – right hook combination that had John retreating and holding. Luis backed John into the corner and battered him against the ropes with right and lefts from all angles but the tough Figeuroa withstood the punishment. With :50 seconds to go in the round Figueroa was getting blasted with hard right and left hooks and the third man in the ring, Raul Caiz Jr., was watching the action closely incase he needed to stop the punishment. Figueroa was clearly hurt and there was a huge golfball bruise under the left eye of Ramos Jr. that had his eye completely shut, and the warriors continued brawling. With :10 seconds to go Ramos Jr. wobbled Figueroa again with a right hook.
In the 8th and final round, with a swollen shut left eye and way ahead on the score cards, Ramos Jr. did not skip a beat, coming out the same as ever ripping off hard combos. Luis battered Figueroa all over the ring in the 8th and finally dropped him with a hard right hook to the side of the head. Figueroa made it to his feet and barely made it to the end of the bell fighting hard as he could even landing three or four very hard right-hands of his own on Luis’ puffy eye as they closed out the fight swinging for the fences, in a very entertaining “Solo Boxeo Tecate,” for the west coast fans.
When it was all said and done, Luis Ramos Jr. won a hard fought, dominating , unanimous decision victory to take back to Santa Ana, CA., improving to 17-0, 8KOs.