Private Fundraising Event in Orange
Billed as “Night of Champions,” Thompson Boxing Promotions (TBP) presented an evening of live boxing, dinner and entertainment at the DoubleTree Hotel in the City of Orange.
This March 7 private dinner and boxing card showcased four bouts of action with a main event firefight between Juan “Pochito” Reyes vs. Heriberto “Tremendo” Delgado. The event (benefitting the Junior Foundation charity) featured live Mariachis, raffle prizes, and a social hour where guests had the chance to meet Thompson Boxing President Ken Thompson, General Manager/Matchmaker Alex Camponovo and their pro fighters and VIPs in attendance.
Special guests at the Southern California gala were Olympian and pro champ Wayne “Pocket Rocket” McCullough, Thompson stablemates Artemio Reyes Jr., Cesar Villarraga, Issac Zarate, Danny Roman, Petr Petrov, Danny Hernandez, former champion Rodolfo “El Gato” Gonzalez and more. Ring announcer Sonny Franco introduced the fighters in the ring with former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca also honored. Also in attendance were beauty queen Analizia Lopez (Ms International World Mexico) and teen singer Wy Mac.
The classy evening offered patrons the opportunity to see live boxing while donating to a good cause.
And March 7 was one busy day–and night–for TBP’s Ken Thompson. The founder and President was a 2015 inductee at the first-ever National Boxing Hall of Fame awards luncheon held a few hours before his boxing show in Orange County. This year his company celebrates its 15th anniversary since Thompson Boxing Promotions inception in 2000. Thompson has had one full schedule this month (he also promoted a March 13 charity event with the Marconi Foundation) and has upcoming shows on April 3 and April 24.
During his company’s “Night of Champions,” the audience cheered for the combatants in the ring with a thrilling showdown capping off the evening. Local fighter from Fontana, Juan Reyes, squared off against Tijuana’s Heriberto Delgado in a contest scheduled for eight rounds. The two pugs engaged in a real slugfest, trading punches almost nonstop through the duration of the fight. Reyes got a knockout victory when referee Raul Caiz Sr. stepped in halting the contest in the fifth frame.
After his win, “Pochito” Reyes met former WBC super bantam champ Wayne McCullough, who was watching ringside with wife Cheryl and 16-year-old daughter Wynona (known as Wy Mac). Wayne was impressed with Juan’s performance and his output of “punches in bunches” telling me that Reyes reminded him of the “Pocket Rocket” himself.
McCullough commented that he had a great time watching the Reyes-Delgado scrap; he even began keeping his own “punch count” tally when the fighters kept rising to the occasion. Wayne said guys like Juan are incredible with their punches actually increasing as the match continues.
“I counted about 159 punches thrown in just one round,” Wayne said of Juan’s constant activity.
Reyes adds another KO to his pro record while Thompson Boxing celebrates another knockout night of fights.
Photos by Michele Chong
