By Mario Ortega Jr. (Ringside)
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA — Making good on his hometown return, Gabriel Flores Jr. took a step back towards contention with a ten-round unanimous decision over durable and previously unbeaten Julian Rodarte at the Adventist Health Arena on Saturday night.
Flores (23-2, 8 KOs) of Stockton used his superior boxing ability to great effect early in the bout as Rodarte (19-1-2, 8 KOs) of Downey, California struggled to find his way past the jab.
Rodarte, 134.8, looked to be on his way to banking the fourth, until Flores, 134.4, completely took over midway through the round. Flores landed with a combination upstairs that staggered Rodarte and brought the partisan crowd to their feet. Rodarte weathered the storm with his elbows high before firing back after he regained his footing late in the act.
Flores found the right range midway through the fight. After Rodarte made the fifth round competitive, Flores kept the Downey resident at the end of his punches for most of the sixth. Flores continued to keep his distance and land effectively throughout the seventh. Rodarte did land one of his better shots in the bout, snapping Flores’ head back in the final seconds of the round.
As the fight moved into the final quarter, Flores seemed content to box his way to a decision as he kept his distance and picked his shots more judiciously. Rodarte was game, but struggled to cut off the ring throughout bout.
One judge scored the bout for Rodarte, 96-94, but was overruled by the score of 98-92 twice for Flores, who claimed the vacant WBA Continental USA lightweight title with the victory.
Fernando Vargas Jr. (14-0, 13 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Oxnard, California made a statement as he moved up in class and stopped veteran Brad Solomon (29-7, 9 KOs) of Douglasville, Georgia by way of Lafayette, Louisiana via fourth-round stoppage.
Vargas, 152.8, began to pull away in the fight early in the third round. Solomon, 151.2, did not have the power to keep Vargas at bay. Solomon showed signs of wilting after Vargas began a rally with a left upstairs midway through the stanza. Vargas moved in early in the fourth, forcing Solomon to a knee in his own corner. As the referee moved in, Solomon’s corner had already begun to signal to the official that they had seen enough. With the official time of 1:32 of the fourth round, referee Rudy Barragan called a halt to the bout.
Lorenzo Powell (1-0) of Sacramento, California was made to work for his first professional victory en route to scoring a four-round unanimous decision over free-swinging Jose Valenzuela Alvarado (2-13-1, 1 KO) of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.
Powell, 134, was the more polished boxer but failed to consistently make Valenzuela Alvarado, 136.2, pay for his less-than-refined style. Powell made the fight more difficult than necessary, allowing Valenzuela Alvardo in close instead of keeping his distance and making the most of his Mexican adversary’s mistakes. In the end, the fight was never in doubt, as Powell took all three cards, 40-36.
Jessie James Guerrero (4-0-2, 4 KOs) of Salinas, California returned to the ring and quickly shook off any ring rust with a second-round stoppage of veteran Jose Rodriguez Montemayor (7-9, 6 KOs) of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin by way of Piedras Negras, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico.
After an aggressive, offense-minded opening round, Guerrero, 113.4, came out with a concentrated body attack to begin the second. Rodriguez Montemayor, 115.4, struggled to defend before giving in to a left hook on the beltline for the first of three trips to the mat. Guerrero would quickly find Rodriguez Montemayor’s sweet spot twice more, lastly with a right to the kidney, prompting a stoppage at 1:40 of the second round.
In the walkout bout, Salvador Briceno (18-7-1, 11 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico bested Cameron Krael (20-32-3, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada via eight-round unanimous decision.
Briceno, 146.4, and Krael, 147.6, fought on fairly even terms throughout. Briceno may have edged the rounds with a busier output. In the end, one judge scored the bout 79-73, while the other two had it 80-72, all for Briceno.
Saturday’s near sold out event served as the inaugural showcase for G-Squad Entertainment, new promotional entity helmed by Gabriel Flores Sr.
Photo by Julio Sanchez/G-Squad Entertainment
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]
