SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA – Puerto Rican welterweight rising star Thomas Dulorme continues to impress ringside observers as he quickly disposed of Aris Ambriz inside of one round in the Showtime-televised main event at the Chumash Casino Resort on Friday night.
Dulorme (14-0, 11 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico dropped Ambriz (16-3-1, 8 KOs) of Azusa, California hard with a sweeping left early in the first round. Ambriz, 144, rose from the mat, but was quickly backed against the ropes. Dulorme, 143, dropped Ambriz with the ensuing combination. Referee David Mendoza stopped the bout without a count at 2:12 of the opening round.
With the victory, Dulorme, the WBA #3/WBC #9/WBO #15 ranked welterweight, claimed the vacant NABF Welterweight title and appears ready for a step-up in the level of his competition.
In the televised co-feature, world ranked contender Jonathan Gonzalez (15-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico scored a ten-round unanimous decision over pugnacious Billy Lyell (24-11, 5 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio.
Gonzalez, the WBO #8/WBA #9/WBC #13 ranked light middleweight, looked to be a full weight class bigger than Lyell in the ring – an advantage that largely told the story of the fight. Gonzalez, 156, was able to walk through the offense of Lyell, 153, and even when out landed, it was the Puerto Rican’s power shots that did most damage.
Through the first half of the fight, Gonzalez pressed Lyell back, eventually bloodying the Youngstown native’s mouth in the third. Even when in retreat, Lyell traded with Gonzalez punch-for-punch, but the young prospect would usually smirk in response.
Late in the fight, Gonzalez, who had hit the scales five times in order to make the contracted weight limit, went into a shell and allowed Lyell to have some moments.
Lyell controlled the ninth, even playing to the crowd, as Gonzalez mostly followed him around the ring.
Gonzalez snarled at Lyell’s opening volley to start the tenth and turned up his output level from the three previous rounds. In the end, all three official judges scored the late Lyell rally, but still had Gonzalez the winner by the wide margin of 98-92 and 97-93 twice.
Roman Morales (9-0, 6 KOs) of San Ardo, California scored five knockdowns en route to an impressive fourth-round stoppage of late replacement Ernie Marquez (9-10-2, 3 KOs) of Fort Morgan, Colorado.
Marquez, 120, took the fight on Wednesday and by the second round it was clear he was in over his head. After the fifth knockdown, referee David Mendoza waved off the fight at 2:23 of the fourth round. Morales, 120 ½, appears ready to tackle the next level.
Former amateur standout Roy Tapia (3-0, 2 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California made short work of Brice Yeniki (0-6) of North Las Vegas, Nevada with a devastating first-round knockout. Tapia, 123, pressured Yeniki, 120 ½, to the ropes, where he eventually uncorked a hellacious left hook. Yeniki was clearly out, and referee Marcos Rosales stopped the bout without a count at 2:34 of the first round.
Rufino Serrano (12-3) of Santa Maria, California by way of Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico boxed his way to his second career victory over longtime journeyman Rodrigo Aranda (8-17-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Tabasco, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Serrano, 126, fought at close quarters in the first few rounds, which Aranda, 128, welcomed. However, Serrano’s edge in hand speed won out over Aranda’s determined attack. By mid fight Serrano settled into the jab-and-move style his following has been accustomed seeing over the years at the Chumash Casino Resort.
After a point deduction in the sixth for a low blow on Aranda’s hip, Serrano was awarded the unanimous six-round decision by scores of 57-56 and 59-54 twice. In December of 2010, Serrano dropped Aranda in the first round en route to another six-round decision.
In his second attempt at gaining a victory on U.S. soil, Azat Hovhannesyan (2-1, 1 KO) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia punished William Fisher (0-5) of Victorville, California before scoring the stoppage in the fourth round.
Hovhannesyan, 126, opened up in the second round with right hand leads against the southpaw Fisher, 128, to great effect. Hovhannesyan routinely rushed inside without caution, while Fisher pushed most of his punches. Hovhannesyan pummeled Fisher throughout the third as referee Marcos Rosales looked poised to stop it. Finally in the fourth, Hovhannesyan dropped Fisher near the ropes with a two-handed attack. When Fisher gamely rose, he was soon met with a right uppercut that snapped back his head and pressed Rosales to leap in and call a halt to the contest at 2:43 of the fourth.
Two amateur exhibitions opened the card, as Daniel Flores of the Paso Boxing Gym in Paso Robles, California took on Manuel Romero, also of the Paso Boxing Gym and Oscar Mendoza of the Santa Maria Boxing Club in Santa Maria, California met Manny Flores, also of Santa Maria Boxing Club.
Two additional amateur exhibitions took place later in the evening, as Evander Augustine of the Paso Boxing Gym took on Brandon Gutierrez of the Central Coast Boxing Club in Santa Maria and Rocky Natartez of the Santa Maria Boxing Club met Freddy Perez of Ray Baca’s Boxing Academy in Lompoc, California.
Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
