Pitbull scores sixth-round KO in messy fight
SAN DIEGO — It was dogged.
Mostly, it was dirty, Call it a dog fight, but even that’s wrong, an insult to dogs everywhere.The good news was that it didn’t last too long. Thank the fighter with the canine nickname for that.
Pitbull, otherwise known as Isaac Cruz, ended the 140-pound bout in the sixth round with a crushing left hook that sent Nestor Bravo bouncing across the canvas Saturday night in a Pechanga Arena that often sounded like a crowded kennel.
There were takedowns that would have made Randy Savage jealous.There were low blows, two from Bravo in one round, the third. There was one penalty, a point taken from Bravo too, for a subsequent takedown.
The toughest job in the building belonged to referee Thomas Taylor, who repeatedly warned both fighters. At the end of one round, an exasperated Taylor appeared to shove Bravo toward his corner
It got bad and got worse, starting in the first round with Bravo on the canvas, an official knockdown that appeared to happen as he was leaning into and onto Pitbull. A left hand from Pitbull (29-3-2, 19 KOs) in the opening moments seemed to be a shot, a warning that altered Bravo (24-2, 17 KOs) to the fact that he had no chance.
He went on, almost knowing that he was overmatched. In scramble to survive with tactics not found in any ring rule books.
At a post fight newser, Bravo said — almost sheepishly — that he was ready tp fight.
Maybe.
But he wasn’t prepared for Pitbull, who hoped the victory would launch his career into an elite circle.
“It’s up to my promoter,’’ Pitbull said, “but I’m ready for Ryan Garcia.”
Via social media, Garcia congratulated Pitbull. He also said he would send him a contract to fight.
“Bring it on,’’ Pitbull said of the possibility December 12 in Phoenix or next May in a Cinco de Mayo date.
Bring a dog, too.
Blancas endures, winning key test in step from prospect to contender
There were boos.
Some bruises, too.
Daniel Blancas didn’t exactly welcome them. But he was prepared for them on his path from respect to contender.
A test of Blancas’ promising resume was delivered by Sergio Jimenez’ stubborn resilience and a restless crowd at Pechanga Arena Saturday. In the end, however, he passed, surviving Jimenez and enduring an unhappy crowd for a seventh round TKO victory for the young super-middleweight, a David Benavides stablemate.
Blancas (16-0, 8 KOS), of Milwaukee, wore down Jimenez (17-2-1, 15 KOs) with a sustained body attack. In thet and sixth, Jimenez, a California fighter, rallied with solid shots. Before the seventh, however, he was summoned buy the ringside physician. Jimenez shook his head, saying his energy and perhaps his chancs at upset were good.
Nearly 100 second later, he was finished, exhausted by a succession of punches from Blanca’s, who heard the boos and celebrated.
Middleweight prospect Verde gets up from knockdown for TKO win
Mexican middleweight prospect Marco Verde 7-0, 4 KOs), an Olympic silver medallist, got up from a third-round knockdown, survived a rocky fourth and was suddenly the winner over surprising Guillermo Hernandez Saturday.
Verde, who had trained at trainer Eddy Reynoso’s San Diego gym, displayed quick hands through the first couple of rounds. In the third, however, he found himself; on the seat of his pants, knocked drown by four punch combo from Hernandez (7-1, 4 KOs), who lives and training in Calgary in the Canadian Rockies.
Verde was stunned. So was a crowd of Mexican fans gathering to watch the Pitbull Cruz-Nestor Bravo main event.
Early in the fifth, however, the ringside physician took a look at Hernandez, who looked tired. Ninety seconds later, Verde landed a head
-rocking shot. It was over.
Hernandez argued that he still had enough energy and power in his punches. But it was to no avail. Verge walked out of the ring with a TKO victory and his credentials as a leading prospect still intact.
Prospect Huerta knocked out
The chants were Mexico.
The punch was Filipino.
Eumir Marcial ((8-0, 5 KOs), a Filipino living and trining in Las Vegas stunned a Pechanga Arena crowd and maybe himself with a right hand that dropped and finished middleweight prospect and 2020 Olympian Omar Huerta (15-2-1, 13 KOs) early in the third round of a fight on the Pitbull-Bravo card.
Luna penalized, yet still wins decision
Diego Luna banked two first-round knockdowns, more than enough for him to overcome a one-point penalty in the end for a unanimous decision over Renny Mastrapa in a 140-pound bout Saturday on the Pitbull-Bravo card at Pechanga Arena.
Luna’s overwhelming power had already guaranteed a scorecard win when in the sixth and final round, he dropped Mastrapa (4-5-2, 12 KOs) with a head rocking punch. Trouble was, Luna (9-1-1, 6 KOs), of San Diego,, threw it coming off a break and just as Mastrapa, of Las Vegas, had dropped his hands.
But there was no DQ, ensuring Luna of his ninth victory.
Lorenzana wins narrow decision
It was a battle of Tijuana, Lazaro Francisco Lorenzana versus Ronny Viamonte Rodriguez.
For eight rounds, Rodriguez (21-3-1, 10 KOs) tried to impose his size and power. But the smaller Lorenzana (22-0, 13 KOs) refused to back away from his fellow Tijuana super-middleweight, landing precise punches set by his agile feet, just enough of them to score a victory, a majority decision in the third fight on the Pitbull-Bravo card Saturday.
Guerrero Jr. scores quick KO
Two fights, two first-round stoppages.Robert Guerrero Jr, the latest in a famed fighting family, contained what Valerii Tadtaev started.
Guerrero (9-0, 4 KOs) a lanky junior welterweight, scored a first-round stoppage of Shawn Rall (4-8 3 KOs) , of Ohio, Saturday on the Pitbull-Bravo card.
First Bell: Heavyweight wipe out
It was a good day for a wipeout.
That’s exactly what Valerii Tadtaev did, opening the show by wiping out Juan Silva just a few miles away from some of southern Calfornia’s famed surf towns in the first fight on a card featuring Isaac “Pitbull” Bravo-versus-Nestor Bravo Saturday afternoon at Pechanga Arena.
Tadtaev (6-0, 6 KOs), a heavyweight living in Southern California, scored a fist round stoppage, overwhelming Silva (3-2, 3 KOs), of Ohio’s like an incoming tsunami