By David Robinett at ringside

Nevada-based World Fighting Championships (WFC) returned to the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage, California, on Saturday night to present WFC 88, featuring both professional and amateur boxing. WFC’s semi-regular events in Rancho Mirage have offered a showcase for many of the young fighters in the area and Saturday night was no different, with several Southern California fighters earning victories in the early stages of their careers, in most cases.

However the WFC 88 main event provided a notable exception to the evening’s youth movement, as 32-year old Luis Cervantes stretched his winning streak to three after returning last September following a three-year layoff. Cervantes (10-11-3, 2 KOs) earned a convincing unanimous decision victory in a rematch against Mario Aguirre (2-13, 2 KOs) in a four-round super lightweight bout. All three judges scored the bout 40-35.

The rangy Cervantes utilized his reach early, pumping a steady jab and staying mostly out of range of Aguirre, who nevertheless got close enough several times to load up and occasionally land left and right hooks against his taller opponent. Despite his reach advantage, at the vocal urging of his corner Cervantes started round two coming forward to close the distance and attack Aguirre’s body, to surprising effectiveness, digging to the body and getting good extension on his jabs and straight right hands even at the closer distance. Cervantes dropped Aguirre in round three with a left hook and cruised the rest of the way for the easy win.

In the evening’s co-main event, 19-year old featherweight prospect Luis Coria (8-1, 4 KOs) ran his winning streak to four following a shocking upset at the hands of then 2-14-3 opponent Percy Peterson last October. Coria defeated feather-fisted journeyman Raymond Chacon (7-30-1, 0 KOs) via four-round unanimous decision by scores of 39-37, 39-37, 40-36. Perhaps mindful of his absolute lack of punching power, Chacon’s strategy was to use his feet and try to steal points by potshotting Coria as he scampered around the ring. The result was inevitably a tactical affair, with Coria reaching to land his jab and landing the occasional right hand when Chacon momentarily slowed down or briefly got caught along the ropes. Chacon simply didn’t throw enough for his potshotting strategy to work until the final round, when he caught Coria coming in several times with arm punches as Coria became more aggressive in trying to close the distance. But it was too little too late for Chacon and Coria landed enough jabs and smattering of right hands to earn the clear victory.

In a battle of undefeated junior middleweights, 21-year old Luis Lopez (who was listed as Louie Lopez on the bout sheet) overwhelmed part-time boxing and MMA fighter and full-time police officer Brandon Harder (2-0, 1 KO), knocking Harder down three times to earn a stoppage at 1:32 of the first round in a scheduled four-round bout. Lopez (3-0, 2 KOs) scored a flash knockdown moments into the fight, and then dropped Harder a second time with a flurry of punches that prompted Harder to take a knee. When action resumed, Lopez immediately jumped on Harder, who did not have any answer for Lopez’s aggression. A left hook dropped Harder for the third time in the round and although he appeared able to continue, referee Raul Caiz Jr. had seen enough and waved the fight over.

In a tactical, grind-it-out affair, debuting super featherweight Izaac Colunga earned a four-round unanimous decision victory over Maclovio Salas (0-2), by scores of 39-37, 39-37, 40-36. The significantly taller Salas had success early using his jab to keep Colunga at bay, although the best punch of the first round was a lead right hand by Colunga that stunned Salas. Another straight right in round two caused Salas’ knees to buckle, after which Salas routinely tied Colunga up when he got close. Salas fought a crafty fight, never abandoning his jab and tying up Colunga to prevent him from landing combinations, but when Colunga did land, particularly with his right hand, he was clearly the stronger, more effective puncher and that was the difference in the bout.

Another debuting fighter, Jose Sanchez, nearly laid out Tyler Marshall (1-5, 1 KO) with a wicked left hook at 2:00 of round two in a scheduled four-round super featherweight contest. Marshall was another opponent fleet of foot, which seemed to give Sanchez trouble, as he spent long stretches of the first two rounds following Marshall around but not pulling the trigger. However, as Marshall slowed down for a moment Sanchez caught him with a fully loaded left hook that dropped Marshall hard to the canvas. The punch did not put Marshall to sleep, but looked shaky just beating the count of ten, prompting referee Raul Caiz Jr. to end the fight.

A pair of debuting heavyweights, Ben Beebe and Oscar Torrez, squared off in a four-round contest, with Torrez clearly proving to be the better boxer, scoring a first round knockdown en route to a unanimous decision. The difference in class was apparent from the start, despite the fact that Beebe is a fairly accomplished MMA fighter with several years’ experience. But in the boxing ring, Torrez moved like a boxer, fired short, effective punches, and was in control the entire bout while the flabby but imposing Beebe looked like someone you may not want to run into in a dark alley, but with very little boxing experience. In fact Torrez looked like he might end things very early, dropping Beebe convincingly with a left hook right on the chin in the first round. Another left hook by Torrez that landed on Beebe could have been called a knockdown, as Beebe fell against the ropes, but the bell rang in the middle of Torrez’s follow-up attack and bought Beebe some time to recover. The early success might have worked against Torrez in round two, as he was less active, possibly waiting too long on one big punch to finish Beebe rather than letting the knockout come naturally. Torrez worked Beebe’s body effectively with both hands in round three but still was not as active as he could have been, particularly since the slow-handed Beebe was throwing little back in return. Torrez seemed to shift completely into cruise control in round four, content to go the distance, but in his complacency Beebe became a little braver and pressed Torrez in the final moments of the fight, landing a few lumbering hooks and even managing to bloody Torrez’s nose before the final bell. Nevertheless it was an easy win for Torrez, as reflected by the 40-35 scores by all three judges.

19-year old bantamweight prospect Anthony Reyes (2-0, 2 KOs) made quick work of debuting Tiy Marbel, scoring two first round knockdowns before Marbel’s corner threw in the towel at 1:58 of the opening stanza in a scheduled four-round contest. A combination to the body by Reyes caused the first knockdown, prompting Marbel to take a knee. Less than a minute later a left hook, right hook combination dropped Marbel in the corner. Marbel was game to keep going but moments later the white towel came in, prompting the stoppage.

In the first professional bout of the evening on the WFC 88 card Jonah Flores (5-0, 0 KOs) earned a unanimous decision over winless Angelo Rampolla (0-4-2) in a scheduled four-round super bantamweight contest. Scores were 39-37, 40-36, 40-36.