By Jonathan King
Photos courtesy Bash Boxing

Bash Boxing, Lights Out Promotions, and PR Sports really put the “HOLLYWOOD” back into the Original Hollywood Fight Night this past Saturday night at Florentine Gardens Nightclub. Multiple Academy Award Winner and Hollywood Legend Dustin Hoffman, 13-time Grammy Winner and Rap King Kendrick Lamar, and several former champions and prospects from the boxing’s past and present joined a capacity crowd to witness the next generation of Southern California boxing prospects.

The newest crop of Top Rank signees were showcased at Hollywood Fight Night with Burbank’s Adam “Blunose” Lopez (12-1, 5KOs) closing the show in a unanimous decision shutout (60-53 on all 3 cards) of Brazilian Aldimar Santos, (21-16, 13KOs).

Working behind a precision jab at the urging of Trainer Buddy McGirt, Lopez picked his shots and stayed out of harms way for most of the night while Santos kept trying to find his way inside. In the fifth round, Lopez fired another trip-hammer jab right down the middle and took the feet from Santos. Tough-as-nails Santos continued to look for an opening but it never came and Lopez picked up another impressive win.

San Diego’s Eric Puente (1-0) tried to end his professional debut with a knockout when he rocked Pomona’s Keith Carson (5-5 MMA, 0-2 Boxing) late in the 4 th round. But Puente was unable to put away the MMA veteran and had to settle for the Unanimous Decision (40-36 on all cards).

It took West L.A.’s Vlad Panin (3-0, 2KOs) four rounds to figure out the enigma that is Rodolfo Gamez (2-6, 2KOs), but eventually Panin was able to solve the riddle with long straight punches. Gamez tried to bully Panin in similar fashion to his previous success exactly one year ago in Los Angeles against then- undefeated Ronnie Biggers. But Panin utilized his superior footwork to work himself out of trouble. Late in the fourth round, Panin dropped Gamez with a nasty combination but was unable to put the nail in the coffin, settling for the unanimous decision victory with scores of 40-35, 40-35, and 39-36.

It didn’t take long for Super Middleweight Triantafyllos Mavidis (4-0, KOs) to paint a very violent canvas, needing just over a round and change to put away tough and durable Roberto Yong (6-15-2, 4KOs). Yong was coming off an upset win over Fidel Hernandez (19-4) but the Greek import Mavidis opened up early and continued his pursuit of Yong in the second, before dropping him twice. Yong rose from the first knockdown but was unable to recover after the second one. Anaheim’s Jonathan Guevara (7-0, 6KOs) came into his first U.S. bout with a shiny outfit and a shiny record built against very limited opposition on the low

level Tijuana circuit. Guevara took a step up in class and spent most of his time in the ring showboating and mugging for cameras while opponent Joan Jose Valenzuela (5-12-2) tired to make him pay for it. Sprinkling in some body shots along the way, Guevara danced his way to a unanimous decision victory with scores of 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.

After being out of the ring for nearly 3 years, Carlos “Pepper” Saucedo (1-1) shot out of a cannon from the opening bell and wasted very little time engaging Misael Chacon (2-17-1). In the second round, Saucedo dug deep to the body of Chacon but crumpled to the canvas in a heap of pain, holding on to his left hand. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. quickly called a halt to the bout and awarded Chacon the TKO victory at 0:46 of the 2 nd round. Saucedo unfortunately suffered a fractured wrist.

Leonardo Torres (4-12) came out looking to push the pace against Alexander Enriquez (8-0-3), but it was Enriquez who landed the cleaner shots early on. Torres continued to take the fight to Enriquez, who seemed content to counter from range. Body shots from Enriquez started to pay dividends late in the fight affecting the output of Torres, who did his best to stay in the fight. After 4 rounds, the judges saw the fight for Enriquez and awarded him with the unanimous decision, 59-55, 58-56, 58-56.

It took undefeated Yulian Tembotov (8-0) a few rounds to figure out a very tough Chukka Willis (4-9). But eventually, Tembotov worked his way inside his lengthy opponent before investing heavy to the body. Tembotov did a good job of mixing up his attack, darting in and out of his opponent’s range. Willis kept looking for the counter shot, but the volume of Tembotov kept increasing as the fight wore on. Late in the fight, Tembotov started letting his hands go in combination and continued to rack up points as Willis kept searching for an answer. Unfortunately for Willis, the answer never came and Tembotov was awarded the unanimous decision victory, 60-54, 59-55, 58-56.

Hollywood Fight Night is rumored to soon announce another return to Florentine Gardens in March. For updates, follow Bash Boxing on instagram (@bashboxing) or online at www.bashboxing.com.

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