By Miguel Maravilla at ringside

Former WBO junior featherweight world champion Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) won by ninth round technical decision over Rafael “Big Bang” Rivera (27-4-2, 18 KOs) at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Magdaleno dropped Rivera in round nine, but Magdaleno was later cut by an elbow (ruled an unintentional foul) and the bout went to the cards. Scores were 88-82, 89-81, 89-81.

Undefeated local super lightweight Arnold Barboza (22-0, 9 KOs) of South El Monte stopped Japan’s always tough Ricky Sismundo (35-15-3, 17 KOs) in four rounds. Barboza did his thing hammering away on Sismundo dropping him in the third. Continuing to attack, Barboza cornered Sismundo in the fourth. However after four rounds Sismundo had seen enough and when he didn’t come out of his corner the referee stopped the fight.

Middleweight Janibek Alimkhanuly (7-0, 3 KOs) from Russian stopped Stuart McClellan (27-4-3, 11 KOs) of Canada in the fifth round. Alimkhanuly dropped McCllelan late in the fifth round and then followed up with a brutal attack prompting the referee to step in to stop the fight. Time was 2:51 of the fifth.

South African welterweight Chris Van Heerden (28-2-1, 12 KOs) won a hard fought unanimous decision over Aslanbek Kozaev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) of Russia. Van Heerden was slick early on boxing away and frustrating Kozaev as the Russian missed punches wildly. Fighting from the southpaw stance Van Heerden kept his distance as Kozaev was the aggressor.

Past the halfway point, it began to be a blood bath in the fifth as both Kozaev and Van Heerden were cut and bleeding from their faces, Kozaev began to land hard punches backing the cut South African. In the sixth Van Heerden was on the run keeping his distance firing away combinations as Kozaev began to close the gap. Staying busy in the seventh, Van Heerden let his hands go ripping Kozaev with a body shot as the Russian began to slow down and fade away. The eight and final round saw Van Heerden have some fun as he shuffled his feet, fading away but still in it Kozaev looked to land one last lucky punch but the South African was too flashy working his way to a decision victory. Scores were 79-73, 79-73, 78-74.

2008 U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (20-2, 8 KOs) of nearby Norwalk, California won a hard fought unanimous decision over Manuel Mendez (16-6-3, 11 KOs) of Oregon. Molina kept his distance and fought smart against the aggressive Mendez in the early rounds. Mendez began to close to gap in the fourth but Molina continued to fight off the jab. Past the halfway point in the sixth, Molina began to fight aggressively ripping away to Martinez’s body stopping his momentum in the process. The 2008 Olympian got stronger as the fight went on boxing away skillfully in the later rounds as Martinez had no answer for Molina. Finishing strong, Molina continued to box and have his way working his way to the decision, credit to Mendez for making Molina earn the victory. The judges scored the 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74.

In the opening bout from the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, Russian lightweight Dmitry Yun (2-0) won a unanimous decision over Javier Martinez (5-7, 3 KOs). Martinez scored a knockdown in the opening seconds as Yun was up on his feet quickly. Referee Jack Reiss deducted a point from Martinez in the third as Martinez continued spitting out his mouthpiece. Shortly after Martinez sent Yun to the canvas a second time. Martinez kept fighting on as he made things complicated for Yun. Sensing the urgency Yun pressed hard in the final round. Scores were 57-54, 57-54, and 56-54 in favor of Yun.

In a swing bout, Dominican super lightweight Elvis Rodriguez (3-0-1, 3 KOs) made quick work of Jesus Gonzalez (6-3, 2 KOs) from Houston in scoring a first round knockout. Rodriguez dropped Gonzalez moments into the bout, Gonzalez was down a second time forcing the referee to stop the fight at 1:42.

Magdaleno-Rivera Gallery by Sumio Yamada
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