By Rocky Morales at ringside

Former unified world super bantamweight champion, Daniel Roman (29-3-1, 10KO) overcame a spirited battle from former world title challenger, Ricardo Espinoza (25-4, 21KO). Espinoza showed zero respect to Roman in the earlier rounds and came out swinging at Roman who got off to a slow start.

Through four rounds this looked like an even fight but then Roman started to pull away as the rounds wore on. By the later rounds, Roman’s accurate counterpunching left Espinoza a bloody mess and, at times, Roman visibly hurt Espinoza.

Roman, clearly ahead, did not take unnecessary chances late in the fight yet still landed enough hard shots that Espinoza could not muster much of a strong finish. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93 and 98-92 for Roman who is the WBC mandatory challenger for the Luis Nery vs Brandon Figueroa winner, although WBO champion, Stephen Fulton is on tap for the Nery-Figueroa winner in September.

At the end, it was a hugely entertaining fight fought mostly in the crowd-pleasing “Mexican Style.”

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Former unified WBA/IBF super bantamweight champion Danny Roman (28-3-1, 10 KOs) took a ten round unanimous decision over Telemundo favorite Ricardo “Hindu” Espinoza (25-4, 21 KOs). Espinoza took it to Roman early, but Roman pulled away late to win 97-93, 98-92, 98-92.

WBA #2 super featherweight contender, Xavier Martinez (16-0, 11 KOs) won a unanimous decision over three-time world title challenger, Juan Carlos Burgos (34-4-2, 21KO). In a back and forth battle for the duration of the fight, Burgos tried to bull over the less experienced Martinez but Martinez fought like a patient veteran and weathered the early storm.

By the middle rounds, Burgos was resorting to intentional low blows and loading up on his punches that rarely found the mark. Martinez continued to land his shots and although the shots were sometimes shrugged off by Burgos, the punches were having a clear effect on the swelling face of Burgos. Burgos was all offense but zero defense and easy for the counterpunches of Martinez to land.

The two fighters engaged throughout the later rounds and finished at the bell swinging leaving for a crowd-pleasing ending. The crowd wasn’t pleased for long as they were largely supporting Burgos from Tijuana, BC, who has also spent much of his career fighting in Southern California. Meanwhile, Martinez, from Sacramento, CA, got very little reception from the crowd.

It came down to the decision judges and they scored it unanimously 99-91 3x for Martinez and that decision was booed and jeered by the crowd in attendance. Although Martinez seemed the clear winner, he was jeered while interviewed after the fight while he seemed more deserving of being applauded after beating the three-time world title challenger in Burgos.

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In opening bout action from Dignity Health Center in Carson, California, in a scheduled four round super lightweight bout, Justin Cardona (5-0, 3KO’s) overwhelmed and stopped James De Herrera who dropped to 4-7 (3KO). Cardona floored De Herrera three times with the end coming at 1:20 of the opening round.

In a woman’s super flyweight bout scheduled for four rounds, debuting Gabriela Fundora (1-0) was the unanimous decision winner over Jazmin Medina (2-2, 2KO). The two southpaws engaged early but it was in the second round that a hard right hook from Fundora found the mark and dropped Medina hard. Medina would get up and finish the fight but Fundora was always a step ahead. Judges scored it unanimously, 40-35, 39-36 and 40-35, for Fundora.

Jose Valenzuela (8-0, 5KO) brutally knocked out Nelson Hampton (7-4, 4KO) with a barrage at the end of the first round. Hampton went down hard and the referee immediately stopped the fight at 2:59 of the opening round of a scheduled eight round lightweight bout.