By David Finger
It goes without saying that Mexico is a nation of boxing fans, and in the next four weeks those boxing fans in Northern Mexico will have more than their share of exciting fights coming up. The busy month of boxing starts off this weekend in Ciudad Juarez on Friday (July 14) as six professional fights will be featured at the Hotel El Paseo on Salon Alameda.
The pro-am “Box por Juarez 16” card will feature El Paso’s Josue Garcia (7-5, 4 KOs) as he takes on takes on Ciudad Juarez’s Esteban Villalba (9-17-3, 6 KOs) in a junior middleweight fight in the main event. Rounding off the card will be undefeated junior middleweight Jarvis Shepard (3-0-1, 3 KOs) of Dallas as he takes his third trip to Juarez in his professional career. Also on the card will be Tyler, Texas’s Kenneth Taylor (2-1-1 2 KOs), Ciudad Juarez’s Juan Carlos Chavira (8-14, 3 KOs) Fort Worth bantamweight Jesse Angel Hernandez (8-1, 6 KOs) and undefeated super lightweight Santiago Dominguez (7-0, 5 KO) from Ciudad Obregon. The fights start at 6:30 PM with tickets selling for $150 pesos ($8.44 USD).
The following Saturday (July 22) WBC Latino super featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (63-10, 53 KOs) of Mexico City returns to Chihuahua state as he takes on undefeated prospect Jessie Cris Rosales (21-0-1, 9 KOs) of Cebu, Philippines in a ten round fight for Gonzalez’s belt. The fight will take place in Hidalgo Del Parral about 140 miles south of Ciudad Chihuahua. The Gonzalez v. Rosales fight will be televised on Mexico Televisa.
Three days later (July 25) in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Humberto de Santiago (14-3-1, 10 KOs) is slated to fight Ramon Cardenas (12-1, 7 KOs) in a featherweight fight at the Arena El Jefe.
And on August 12 Monterrey Mexico’s popular female featherweight contender Paola Torres (10-2-1, 3 KOs) looks to bounce back from her close decision loss to Cindy Serrano in her last fight for the WBO world title in May. Torres is slated to fight Mexico City’s Maria Villalobos (14-15-1, 5 KOs) in an 8-rounder in Castanos, Coahuila just outside of Monclova. Torres is hoping to position herself for another fight with Serrano before the end of the year and she believes a win over Villalobos could do just that. Villalobos is coming in off a decision loss to Jessica Arreguin in a fight for the WBC FECOMBOX female super bantamweight title back on May 13. Also on the card will be Monterrey’s Brenda Ramos (9-5, 4 KOs) as she takes on Durango’s Karla Valenzuela (3-15-2, 1 KO).