By Miguel Maravilla and David Robinett at ringside
Photos: Emily Harney
South El Monte, California’s Joseph Diaz Jr. (29-1, 15 KOs) stopped Freddy Fonseca (26-3-1, 17 KOs) of Nicaragua in round seven of a scheduled twelve round super featherweight bout.
Diaz started off fast, outlanding the aggressive Fonseca in the early rounds. Keeping up a fast pace Diaz displayed great ring generalship as his hand speed was just too much for the Nicaraguan. Continuing to outclass his opponent, Diaz stood in the pocket in the fifth making Fonseca miss and cracked him with a solid right. The hand speed was too much for Fonseca as Diaz just kept coming, a straight left by Diaz got it started as he followed up with a combo dropping the Nicaraguan. However, Diaz hand speed and skills were too much as an accumulation of punches forced the corner to throw in the towel as the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 2:07 of the seventh.
One of Golden Boy Promotions’ prominent young contenders, super featherweight Lamont Roach Jr. (19-0-1, 7 KOs), survived a spirited challenge from Jonathan Oquendo (30-6, 19 KOs), earning a unanimous decision that was lustily booed by the crowd, with one judging scoring the bout 96-93, and the other two judges turning in questionably wide scorecards of 97-93.
Although in the twilight of a long, workmanlike career at age 35, Oquendo came into this fight with some momentum, reeling off four straight wins after an unsuccessful challenge for the WBA featherweight title in 2015 and an ensuing 19-month layoff. That momentum was reflected in the first round, with Oquendo immediately taking the fight to his younger opponent, coming forward and stunning Roach with a left hook that drew blood from Roach’s nose for the remainder of the round, and on and off throughout the fight. Oquendo continued coming forward in the early rounds, outlanding a surprisingly immobile Roach and nearly dropping him in round four with a body that caused Roach to double over in visible discomfort. The rough fourth round seemed to light a fire under Roach, who came out in round five for the first time with some urgency, keeping his distance and rocking Oquendo with lead left and right hands before dancing out of countering range. The remainder of the fight alternated rounds where Oquendo was able to walk down Roach and outland him in close quarters, and Roach realizing he needed to stick and move more, boxing smartly for short spurts and relying on his hand speed to land meaningful, albeit sporadic combinations.
Throughout the fight Roach also complained of Oquendo leading with his head, prompting referee Russell Mora to take away a point from Oquendo in round eight that fortunately was not the determining factor in the fight. In the end, a valuable learning experience for Roach, who needs to learn to fight for sustained stretches and rely more on his strengths of speed and movement if he is going to survive against the division’s elite.
In a big upset aided by a bad stoppage, unheralded welterweight Anthony Young (21-2, 7 KOs) defeated former WBO super welterweight champion Sadam “World Kid” Ali (27-3, 14 KOs) after the referee stepped in to wave the fight over at 2:38 of round three in a scheduled twelve round contest.
Although Young hurt Ali with a right hook, followed by a left hook that pinned Ali into a corner shortly before the stoppage, the actual end of the fight occurred after Young missed Ali with two punches sandwiched around one that grazed harmlessly off Ali’s shoulder. Referee Robert Byrd, who was viewing the action from behind Young’s back, presumably couldn’t tell that the final sequence of punches didn’t hit their marks and prematurely jumped in to rescue what may have appeared to him as a defenseless Ali in the corner.
The erroneous stoppage spoiled what was otherwise shaping up to be an exciting fight, as both fighters were willing to engage and were landing shots on each other with regularity. With the victory, Young picked up a vacant “silver” welterweight title from the United States National Boxing Council (USNBC), a regional governing body associated with the WBC.
Super featherweight Aram Avagnyan (9-0-1, 4 KOs) of Armenia outscored Francisco Esparza (9-1-1, 3 KOs) of Las Vegas in going ten rounds. Esparza got it started as he dropped Avagnyan with a left hook in round two. The local native boxed the early part of the fight as Avagnyan pressed. Standing and trading in the fifth Esparza and Avagnyan exchanged. The second half of the fight Esparza seemed sluggish but continued to outwork the tough Armenian that continued to press. Avagnyan continued to stalk and stay on top of Esparza in the eighth as he began to look comfortable in the ring. Late in the fight, Avagnyan connected some good shots and pressed the action as Esparza kept his distance. The tenth and final round saw the two fighters trade as the fight seemed to be up in the air. Avagnyan pulls off a tough unanimous decision win as the judges scored the fight 97-92, 96-93, and 96-93.
In the opening bout from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, super middleweights Alexis Espino (2-0, 1 KO) of Las Vegas won a unanimous decision over Billy Wagner (1-1) of Montana. Boxing patiently, Espino controlled the fight landing heavy punches rocking Wagner. Espino was deducted a point in round two for hitting Wagner while he was down. A hard right hand followed by a left hook rocked Wagner in the third as Espino continued to box and land heavy punches battering Wagner in route to a unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 39-36, 39-36, and 39-34.
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