Undefeated WBO #6, WBA #8, WBC #13 lightweight KO artist William “El Camarón” Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) scored a hard fought twelve round unanimous decision over former IBF super featherweight champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, Jr (32-3-1, 15 KOs) on Saturday night at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. Zepeda simply overwhelmed Diaz with non-stop power punches in most rounds and pulled away to a 119-109, 119-109, 118-110 win.
“I have learned that boxing gives back what you put in,” said Zepeda. “I have trained hard, have been disciplined, and have listened to my team. Now it is time to rest up and await for what is next for us at this division.”
WBO #7, IBF #13 welterweight Alexis “Lex” Rocha (21-1, 13 KOs) took a hard-fought ten round unanimous decision over tough-as-nails Jesus “Ricky” Perez (24-4, 18 KOs). It was a more difficult fight than expected for 20:1 favorite Rocha as Perez hadn’t fought in nearly three years. Rocha won by scores of 100-89, 100-90, 99-91 as he successfully defended his NABO title.
Former world champion Arely Mucino (32-3-2, 11 KOs) dethroned previously unbeaten IBF female flyweight champion Leonela Yudica (17-1-3, 0 KOs) by split decision in a close fight. Scores were 97-93, 96-94 Mucino, 96-94 Yudica.
In a clash of unbeaten super bantamweights, Hector Valdez, Jr. (16-0, 8 KOs) and Max Ornelas (15-1-1, 5 KOs) fought ten workmanlike rounds with Valdez taking a split decision. Scores were 97-93 for Ornealas, 97-93, 97-93 for Valdez.
Other Results
Jorge “El Niño” Chávez W6 Adrian Leyva (super featherweight)
Japhethlee Llamido KO1 Pablo Cruz (super featherweight)
Jan “Nito” Salvatierra W4 Robert Ledesma (flyweight)
Asa “Ace” Stevens W4 Mychaquell Shields (featherweight)
Good decision as far as I am concerned. The DAZN announcement team had no idea what they were talking about. That was NOT masterful boxing by Ornelas. It was more like rounds 9-12 of Trinidad vs De La Hoya.
I hate. I’m a hater. I’ve hated everything that has walked, flown or crawled. I’ve hated men, women, even children. But I have never hated anyone more than I’ve hated Sergio Mora.
Jojo Diaz has always been economical with his punches and he frequently adopts the earmuff defense when facing punching barrages. He doesn’t throw while his opponent is punching but waits until the barrage is over before retaliating.
Against Gary Russell, Jr., it was a really bad strategy because Russell often moved right after punching and was no longer in range for counters. Against Zepeda, it was a terrible strategy because the onslaught was continuous without much interruption. As far as I could see, it was a one-sided beatdown because Diaz just didn’t throw enough punches to make it competitive.
As for Rocha, it was a disappointing performance. Instead of using his jab and moving side to side for punching angles, he elected to punch then stand there for the receipt. He also often moved straight back after punching and got tagged when he did so. He clearly won the fight with many clean punches, but he also took hard punches in return and gave the opponent way too many opportunities to hit him. That is not a recipe for a long career. He could have made it an easy fight but he elected not to.
Perez took a lot of shots without wilting but I believe Rocha could have stopped him by mixing up the intensity of his shots and hitting him from angles with punches that he couldn’t see. I sure hope Rocha fights a more intelligent fight when he meets a top fighter. This approach would get him knocked out.
Either Diaz is on the back 9, or Zepeda learned plenty from his previous performance. Maybe both.
I’m not sure what the writer means by slugfest. This was s complete beating from start to finish from Zepeda.
And what in hell is going on with judges now a days. I mean, the Ornelas vs Valdes fight wasn’t fun to watch, but Ornelas, won that fight no doubt. Valdez hardly threw any punches during the whole and he missed most of the time.
And once again that idiot Jackass Jack Ress. What is wrong with that guy? First round of the Ornelas vs Valdes fight, Valdes hit Ornelas in the back of the head and this is Ress answer to Ornelas complaint:
Is your fault because you’re holding.
Since when is legal to hit in the back of the head for holding? It was only the first round , Ornelas had only hold once or twice and Valdes hits him hard in the back of the head. I’m not a fan of holding, I hate it, but just because someone holds it means that you’re allowed to hit behind the head.
This guy is suppose to be one of the best referees out there. But he really sucks.
I know I am late as I often am and no one may read this. But I will say my 2 cents. I think we all understand that some fights are hard to make. Promotional issues, money issues, network issues etc. It is unfortunate but reality of what we as boxing fans suffer through. But there are good matches that can be made that still get ignored because of some risk involved. I would like to see Vergil Ortiz vs Rocha. Why not? Easy to make politically, an entertaining style match up, yet it barely gets mentioned. On the undercard they could have Blair Cobbs fight Perez. I think that could be another great fight. Again should not be hard to make. As for Zepeda…how about him vs Ryan Garcia. Of course if they make the Tank fight that is a lot bigger for Garcia but right now I have more faith that Beyonce will call me and beg for a date then that happening. So again I say why not? (to Garcia vs Zepeda). It has gotten to the point where good fighters who are with the same promoter and on the same network are not even fighting each other.
I wouldn’t actually be surprised to see Rocha – Ortiz, Pete. They did put Rocha in with Cobbs & Rashidi Ellis while they were all with Golden Boy so I think it’s possible. I heard that Ortiz had called for the WBA to enforce his mandatory against Stanionis, so unless they enforce Stanionis’ mandatory with Spence, that may be next for Ortiz.