September 20, 2005

Tuesday Night Fights LLC., put on their debut fight card in high fashion.  From the Blue Horizon-ish 17th Street Event Center (complete with balcony-full circle around the ring) to the HDTV taping, everything was top notch, including the fights!! 

In the main event Adrian Mora, 139, (13-0-1) overcame a second round knockdown to work out a unanimous decision over a tough as nails Roberto Valenzuela, 140, (33-16-1) in an eight rounder.  The first round was of the 'feeling out sort with Mora using the jab.  I scored it even at 10-10.  The second round things got going with Valenzuela landing left hooks and a nice 1-2.  Mora lands a double left hook to the body and head followed by a hard inside uppercut to win the round.  In the third the crowd got behind Mora calling for pressure but it was Valenzuela who listened and really stepped up the pressure landing a big left hook along the ropes and straight right and left hook that visibly hurts Mora who does the smartest thing possible in taking a knee.  He clears his head and finishes the round running.  Valenzuela wins the round and takes over the fight at 29-28 on the RMB card.  The crowd was really buzzing between rounds as Mora has never been in any serious trouble in his career.  Mora comes out looking to exact some revenge in the fourth and doesn't fight like a man who just suffered the first knockdown of his career.  He opens with a beautiful 4 piece combo, but Valenzuela walks through it.  Mora's trainer, George Durbin was calling from the corner "Take him to your neighborhood".  Mora spends a little time in the southpaw stance to little advantage.  Valenzuela lands a lead left hook but Mora finishes with an uppercut and left hook to the body to win the round.  Mora stuns Valenzuela early in the fifth but Valenzuela fights back landing a lead uppercut and a left hook on the ropes.  Mora finishes strong but it's too little too late as Valenzuela moves a point ahead on the RMB card at 48-47.  The sixth saw Valenzuela hurt Mora with a hard right hand and he continues to batter him around the ring.  Valenzuela lands a hard right to the body to end and win the round moving up by 2 points on the RMB card.  Mora will have to win the final two to salvage a draw in my opinion.  He comes out and does just that dominating the last two rounds with the 1-2 and combinations.  They trade big hooks to end the fight which I scored 4-3-1 in rounds making it a draw with the 10-8 round, 76-76.  Judges ringside scored it 78-73 and 77-74 twice.  Questions about his chin and power could be raised but there is no questioning his heart as he fought through some very tough moments in this fight.  Overall it was a very entertaining fight with Valenzuela applying the pressure and at times landing the more telling blows.  Mora definitely won his share of the battles, but I felt the war was very close.

In the co-main, which was elevated when Anthony Mora was forced out due to a rib injury, Hector Saez (7-3) banged out a six round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Julio Chavez (5-1) from New Mexico.  Saez had told me last week in training that he had given himself an ultimatum. "Win or retire, simple as that"  Saez said.  "I'm too old to be losin' and I'm just not going to be an opponent, never."  That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself coming to a fight with an undefeated fighter.  Both men come out swinging for the fences in the first with Saez throwing a loopy overhand right and Chavez scoring with the 1-2.  Saez works the body well to take the round.  In the second round Saez lands a devastating left hook to the solar plexus and Chavez nearly goes down.  He holds on for dear life everytime they get into range to the displeasure of the pro-Saez crowd.  They trade right hands in the late in the round and Saez is buzzed.  If not for all the holding Chavez could have edged out this round.  In the third it's more of the same with Saez going hard to the body and Chavez holding.  Mid round a point is finally taken by Woody Kislowski for holding.  Saez takes the round 10-8 with the deduction.  In the fourth Saez starts finding a home for the overhand right and also lands a nice counter right hand.  Chavez lands a 1-2-3 at the bell to make the round close but I score it for Saez.  Both men are getting winded by the fifth but Chavez seems to have just a little more in the tank as he lands quick combos to both the body and head to win the round.  The sixth is a slow round with neither fighter pressing the action.  Chavez lands the better blows and wins another round on the RMB card bring the final score 4-2 in rounds or 58-55 with the point deduction.  Judges ringside saw it the same as Saez won 58-55 on their cards.   After the fight I asked Saez about the ultimatum.  "It's still intact and I don't plan on losing."  Great job Hector. 

Heavyweight Chris Green (3-0) kept his perfect record as well as his knock out streak intact with his stoppage of James Jackson (1-1).  Green came out bombing with big right hands before settling in with his jab.  Jackson is trying to jab with him but doesn't stand a chance and looks terrified.  The round was dominated by Green with with right hands.  At the 10 second Green mistakenly thinks the round has ended and heads to his corner.  34 seconds into the second Green trapped Jackson on the ropes and landed a monster right hand that put Jackson down and out for the count.  Jackson was a bit undersized, weighing only about 200 with clothes, he should immediately move, or stay as it were, to cruiserweight.  Green definitely has the size and appears to have the skills, he just need to be in a fight to see what's on the inside.

Jose Morales (1-0) made his debut in impressive fashion with a Manuel Medina like  win over Octavio Frias (1-2).  Morales comes out reaching while Frias digs the body with hard hooks on the inside.  Morales lands three nice left hooks to finish a good combo and take the round.  The remaining rounds were carbon copies of the first giving Morales a unanimous decision win 40-36 on every card in the house.  Morales looks to be a volume puncher who is relentlessly coming forward and letting his hands go.  He did land some flush shots and wobbled Frias on a few occasions but wasn't quite able to finish him off.  With some seasoning he could be very good and even better if he can drop a few pounds to 126 or even 122.

The opening bout was scratched when Janae Archuletta's opponent, Brenda Drexel, showed up, this is the corrected amount, 44 pounds overweight!  Why would you even get on the airplane and waste the promoter's money like that??  Her manager should have had to fight Janae instead, he looked about the contracted weight. 

In it's place we got a good exhibition between Sarina Heyden and Tonia Gallegos.  I honestly thought that this one could really get outta hand but it was contained to a 'very, very spirited exhibition' without headgear.  The last Heyden "exhibition" I remember she laid out Vangie Abeyta, who she outweighed by more than a few pounds and Gallegos one time wanted to go outside to finish sparring when she was at St. Joe's during my tenure there.  I was looking for fireworks and we got em. 

I'm not sure about the weight differential but I wouldn't mind seeing a little tournament between Archuletta, Gallegos, Heyden and Martha Deitchman with maybe Asia Mays as an injury substitute.  Free one for ya "Match Makin" Mestas and the Palladium. 

The show was, again, top notch with not so much as a peep of a problem and fans filled the place to standing room only capacity.  This show was really a great success despite being the inaugural fight card for Tuesday Night Fights LLC.  I look forward to many more Tuesday nights at these fights!