Ramblings from “Golden Boy Live” Redwood City, CA Fox Sports 1 Card

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“Tino” Avila Destroys Jose Angel Cota

Manuel “Tino” Avila (13-0 5KOs) of Fairfield, California has been thought of as a hidden treasure in Northern California and now the secret is slowly getting out. On Monday night, facing Jose Angel Cota (8-10-1 6Kos) , who took the fight on a week’s notice, it appeared that Tino wanted to make a statement and that he did. Avila had more firepower and skill than Cota and Cota relied on pressure to hopefully change the course of the fight early. Sadly for him, the opposite happened.

After taking a beating in the first round, Avila shifted gears and mercilessly battering Cota, who tried to roll with the punches on the ropes, but kept getting tagged. A bloody Cota sat frozen on the ropes avoiding the crucial punch that would knock him out, but doing little to tell the ref to let the fight continue and so, the fight ended. Avila now should be looking at a top 10 Super Bantamweight opponent in his near future as his win over Ricky Lopez last December was a quality win and that was followed by fighting on the undercard of Josesito Lopez vs. Marcos Maidana in June, all of which were televised in some capacity. Avila  has proven himself to be a viable threat and now we need to see him make the move up and fight the top 10 guys and see how he fares.

Mendez and Rose Fight to a Draw

Paul Mendez (14-2-2 6KOs) battled Louis Rose (9-1-1 2KOs) to a draw that had all types of scores and fans of the local Mendez unhappy. A day prior, Rose had stated at the weigh in that he was going to knockout Mendez, and in the final frame Rose rocked Mendez almost making the statement come true. Rose whose record of 2 knockouts appeared to be all talk until the final frame in which he rocked Mendez heavily and yet Mendez was able to recover.

Mendez, who was in action a month prior looking the best he had in years, knocked out Rahman Yusubov. Mendez, a fighter who is known for his judicious style of fighting which is reminiscent of his personality, didn’t waste any words or for that matter punches. Everything Mendez throws typically has meaning behind it yet on Monday’s card, Rose seemed to puzzle Mendez as he engaged in a jab and grab strategy early that seemed to offset Mendez.

It appeared Mendez was adjusting until Rose began to find his moments in close that would spur on swing round after swing round. It was the type of fight that maybe makes you wonder if Mendez came back a little too fast for this affair after fighting just last month. It’s fair to say that other fighters from the prior fight were on this card, but this was Mendez’s toughest test to date on the biggest stage and the result was unmemorable according to Twitter.  Even the Sam Garcia Boxing Gym that trains Mendez released a statement on Twitter saying, “…the punches just didn’t have the same snap tonight, I don’t know what happened out there.”

Rose, who is turning into the hometown heel has begun to make a career out of coming to people’s hometowns and ruining the party as he spent the majority of this year going to New York and defeating prospects and his lone loss is against one of the toughest guys a prospect could face, Tony Hirsch of King’s Gym in Oakland, California. Rose entered enemy ground once again in a fight he was expected to lose and in many people’s opinion according to Twitter, won the fight.  The divide amongst those watching on TV and those watching live were very skewed as I didn’t meet one person at the event live that thought Rose won (some had it a draw) , but on the internet nearly everyone had Rose winning. On my personal card, I had the fight 97-93 for Mendez with Mendez doing just enough in the late rounds to fight off Rose who was coming on strong.

For Mendez his next fight will be crucial as he is a fringe top ten fighter right now and will need a big win on December 7th when he fights again. A fighter I would be interested in seeing Mendez in against would be Tony Hirsch, who gives every prospect an honest fight, but I am not sure if this fight could be made since both fighters are from the Bay Area. As a fan I feel this the type of match up could be a very interesting affair.

 Chicas Continues to Roll, Vences Turns Up

Jonathan Chicas (11-1 4KOs) opened Monday’s card with a bang as he beat down Joquin Chavez(6-9-2 2KOs) as he introduced Chavez to his left hook only to set up a straight right hand that landed at will all night. Chicas threw his right straight with no wind up and nearly dropped Chavez multiple times having him retreat to the ropes for safety. Chicas who has been inactive since June due to a hand injury from his previous fight, showed little ring rust as he outclassed Chavez on the way to a one sided decision.

Andy Vences (5-0 2KOs) is becoming a fighter to watch at 130 lbs. Vences has 75 amateur fights, legitimate one punch power and now seems as though he wants to move on up. Vences who decisioned Jose Garcia (3-6-1 2KOs) stated after the fight, “I am done with four round fights!” Vences continued, “I told my manager that I want six rounds after this fight. After the third round I could feel him fading, but I just didn’t have the rounds, hell I will take five rounds if I can get just not four.” Vences’ fight would be simply explained by stating that he established a jab early and then began to work to the body and erode Garcia even though Garcia was able to land hard punches at times. Vences never let up and applied heavy pressure to his foe. Vences should be placed on your radar simply, even in victory Vences is never happy and that is the trait of the greats in all walks of life. Time will tell what Vences will become.

Other Ramblings

Mario Ayala and Benjamin Briceno fought an incredible competitive affair that was a classic match up of boxer vs. puncher as Briceno charged Ayala earlier, but Ayala was able to outbox Briceno in spurts. The fight was probably the most competitive fight on paper and seemed to be anyone’s fight. In the end, the fight came down to the fourth round with Briceno up two rounds to one and it appeared that a mixture of a pro-Briceno crowd and Briceno moving forward with aggression that edged him past Ayala, who now has lost two fights in the past month after starting out his career with two wins.

 

Jesus Sandoval deserves a raise. No matter what fight he is in it is good and when he is in Redwood City he fights with his heart on his sleeve. Sandoval and Sammy Perez shared the ring to produce a “mini” untelevised classic or as I refer to these fights “the best fights you never saw.” Both men threw defense to the side as they engaged in a battle of wills seemingly hurting one and another throughout the fight just for the round to end and do it once again. In the end, the result was a draw and I for one would love to see this fight happen again and potentially at six rounds since Sandoval now has 3 draws and it maybe that four rounds do not favor his style well.

 Darwin Price earned his first career knockout as his friend, teammate and co-main eventer Paul Mendez walked to the nearby aisle to watch. Price is fast and has a jab that at first annoys foes and then breaks them down. Price was able to drop his foe multiple times before finally sending him to canvas for the fateful occasion that lead to Omar Avelar taking a knee and his corner throwing in the towel. For Price, this was another impressive win as he continues to improve with every fight as he shows that the former track star turned boxer is more than likely going to be a better athlete than most people think. He steps in the ring with and under the tutelage of Sam Garcia Boxing Gym. Price seemingly has no limit for the foreseeable future.