Pomona

By Channelle Rodgers

POMONA-Daniel Franco (2-0) won by majority decision in a four round bout against Juan Sandoval (2-6, 2 KOs) at the Finish Line Sports Grill, in Pomona, CA. 

Franco wasted no time as he started the bout with full force and so did his opponent Sandoval making this a great fight on the Ray Alcorta Promotions fight card on Saturday.

In the first round Franco exercised his left jab and it was just what he needed, but Sandoval made sure he counter punched with a hard right hand that got Franco’s attention early. 

In the second round Franco gave the audience more spice by counter punching with a straight jabs and a couple of body shots making Sandoval work hard in this four rounder. Sandoval connected with a left hook that woke up Franco, following this wake up call, Franco counter punched with a powerful right that stunned Sandoval. 

In the final two rounds Franco took control by letting go with strong double jabs and body shots. Because he dominated the last two rounds he won the fight according to the judges, scoring the bout 38-38, 40- 36, and 39-37. It’s just another win for the lovely city of Riverside, CA. 

El Monte’s Ricky Duenas returned after many months and knocked off Arizona’s Diamond Baier (2-1-1) in one round. 

Fighting next door to the Pomona Fairgrounds drag strip, Duenas (7-1, 3 KOs) got off to a fast start and ripped through slick fighting Baier’s defense like tissue paper in a junior welterweight contest. 

The fight between slick southpaws looked like it might be a slow fight between fancy southpaws but it didn’t take long to see that the El Monte fighter was looking for action to test the Arizonan’s defense. Duenas went right through Baier’s shoulder rolls and slips and pounded and pounded with five and six punch combinations that found holes in the defense. 

A left hook in the first round floored the Arizona boxer who seemed surprise that Duenas found an opening. The visiting boxer beat the count easily and once again Duenas attacked and though he missed with two punches a right uppercut slipped through the gloves and down went Baier again. This time he seemed more than stunned. Again Baier was allowed to continue and quickly Duenas was on top of him cutting through the defense with accurate volume punching that snapped Baier’s head back. The referee stepped in right before the bell at 2:45 of the first round. 

“We knew he had some slickness and we didn’t want to get into that kind of thing,” said Ben Lira, the renowned trainer for Duenas. “We made him fight.” 

Bell’s Rufino Flores (2-3) upset Van Nuys boxer Alexander Podrezov (3-1) with some awkward aggressiveness that seemed to confuse the Russian. A right hand floored Podrezov and that proved to be the difference in the fight after four rounds of the junior welterweight meeting. Judges scored it 38-37 for Podrezov and 38-37 twice for Flores. 

Whittier’s Alex Luna (5-0, 5 KOs) blew out Victorville’s William Fischer (0-2) with two knockdowns in two rounds of a lightweight match.