Chavez Wins Title

By Wendy Rodriguez

LOS ANGELES-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (43-0-1-1 30 KO’s) of Culiacan, Mexico has followed his fathers footsteps and is now the new WBC world middleweight champion after defeating Sebastian Zbik (30-1 10 KO’s) of Germany on Saturday.

Chavez started going to the body early. Zbik was fast and was landing good combinations. He had a really good defense and kept Chavez punches from landing flush. They both continued to throw, but Zbik was landing more.

Zbik was on top for the first few rounds. However, Chavez began to let go and land more combinations in the fifth round. He stayed inside with his head on Zbik’s chest. Zbik pushed him off and quickly threw his combos.

Zbik continued to use his jab to keep Chavez on the outside but Chavez managed to get back in and work on the body. Chavez landed many low shots. Zbik signaled  the referee of the low blows a few times, but he did not intervene and tell Chavez to keep his punches up. 

Late in the fight, Chavez landed a good left uppercut followed by a cross. The crowd stood up and began to chant “Chavez, Chavez”.  Chavez continued to go to the body and began to wear Zbik down. Zbik still landed a few punches but Chavez was getting the best of Zbik in the inside. The judges scored the fight 114-114, 115-113, and 116-112 for the new WBC champion, Chavez.

Mikey Garcia

In the featherweight division, Mikey Garcia (26-0 22 KO’s) of Oxnard CA, stopped Rafael Guzman (28-3 20 KO’s) of Guadalajara.

Guzman started working quick and jabbed Garcia. Garcia moved and was able to get in and land jabs, hooks, and straight punches. Guzman was cut above his right eye.

Garcia Guzman attacked Garcia, but Garcia kept his composure and then attacked in return and dropped Guzman with a right cross. Guzman tried getting up but tipped over straight on his head. The referee called the fight off at 1:55 of the fourth round.

Garcia said “I was landing my right hand in the previous rounds. I looked for the opening and it landed”.

Garcia is now looking for a chance to fight for a title.

Vanes Martirosyan

In the WBC world title eliminator, Vanes Martirosyan (30-0 19 KO’s) of Glendale California, stopped Saul Roman (34-9 29 KO’s) of Culiacan Mex.

It didn’t start off good for Martirosyan as Roman landed an over hand right followed by a left uppercut that dropped Martirosyan. 

Martirosyan began to throw his jab cross but continued to over throw himself. Roman jabbed and landed. Martirosyan’s nose was bloody. He threw his combinations but was hardly landing any punches. Roman was not allowing Martirosyan to set up and throw.

Martirosyan was cut below his right eye. Roman kept backing up Martirosyan with combinations. Martirosyan then turned the fight around and began to attack. He dropped Roman with straight punches. He continued to let go and snapped Roman’s head back a few times. The referee stepped in at 2:58 of the seventh round declaring Martirosyan the winner by KO victory.

Dakota Stone

In the women’s welterweight division Dakota Stone (10-8-4 2KO’s) of Auburn, Washington, won by TKO over Christy Martin (49-6-3 32 KO’s) of Orlando FL.

Martin was getting the best of Stone. Martin used her jab and tried getting in the inside and landed over hand rights and left hooks. Martin went to the body and tried wearing down Stone.

Stone retaliated and began to catch Martin with left body shots followed by left hooks to the head.

In the fourth round, Martin threw a powerful right that dropped stone. Stone came back to attack with hooks and straight rights and seemed to hurt Martin as she clinched and ran Stone against the ropes.

In the fifth, Martin’s aggressiveness diminished as she danced around throwing her jab. There was something wrong with Martin.  It started getting better for Stone as she started catching Martin with combinations. Martin threw jabs and followed them with an overhand right and ran away as she showed pain. She was seen by the doctor who advised the fight to be stopped. Martin pleaded “Please let me fight”, but it was still called off. She broke her right hand. It explained why she came in throwing only jabs in the last two rounds. It was only about a minute left when the fight was stopped making Stone the winner by TKO.

Other bouts

In the second lightweight division Jesse Roman (6-0 4 KO’s) of Santa Ana, California defeated James Grant (2-3-1 KO) of Dallas.  Roman jabbed and dropped Grant with a simple jab. Grant seemed to be caught off balance.  Roman countered punched and landed a left hook that dropped Grant. The referee stepped in at 1:00 of the first round and declared Roman winner by KO victory.

In the welterweight division Oscar Andrade (6-0 3 KO’s) of Los Angeles CA, added another win by KO to his record after knocking down Kai Zama (5-4 3 KO’S) of Tokyo Japan.

Zama was first dropped with consecutive left uppercuts. Seconds later he was dropped again with straight lefts. He was given another eight-count and was up. Again a few seconds later he was dropped for the third time with a straight left. The referee stepped in at 2:15 of the first round and declared Andrade the winner by knockout.

In the lightweight division, Alejandro “El Charrito” Luna (6-0 5 KO) of Bellflower remained undefeated after winning a unanimous decision over Cesar Garcia (3-7 1 KO) of Ensenada, Mexico. All three judges scored it 40-36.