Inland Empire Wars

Rocha and Curiel War and Charles Conwell Looks Like A Champion

Photos by Al Applerose

Story by Uppercut Magazine

ONTARIO, Calif.-Every time a major boxing promotion stages a show in the Inland Empire, war erupts.

Welterweights Alexis Rocha (25-2-1, 16 Kos) and Raul Curiel (15-0-1, 13 Kos) engaged in a back and forth battle to the delight of the crowd of more than 5,000 at Toyota Arena in Ontario on Saturday. It was a Golden Boy Promotions show and it did not disappoint.

If you are unfamiliar with the Inland Empire, it’s an area east of Los Angeles County. Altogether the area is also home to many of the best boxing gyms in the world. Fans living in the area love boxing.

Rocha and Curiel brought the house down with their furious battle.

“It was a fun fight, and I want to do it again,” said Rocha who fights out of Santa Ana, Calif.

The last time Golden Boy staged a boxing show in the I.E. it was Mexico’s Jaime Munguia versus Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a brutal war. It was a contender for Fight of the Year in June 2023.

Once again, a Fight of the Year candidate was brought to the Inland Empire with Curiel and Rocha doing the honors in the boxing ring.

The match started slowly with Rocha using a different approach than his normal style and it confused the counter-punching Curiel. During the first half of the fight Rocha seemed in control but not by much.

In the seventh round Curiel turned things around. Instead of counter-punching the Mexican Olympian went on full-attack mode and suddenly a war erupted with fists flying reverse gears put out of action.

Fans cheered loudly at the action.

Rocha has been in several wars so he was in familiar territory. Curiel was new to this scene but eager to capture the attention of the cheering fans. He quickly acquired a taste for the aggressive style. And both fighters turned on their battle turbos.

Neither fighter was able to gain a definite advantage. Both tried and both ate blows for their attempts. But the fans loved them for trying.

After 12 ferocious rounds, one judge scored in favor of Rocha 116-112, but two others saw it even at 114-114 for a majority draw.

Both fighters did not argue. They knew it was a war too close to determine a winner.

“At the end of the day, the fans are the best judges, and based on the crowd’s reactions, they won tonight,” said Curiel who lives and trains in Hollywood, Calif. “I hope we can run it back again next year.”

Conwell Wins Too

Write down his name: Charles Conwell, is a future world champion.

Conwell (21-0, 16 Kos) of Cleveland, Ohio was matched with Argentina’s Gerardo Vergara (20-1, 13 Kos) an undefeated southpaw and no one in the cold arena knew what to expect. Both started slowly with Conwell always moving forward like a military tank.

Gerardo was confident in his abilities and strength and looked slightly confused at Conwell’s defensive abilities. He might have expected Conwell to be moving away, but instead the fighter from Cleveland always moved forward behind a tight guard.

The two super welterweights had never tasted defeat and both were confident in their ability to win. Each was careful in placing their blows and took their time looking for weaknesses.

Conwell’s defense varied from slipping and blocking to moving slightly out of range with subtle foot movement. And suddenly he would counter and block and parry and punch. The Argentine fighter was puzzled but not frustrated enough to stop punching. He fired long lefts that sometimes pierced Conwell’s guard.

Slowly Conwell’s blows began to find the target flush. Vergara took the punches well, almost too well. And he returned fire. He had his best moments firing when Conwell fired. But though he connected, it was Conwell’s blows that were landing more flush.

Still, Vergara did not seem hurt by the blows. Argentine fighters brought to the USA to fight usually can take a punch. Vergara was one of those guys with a concrete chin.

Conwell had been connecting abundantly to the head, but Vergara never seemed to show signs of wavering. In the seventh round Conwell targeted the body. He disguised the blows with feints to the head and then fired blows to the body over and over. Vergara finally showed signs of discomfort and Conwell recognized it. Down to the body he went again and then suddenly a left hook to the chin forced the Argentine to grab the Ohio fighter. Conwell did not stop ripping left hooks as Vergara tried to clinch. It was obvious the Argentine fighter was too stunned and referee Thomas Taylor rescued the hurt fighter at 2:51 of the seventh round.

Conwell had racked up another knockout victory.

“I broke him down,” said Conwell.

It looks like Golden Boy Promotions has another world champion in the making.