Sulem Urbina Beats Vizcaino

Sulem Urbina Beats Ecuador’s Vizcaino in So Cal

By Sophia Anita Reyes

(Photo by Elite Boxing Promotions)

COMMERCE, Ca.-Rolling uppercuts and hooks flowed at the Commerce Casino for Elite Boxing’s Evolution 6 event on Saturday night. The night consisted of eight bouts; some blood splattering and some crowd teasing. Women’s boxing shined as Sulem Urbina defeated Jhosep Vizcaino in the main event.

It is a rarity to have women’s boxing as the main event and the female attendees could not contain their battle cry cheers as Urbina (13-2-1) won by split decision against Vizcaino (10-10-0). The super flyweight brawlers shared a dominating confidence meant to show the mostly male driven sport that they mean business.

The first round was aggressive right off the bat with each fighter exchanging long flowing combos. The fight stayed mostly in the middle of the ring during the second round as Vizcaino sharpened up her uppercut hook combos while Urbina utilized her bobbing and weaving skills.

In the third round, Vizcaino walked straight into a right cross but managed to land a stinging left hook to Urbina’s face. As the 4th round bell rang, Urbina wasted no time and immediately rushed Vizcaino, landing another jarring cross. Very little jabs were thrown by Vizcaino and she tried to destroy her opponent's body with rolling uppercuts.

In the 5th round we saw a more stylized strategy from Urbina as she used a taunting sideways walk to confuse Vizcaino causing her to over-extend her punches. As the end of the fight came closer, Urbina used her impressive foot work and defensive head movement landing a classic jab cross combo while Vizcaino stuck to her power punches.

After six rounds one judge favored Vizcaino 58-56, but two others saw Urbina the winner by split decision at 60-54 and 59-55.

Co main event

Eric Mondragon (8-0-1) won in front of a very demanding crowd by a left hook KO at one minute and twenty seconds into the fourth round against Mario Aguirre (3-18-1).

The lightweight duel started off slow with Aguirre throwing very little punches to a crowd full of vocally impatient Mondragon fans. When Aguirre did strike he showed good rotation but could not defend against Mondragon’s sharp triple jab combos. In the second round Mondragon landed yet another triple jab followed by brutal uppercuts.

Due to superficial damage on one of Mondragon’s gloves, a very lengthy pause occurred until new gloves were found and laced up. Once the fight resumed after 10 minutes, a frustrated Mondragon in the 3rd round caused an uproar in the crowd, but the brawler strategically used that frustration to fuel a fiery comeback dominating his opponent with a quadruple jab combo. In the fourth round Mondragon walked Aguirre around in circles to disorient his opponent then surprised him with a knockout left hook at 1:21 of the fourth round, giving the crowd exactly what they wanted after all.

Other bouts

A frustrated Kenny Lopez (6-0) won by unanimous decision against an exhausted Daniel Jefferson (1-3) in the four round super middleweight bout.

Jefferson started the fight off with nice short jabs, but Lopez’s powerful down jab followed by a flurry to his older opponent's face set the precedent for the rest of the fight. Jefferson, the southpaw fighter, was down in the second by a double hook combo. As the fight progressed it was clear that Jefferson’s constant forward leaning and holding motions extremely frustrated Lopez and hindered him from showing his talent. Despite a low blow mishap suffered by Jefferson, Lopez was just barely able to show his skills in between the holding with beautiful combinations while Jefferson fell at least three times in the fight, bringing Lopez down with him as the final bell rang.

All three judges scored it 40-35 for Lopez.

In his show stopping USA debut fight, Di Stefano Ruiz (11-0, 9 KOs) knocked out Jose Leon (7-6-1) at 1:49 of the first round. The super welterweight battle did not last long. Di Stefano Ruiz, the ambidextrous stance fighter, showed perfect rotation and power as he was able to knock down his older opponent not just once with a hard cross, but twice with a left hook to the face in the first round.

Joseph Cruz Brown (3-4) won by knockout in the second round against Raul Chavez (1-1-1). The super featherweight fighters were matched in height, age, and even trunk wear. Chavez displayed a bouncy stance and impressive footwork while Cruz Brown flowed effortlessly around the ring using the first round to feel out his opponent. Cruz Brown went all out in the second round landing almost every punch. A left hook landed Chavez against the ropes while Cruz Brown unloaded nonstop ruthless uppercuts for an unreasonably long time. The ref finally stopped the fight, resulting in The W for Cruz Brown 1:40 seconds into round two.

One of the highlights of the evening was the feather weight bout between Victor Saravia ( 1-3-1) and Francisco Casillas JR. (3-0-1) that resulted in a split decision draw after four rounds. Casillas, the Maywood gym boxer, showed aggression right away against Saravia who held much more body mass. Saravia showed impressive head movement in the first round. Casillas displayed intricate footwork as a solution to Saravia’s over-extending powerful punches. The featherweight fighters were exhausted by the end of round three. Casillas Jr. stated, “The plan was to box outside and he smothered me, I couldn't push him off. It was a tough night, but I tried my best and will be back soon.”

Christian “El Nino” Lorenzo (3-3-0) won by split decision against Pablo “ Bam Bam” Melgar (5-2-1) in the super featherweight battle. The fight was almost fought entirely inside game with each boxer pushing against each other like two rams. The crowd was pleased with nonstop blows by the fighters in the third round. The close-range brawl lasted all four rounds. Bam Bam comments, “I’d like to fight him again in six rounds”

In his pro debut, Hector Lopez (1-0) won by unanimous decision against a very bloody but skilled Jonathon Tejeda (0-3). Blood splattered the audience in this four-round bantamweight bout. Lopez was impressive with his technique, while Tejeda utilized crouching low then exploding upward in his opponent’s face. Tejeda went down in the second by a vicious overhand right causing blood from his nose to flow into his mouth which made it difficult for him to breathe. Lopez landed several powerful punches taking home the w.