Tito Mercado Wins NABA

Tito Mercado Wins NABA; Keeps Knockout Streak Going

(Photos by Al Applerose)

By Tarrah Zael

ONTARIO, Ca.-Red Boxing promotions put on a full night of boxing knockout wins at the Lumcolor Event Center in Ontario, California on Saturday night.

Ernesto “Tito” Mercado (8-0, 8 KO) of Pomona, California captured his 8th knockout win against a steady veteran from Puerto Rico, Jayson “La Maravilla” Velez (30-10-1, 21 KO). Velez, aged 34, put 20-year-old Mercado to the test almost every round in the scheduled 8-round super lightweight battle.

Mercado’s solid punches and quick combos on Velez emerged “oooo’s” from the crowd, who heavily came to support the young prospect. Velez’s quirky head movement just barely slipped Mercado’s determination to knockout his opponent in the squared circle. Velez’ also had his own determination to connect with Mercado but was unsuccessful.

Fighting with his leading jab mostly by his side, Mercado won every round against his opponent with ease. In the ending of round six, Velez’ corner believed their fighter had taken enough damage and threw in the towel. Mercado captured the vacant North American Boxing Association (NABA) title at the end of round six for the TKO win. Mercado has big hopes to be placed among the WBA rankings with this victory win.

Other bouts

A light heavyweight battle was set for Sergio Jimenez (10-0-1, 8 KO) of Baldwin Park, California against Hasaan Hagler (2-6, 2 KO) of Huntington, West Virginia. At the start of the first bell, Hagler came fast and forward with his arms swinging against Jimenez. The light heavyweight boxer looked rather inexperienced in his stature thus making it difficult for Jimenez to grab ahold of the tempo of the bout. Struggling to use his technique against his opponent, Jimenez had no choice but to join in on the dogfight.

Quick connecting punches put the swinging boxer Hagler to the ground. Referee Ray Corona counted the first standing 8-count. Not too long after the fight continued, another quick punch to the body put Hagler on his knee as Jimenez. Loud cheers from the crowd as Jimenez motioned his boxing gloves to his opponent to continue the fight and yelled: “Get up! Get up!”. But only 2:04 in the first round, Jimenez won by knockout against his opponent who did not want to continue the brutal battle.

A scheduled four-round heavyweight battle came to a halt in the first round. Southpaw Adrian Miles (0-4-1) embraced many hard punches from Jack May (5-0, 4 KO) in the first couple of seconds of the first round. Hard shots with Miles exchanged pushing May to the corner, but a quick uppercut to the chin of Miles forced a standing 8-count from the referee. Not too long after a few more hard shots were exchanged, the referee stopped the bout at only 2:09.

The second bout of the night ended early after an injury gives his opponent the knockout win. Southpaw Jaime Cerna (2-0, 1 KO) was barely getting warmed up to battle his opponent Neil Muricio “Explisivo” Cannon (0-2) in a scheduled 4-round light heavyweight bout. Cerna of Rancho Cucamonga had mere opportunity to throw feelers out before Cannon twisted his ankle only :48 seconds into the first round. This caused the southpaw to win his second professional fight against Cannon who came from Kingman, Arizona.

Female fight

In the opening bout of the night, a super lightweight battle ended in a knockout by the end of the fourth round. Southpaw Agnesa Kirakosian (6-0, 5 KO) from Armenia pummeled her opponent around from start to finish.

After hard jabs on the face of Mexico’s Esli Cervantes (0-2, 2 KO), she received a standing 8-count in the first round from Referee Ivan Guillermo. Despite the fire from Kirakosian, Cervantes continued to use her defense and came forward with vengeance. Hard straight jabs and left hooks from Kirkosian continued to find the openings to connect with Cervantes.

In round two, the referee had to remind Kirkosian to not push or and hold in the ring, as Cervantes continued to get bullied against the ropes, receiving more damage. Playing mind games with her opponent, Kirkosian switched up her stance to continue the confusion and delivered hard shots in orthodox stance as well. Cervantes found some revenge when she showed her strength and technique against her opponent; but, her stamina to hold up the fight lessened by round three.

Round four of the bout was all games for Kirkosian. Cervantes had no chance to counter as her hands were tied up with Kirkosian’s continuous holding. Cervante’s corner, rightfully so, threw in the towel for their fighter as the damage and rough games was too much. Kirkosian defeated Cervantes by knockout and continued her undefeated win streak.