Trinidad Wins Battle of LA

Omar Trinidad Wins Battle of L.A. Over Adan Ochoa

By Sophia Anita Reyes

Fortune favored the undefeated at 360 Boxing Promotions’ 'Hollywood Fight Nights” streamed live by UFC Fight Pass at the Commerce Casino on April 14th 2023. The house was packed and fervent fans wailed as Los Angeles’s Omar Trinidad (12-0-1) beat Compton’s Adan Ochoa (12-3) by unanimous decision in a mesmerizing eight round featherweight main event. 

Main Event 

The first round showed snapping aggression from each fighter, but it was clear by the second round that Trinidad was the aggressor who confidently executed awe-inspiring head movement followed up with stinging counterpunch. In the third and fourth round, the fighters exchanged level changing flurries and Ochoa began to jam his opponents punches by pivoting and turning his shoulder into Trinidad’s guard. This may have frustrated the boxers as they pushed each other after the fourth round bell. The fifth round started with Ochoa against the ropes taking painful punches and a notable left hook from Trinidad. Both fighters bobbed and weaved in the middle of the ring trying for counters, but the scuffle was interrupted by the referee who called time due to a possible cross to the back of the head by Trinidad. 

Trinidad dominated the sixth round by out boxing Ochoa, walking him down and easily evading his punches with pivot counters. Ochoa’s solution was to hug and turn his opponent pushing him deep into the lower ropes, but Trinidad applied unstoppable uppercuts to punch his way out. The seventh and eighth  round showed Ochoa mostly covered up, who took many notable punches from Trinidad including a mean cross and a loud middle ring left hook. There was a thrilling punch exchange right before the very last bell, followed by the judges' score cards that read 80-72. 80-72, and 78-74 all in favor of the Boyle Heights superstar Omar Trinidad. 

Notable Bouts

The first bout was an epic women’s flyweight four round battle that set high standards for the evening as Los Angeles’s Gloria Munguilla (3-0) defeated another Angeleno, Nikkia Williams (0-1) by majority decision. Two minutes was not enough as each fighter put in continuous effort to the very last second of each round.  

Throughout the fight, Munguilla exploded with relentless power punch combinations, utilizing perfect rotation.  Williams showed impressive head movement and left hooks in her pro debut.  Each fighter landed several hard right hands.  In the final round, Williams bobbed and weaved, but was caught by Munguilla’s show stopping uppercut. Williams began to grab her opponent’s head, but Munguilla managed to escape with another uppercut, shortly followed by a stunning left hook. The judges' score cards read 38-38, 40-36, 39-37, and  the hardworking local favorite Gloria Munguilla went home with the W. 

Sacramento’s popular flyweight Cain Sandoval (9-0 ) continued his KO winning streak by defeating Ecuador’s Jose Angulo (14-6) by way of a California ruled KO 2:34 seconds in the fifth round of the scheduled eight round bout. Angulo was down in the second round by Cain’s unique combination of a ceaseless hammerlike down cross mixed with a level changing left uppercut combination and again by the same combo in the fifth when he stopped standing. 

Los Angeles’s Umar Dzambekov (4-0) defeated Nathan Davia Sharp (4-5)  by way of a California ruled KO at 2:24 into the second round.  The skilled southpaw Dzambekov utilized his height advantage by keeping his opponent back with constant fully extended jabs followed by a downward right power punch. In the second round,  Dzambekov had Sharp against the ropes who stopped standing due to back to back blistering jab/left uppercut to the body combinations.

Other Bouts

The six round welterweight scrimmage between Maywood’s Osvaldo Lopez (4-0-1) and Livermore’s Jose Manual Gomez (4-2-1) resulted in an unfortunate split draw. The fighters who share the same record of 4 KOs, put in an enormous amount of effort to get another one and showed they know their craft well. Lopez is a master at the catch jab technique and Gomez cleverly used his forearm to create distance and counter with flurries. The fight showed a good amount of pushing and entanglement, but Lopez threw some notable punches including a snapping left hook in the third and a crushing cross in the fourth, “I knew it was going to be a close fight coming in, but I felt like I pulled it off. It didn’t go as planned, but I’ll be back.” The judges score cards read 56-58, 58-56, 57-57. 

Los Angeles’s Gabriel Silva (1-0) defeated New Jersey’s Angelo Thompson( 0-7) by unanimous decision in his four round middleweight debut. Silva, tall, lean and steady, utilized his southpaw stance by throwing efficient right hands. Thompson, light on his feet,  was not afraid to get close with forward marching power punches. In the third round Thompson threw an uppercut after a break, and in his frustration, he swatted the referee’s arm away from him resulting in a one point deduction. There was no escaping Silva’s right hand which dominated the fifth round, and the judges’ score cards read 38-37. 39-36, 39-36, all in favor of Silva for the win. 

Lancaster’s Monray Marable (1-0) obliterated Los Angeles’s Steve Von Euw (2-1) by way of a California ruled KO in his pro debut during a crowd pleasing four rounds super welterweight bout at 2:04 seconds into the first round.