By: Sean Wippert ringside in Las Vegas: Headlining the undercard at the Palms In Las Vegas was a pair of undefeated super featherweights who at first glance looked to steal the show. Joel Diaz, Jr. and Guy Robb tore into each another for seven virtual savage rounds, making for quite a fight and one of the best of the young year thus far.
A pedestrian-like opening that saw little in the way of action quickly gave way to what could only be described as a free-for-all in the second. Both fighters unloaded brutal shots on one another. The result was Diaz heading to the canvas after taking a quick right uppercut. After receiving the standing eight count, Diaz and his opponent spent the remainder of the round showing why neither had ever seen defeat.
By the third the damage was beginning to show on both men. Brutal amounts of carnage ensued with both men hitting each other like freight trains.This time it was Robb who wound up on the canvas from a nasty combination. Not long after getting back to his feet he found himself once more on the business end of his opponent’s offense. Robb fell a second time in the round when one of the cleanest right hooks of the night connected with his chin. In true warrior fashion, though, “The Pride of Sacramento” returned to his feet and weathered the rest of the round.
The fourth saw both men opening the frame by bashing each other. A now-composed Robb began pressuring Diaz, driving him against the ropes every chance he had. Diaz closed out the round with some nasty shots, reminding everyone in attendance that nothing was set in stone.
This pattern of each man trading shots continued through the next few rounds. By the sixth it seemed that Diaz was beginning to wear Robb down. While both men had the fire, Robb, it seemed, was progressively taking the worse of the two. This carried over into what would be the seventh and final round.
After a docile opening, Diaz appeared to have had finally had enough and attacked his opponent with yet another brutal series of shots. The shots drove Robb back, staggering him a bit and causing him to lean against the ropes. At the 2:20 mark of the round referee Vic Drakulich had finally seen enough and called a stop to the fight.
With the tough win Diaz, from Palmdale, CA, remains undefeated, improving his record to 7-0 with now 6 knockouts. He would later say “First time I’ve ever been knocked down.” and that “It was a lucky punch that caught me off guard and I got up really quick.”
The loss awards Robb his first professional defeat and drops him to 7-1 with 3 knockouts. All in all this was a great fight that saw its share of ups and downs and was well worth of headlining the undercard.
In super flyweight action, the “Pride of Palmdale” Mathew Villenueva demonstrated not only why he was undefeated in six fights but also why none of them had ever gone the distance. The receiver of his offensive hailstorm was a noticeably shorter Michael “El Unido” Ruiz Jr. from Fresno, CA.
The damage in this fight came early, often and what seemed like from every direction. Villenueva came out firing from the opening bell and amped up his attacks as the minutes ticked by. Flurry after flurry seemed to find their mark on an ever-evading Ruiz. This was especially noticeable in the second round when Villenuava dropped Ruiz to the floor with a combination of shots. The damage was almost enough to end the night early for Ruiz.
As the fight moved to the midway point, it was Villenueva who began adding Ruiz’s torso to his list of favored targets. The shots elicited a noticeably painful response from Ruiz who winced a bit before trying to defend even more. The increased defense however was ineffectual at best and very counterproductive at its worst.
By the late rounds it was clear that Ruiz was on his way to a stoppage loss. He seemed to take shot after shot with no answer in return. At one point he looked to be hanging onto his opponent for dear life. At the 1:04 mark of the seventh referee Russell Mora had seen enough and called a halt to the bout. This painful end was a worthwhile stoppage and seemed to come none too soon.[Soft Break]With the win Villenueva remains undefeated, improving to 7-0-1 with now 7 knockouts. A battered Ruiz Jr. heads back to Fresno, CA taking with him a respectable record of 8-2-1 with 3 knockouts.
While Norwalk, CA’s own Javier Molina may not have completely lived up to his nickname as “The Untouchable One,” he did manage to leave a lasting impression on many in attendance including his welterweight opponent Albert “Baby Dynamite” Herrera from Riverside, CA.
Molina started out early, showing an exceptionally fast, accurate offense that quickly put Herrera at range. The attack was so much so that he even managed a knockdown in the first with a quick left hook. Herrera recovered fast, but never seemed to get back into a favorable rhythm.
The scrappy Herrera drove and attacked as best he could, but seemed to find himself being the constant target of Molina’s mobile offense. This continued through the middle rounds and lasted pretty much throughout the rest of the bout. Herrera tried as best he could but was just unable to get much going in his favor. It was as though “Baby Dynamite” was being defused at every turn.
As the bell sounded it was Molina who took a unanimous decision with the scores of 58-55, 58-55 and 59-54, improving to 10-1 with 4 knockouts. The painful loss drops Herrera to a respectable 8-5-1 with 5 knockouts.
Romanian heavyweight Razvan Conjanu earned his second win in as many fights with a unanimous decision over San Jose, CA native “Big” Rodney Hernandez. The fight started strong with both men swinging for the fences and evolved into the pair taking turns seeing who hit the other harder. Conjanu took the fight with scores of 39-37 (twice) and 40-36 and improved to 2-1. With the loss Hernandez falls to an even 1-1.
Local Junior Middleweight Yosmani Abreu earned his second professional win as he defeated California native Marcus “The Phenom” Robinson. It was tough fight for both relative newcomers but when the final bell sounded it was Abreu who picked up the win; he nabbed a unanimous decision of 39-37 across the board. The local improves to 2-2 and sends Robinson back to Los Angeles with only his second professional loss and a record of 4-2.
January 20, 2012
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