Gamboa, Angulo & Martinez Deliver on HBO

By Raj Sharma at ringside: Promoter Gary Shaw’s “Night of the Rising Stars” series once again delivered. Fans in attendance at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California, USA, and a national HBO audience were treated to sensational performances by prospects Yuriorkis Gamboa and Alfredo Angulo and contender Sergio Martinez.

Gamboa, a 2004 Cuban Olympic Gold Medalist now based in Miami, wasn’t expected to encounter much resistance from unbeaten but unknown Marcos Ramirez. But the Kansas resident came to fight, and gave Gamboa backers a few anxious moments in the first round.

After connecting with a solid hook, Ramirez dropped Gamboa to his knees with an inadvertent elbow to the jaw during an exchange moments later. Gamboa got up and answered with a right as the two swapped punches.

Gamboa’s superior arsenal surfaced in the second. A rapid three-punch combination dropped Ramirez, and the Cuban dropped Ramirez to a knee for the count with a sharp right uppercut after another crowd-pleasing exchange. Official time was 1:41. Gamboa improves to 12-0 (10), while Ramirez is now 25-1 (16).

In the co-feature, junior middleweight prospect Angulo remained unbeaten with a dominating TKO win over Russian slugger Andrey Tsurkan. Tsurkan’s corner mercifully halted the one-sided bout in the tenth and final round. Angulo improves to 14-0 (10). Tsurkan, who absorbed a beating to both the body and head, slips to 26-4 (18). After the bout Angulo expressed a desire to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Martinez looked outstanding in his eighth round stoppage win of Alex Bunema. The Spain-based Argentine overwhelmed the veteran with his superior quickness and power, capturing the WBC “Interim” junior middleweight title in the process.

Bunema couldn’t slip the southpaw’s right jab, and was kept at bay with quick feints and sharp combinations. When Bunema tried to use his own jab, he was beaten to the punch by counter jabs from Martinez.

A Martinez left knocked a retreating Bunema on the seat of his pants in round three. As the bout progressed, Martinez became increasingly dominant, landing the jab almost at will and counterpunching effectively when Bunema tried to attack.

With Bunema far behind on points and outclassed, the bout was halted by referee Raul Caiz Sr. on the advice of the ringside physician after the eighth round. Martinez, whose only defeat came at the hands of Antonio Margarito in 2000, is now an impressive 44-1-1 (23). Bunema, who had defeated Roman Karmazin and Walter Matthyse in his last two bouts, is now 30-6-2 (16).

“From here on in, I want to fight the best fights. I showed everybody my speed, my ability. Now, Vernon Forrest can’t say anything about not fighting me,” Martinez said through translator Luis DeCubas.

Five supporting bouts rounded out the Shaw and Ringside Ticket co-promotion. Jonathan Nelson (6-0) outpointed Robert Campbell over four rounds in a super middleweight bout. Local junior middleweight Alan Velasco slugged his way to a six round draw with Dashon Johnson. In a junior welterweight six rounder, Ariz Ambriz (6-0) remained perfect with a unanimous decision over Dion Nash.

In other action, Argentine prospect Luis Carlos Abregu stopped trialhorse Robert Valenzuela in the sixth and final round of their welterweight bout. Abregu improves to 24-0 (21) with the win. Valenzuela, 35, is now listed at 46-42-2 (18).

Jessie Vargas banged his way to a four round unanimous decision over Trenton Titsworth in the opener. All three judges scored the bout 39-34. Vargas, fighting out of the Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas, lost a point for hitting on the break in the third round after Titsworth kissed him on the cheek during a clinch. Referee David Denkin took two points away from Titsworth for the infraction and sternly threatened him with disqualification. Vargas is now 2-0 (1). Titsworth slips to 2-3-1.