This past weekend the Southern California sun shone down brightly over the newly-named Stub Hub Center in Carson, California before settling to a cool breeze once the fiery star started to set.
The open air tennis-court setting once again was the scene of some great boxing as in March Timothy Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov slugged it out over 12 rounds to make their case as Fight of the Year, and in this second week of June, two fights propelled the sun-drained, then nighttime California-cooled fans into a frenzy as the nights semi and main events were filled with enough drama for a daytime soap opera.
A few notes and tidbits on the atmosphere at the SHC: One day prior to the fights, a press release was sent out from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer that only 800 tickets remained and the fight was flirting with selling out. While some media outlets reported a sell out, and others pointed out that over 8,000 strong were in attendance, this writer has his doubts on an actual sellout. However, the specifics do not really matter much because the place sure did feel packed to capacity (as worded by 3MR without actually saying sellout). Regardless, sellout or not, boxing sure was a hot ticket that night as a stranger called out to our group asking if we had tickets to sell. No doubt the scalpers had a good time with the reports of a sellout, most likely upping their ticket fees that night just like Ticketmaster or Stub Hub ?processing fees?. The crowd was just about half full by 3PM, an uncommon occurrence as seats usually don?t start to get filled until the televised portion of the card. Part of this was due to having Californian Ronny Rios, a former USC football player turned heavyweight boxer and 2012 Olympian/pubescent professional ?Jo Jo? Diaz featured on the nights under card, all of whom notched wins. While doing some crowd observing, I noticed a fan, obviously sun beat or looking to avoid getting to that point, simply going shirtless while sitting in the stands watching shirtless boxers in the ring duke it out. Priceless. I also make sure to mingle a bit with the hardcore followers of the sport, and chatted it up while in the snack line with Robert from Rialto, California, which also happens to be my hometown, born and raised. It?s always fun to get different perspectives from different people and get predictions on the nights fights. And hey, plain and simple, its fun debating boxing. Jermell Charlo vs. Demetrius Hopkins, boy what a snooze-fest!!! This fight was as compelling as C-SPAN, with the boo-birds coming out after just the first round. The most exciting thing about this fight was what happened outside of the ring as opposed to in it as some liquid-courage?d up fans decided to duke it out with each other on one end of the arena, followed up the next round by some other boxing-imitators trading punches on the other end of the ring. And why in the world was the fight sanctioned for 12 rounds of torture? Add another reason to the list why alphabet title belts are hurting the sport. One year away from his sure-fire first ballot induction into the Hall of Fame, GBP head Oscar De La Hoya remains a star-figure in the sport and remains available to the still-adoring fans of his, who lined up to get their own little personal piece of time with the future HOF inductee. No doubt this adds to the element of GBP being one of the prominent promotional companies in the biz. Imagine paying $25-$50 or so for a ticket, enjoying the beautiful So Cal weather, happily overpaying for beer, watching fights both in the stands and in the ring and getting to meet ODLH. It?s an opportunity that every fight fan gets when attending a Golden Boy promoted show, and one that every fight fan should take advantage of, in Calfornia or otherwise. Former welterweight title-holder Andre Berto was in attendance, and upon entrance was greeting to boo?s from the crowd. His entrance was made even more interesting as he bumped into Jesus Soto Karass, and reportedly had a heated stare down with his July opponent, which then delighted the booing crowd. Also in attendance were featherweight champ Abner Mares, Daniel Ponce De Leon and Israel Vasquez, all whom graced fans with pics/autographs upon request. A commotion was made after the Berto/Soto-Karass confrontation as a fan that was the spitting image of Saul ?Kid Cinnamon? Alvarez made his way from ringside up to the arena seats. The jean and shirt wearing red head got cheers for simply looking like Canelo posed for pictures with fans and even signed autographs for the delighted crowd. I heard a PR person mention that this fight fan goes to fight cards regularly and soaks in the attention that comes with looking like the Mexican sensation from Guadalajara. The Angulo/Lara bout turned out to be more competitive than initially thought as ?Perro? took his fight to Lara, keeping his hands busy, trying to back up his opponent and oh boy, that body work was consistent and ever so important as Lara was slowed and dropped twice during the fight.
Then Angulo?s face did its best Hasim ?Hematoma? Rahman impression in the 10th, prompting a referee stoppage and a controversial ending to what was a highly entertaining fight. As for the ending, it?s hard not to think of when Roberto Duran no mas?d his way out of his second bout against Sugar Ray Leonard when it comes to the way Angulo turned his back on his opponent. Angulo has reportedly said he was turning to his trainer, Virgil Hunter, to tell him that Lara had thumbed him. There are a few things that Angulo could have/should have done instead, but there is no doubt we will hear more from Team Angulo in the future regarding what happened.
– The ?Riverside Rocky? (could you be given a better nickname than that?) boxed wonderfully in the outset in his match against Marcos Maidana, going to the head and body and showing Maidana 0% fear. The tide turned once Maidana found a rhythm and a home for his big shots, but it was as interesting and entertaining as six rounds can get in the squared circle before the night was ended on a Maidana barrage.
?Josesito?, (man, this fighter just keeps popping out nicknames like he does entertaining fights) will be back in the ring and most think he deserves a soft touch or two after facing Victor Ortiz, Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana in succession. Another memorable entrance was made when Brandon ?Bam Bam? Rios entered the arena, first on the east end of the curt, then on the west end. Rios was mobbed by fans and had to have SHC security usher him through the crowd on multiple occasions.
It was just this past December that this writer was speaking to Rios as word leaked out early that he was on the verge of facing Manny Pacquiao following his fourth chapter against Juan Manuel Marquez. Rios seemed welcome to the opportunity, and upon questioning, was willing to fight either one of the future hall of famers. I was speaking to Rios at approximately 5 PM on December 8 and by 10 PM JMM had delivered the knockout heard round the world that was then thought to crush the hopes of Rios facing the Pac Man.
However, Marquez declined applying a ?Rocky V? to the saga that is Pac/JMM and elected to go with a match against Timothy Bradley, again freeing up Pacquiao and now here we are looking at a November date in another country with Rios scoring the mega fight once thought lost when JMM countered Pacquiao into the canvas.
Rios spoke to reporter Elie Seckbach while in the tunnel of the SHC following the fight. Rios is always worth watching in the ring, and is just as entertaining outside of it.
Below is a link. Enjoy.
