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Javier “Monster” Mora Impresses As A Replacement
This past Thursday was supposed to be a day of redemption for former cruiserweight kingpin, Juan Carlos Gomez, as he attempted to even the score against the only blemish of his career, a first round TKO against an unknown Yanqui Diaz. As it turned out, the fight was called off, due to reasons still unknown. Although many at The Tachi Palace in Lemoore, California were disappointed upon hearing the news, their groans quickly turned into cheers as they were treated by an entertaining card of up-and-coming fighters who gave the fan’s more than their dollars worth.
The event opened with an exciting slugfest as Demi Nguyen, 2-1 (0), outpointed local middleweight Danielle Christensen, 1-4 (1), over all four scheduled rounds. The thrills continued into the next fight as local fan favorite, featherweight Saul “The Latin Cobra” Lomas, 3-0 (2), knocked out his debuting opponent only 40 seconds into the fight.
From the opening bell, Lomas pressured William Gallegos, 0-1 (0), into the ropes with a lightning fast barrage of punches, forcing the helpless Gallegos to take a knee. After Gallegos beat the referee’s count, “The Latin Cobra” struck again and sent Gallegos to the canvas once more with another unanswered barrage. The ref waived off the fight as the crowd went into a frenzy for Lomas.
NABF Women’s Jr. Flyweight Champ, Carina Moreno, 10-1 (3), gained a six round unanimous decision over Valerie Rix, 4-1-1 (1) in a non-title bout. Hard flurries from both sides were the name of the game as both women traded from the first bell to the last.
Rising light welter star Hector “The Mongoose” Alatorre, 13-0 (5), then took the ring to face a very tough and very game Hector “The Chin Checka” Saez, 8-4 (5). Both men began the bout by feeling each other out until an over-the-top right hook by Alatorre started up the engine.
Alatorre seemed to control the fight by getting inside and throwing crisp flurries, but at times was susceptible to Saez’s stiff jab. In the end, after respectable efforts from both fighters, Alatorre won a rightly earned unanimous decision.
The action stayed coming as local boy Frank Mondejar, 13-3 (12) bested Guadalupe Acosta, 5-5-1 (2), in a grueling give-and-take middleweight match. At times Mondejar looked to be pouring it on and pulling away, but then Acosta would land something big to gain the momentum in his favor. With things looking too close to call, Mondejar stepped up his attack to stun Acosta with a huge right hook and take the final two rounds for the unanimous verdict.
In true dominating fashion, heavyweight Manuel “El Toro” Quezada 15-4 (11) knocked out Corey Williams, 5-4-2 (3) in the third round of their scheduled six round bout. Quezada started the pressure early and often as he charged Williams into the ropes and unloaded thunderous punches to his head and body. Williams had his moments, landing big left hooks that bounced off the head of Quezada, but in the end “El Toro’s” body punching was the difference as a rib shot sent Williams to a knee and the ref called an end to the action.
As the main event of the evening was just getting ready to start, fans were delighted to be treated with an appearance by James “Lights Out” Toney. Toney was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd for his efforts in his hard fought decision loss to Samuel Peter as he walked with his sparring partner and the show’s feature fighter, heavyweight Javier “Monster” Mora, 19-3-1 (17), to the ring. As Mora’s opponent for the evening, Willie Herring, 11-5-3 (2), watched the applause Toney got, he turned to “Lights Out” and yelled “You’re next!”, much to Toney’s amusement.
A fight broke out instantly as both fighters elected to bypass the “feeling out” period and just trade wildly in the middle of the ring at the opening bell. Herring smothered the bigger Mora against the ropes and fired from all angles, but several stinging body shots from Mora forced the action to the center of the ring once more.
The third rounded started with Herring landing two left and right hooks that sent Mora to the ropes and Herring following to smother again. While Herring performed better keeping Mora on the ropes, it was proving harder for him to continue doing so as the fight went on and Mora’s body punching started taking it’s toll.
By the middle rounds, with both fighters losing steam and growing more frustrated with an opponent who just wouldn’t fall, both Herring and Mora traded low blows that elicited boos from the crowd. The fans grew angrier as each fighter began holding-and-hitting and taunting each other vulgarly. Realizing that these tactics were not sitting well with the fans, Mora took the initiative to continue with his body attack.
After a point deduction from a Herring low blow, Mora retaliated with five brutal right hooks that went unanswered by the stunned Herring. The closing bell rung as both fighters traded wildly in the middle of the ring. The scores were read 77-74, 79-72, 77-74 to the winner by unanimous decision, Javier “Monster” Mora.
