By: William Holmes
The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California was the host site for tonight’s Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN Card.
The junior welterweight division was featured heavily and included a main event between Fidel Maldonado Jr. and Ismael Barroso and a co-main event of Pablo Cesar Cano and Marcelino Lopez.
Photo Credit: Golden Boy Boxing
The opening bout of the telecast was between Pablo Cesar Cano (30-6-1) and Marcelino Lopez (32-2-1) in the junior welterweight division.
The crowd was noticeably thin when this bout started.
Pablo Cesar Cano came out aggressively and attacked the body and head of Lopez. Lopez kept a high guard and was landing punches of his own, but Cano was the aggressor, but was swinging a little wildly. Both boxers had cuts in the opening round.
Cano continued to be the aggressor in the second round, but Lopez landed a vicious overhand right followed by a left hook that sent Cano crashing to the mat. Cano was able to get back to his feet but was still wobbly and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Marcelino Lopez wins by TKO at 2:27 of the second round.
The next bout of the night was between Marvin Cabrera (5-0) and Hector Velazquez (57-29-3) in the junior middleweight division.
Velazquez was 42 years old and Cabrera was 24.
The age difference was very apparent early on as Cabrera was landing combinations almost at will. Velazquez plodded around the ring and was unable to catch up to the much quicker Cabrera.
Velazquez however showed he had a good chin and was able to take some of Cabrera’s best punches, including some hard uppercuts.
Velazquez was showing signs of tiring, but was still in the bout and on his feet when Cabrera landed a few shots on Velazquez by the ropes when Velazquez’s corner threw in the towel.
It may have been stopped earlier than it should have been, but even if it continued Cabrera was in no danger of losing.
Marvin Cabrera wins by TKO at 1:27 of the fourth round.
The main event of the night was between Fidel Maldonado Jr. (24-3-1) and Ismael Barroso (19-1-2) in the junior middleweight division.
Both boxers came out in a southpaw stance and Barroso was landing the cleaner punches in the opening round and put Maldanado on the defensive. Maldanado took more risks in the second round but Barroso appeared to be landing the harder shots.
Maldanado started off the third round by fighting on the outside but got tagged with a left hand by Barroso that put him on his knees. He was badly hurt and on his feet for the remainder of the round, but he had to hold on to survive.
Maldanado’s legs were still wobbly in the fourth round and he was in pure survival mode and lost a point for holding.
Barroso continued to land well to the body and head in the fifth round and opened up a cut under the right eye of Maldanado.
There was a brief pause in action before the start of the sixth round for the ring side doctor to look at Maldanado, but he allowed the fight to continue.
Maldanado was taking some of Barroso’s best shots to the head pretty well in the sixth, but a short-left hook to the body of Maldanado sent him to the mat for the full ten.
Ismael Barroso wins by knockout at 2:23 of the sixth round.