By: Ken Hissner
At the Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, CA, Thursday night over ESPN Oscar de La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions put on a five fight card.
In the Main Event Lightweight Romero “Ruthless” Duno, 17-1 (14), of General Santos City, Philippines, living in L.A. defeated Gilberto “El Flaco” Gonzalez, 26-5 (22), of Mexico City, MEX, in an all action 10 rounds.
Photo Credit: Golden Boy Boxing Twitter Account
In the first round it was all Gonzalez who switched to southpaw after half a minute. Duno was pressing and finally landed rights to the body and head of Gonzalez. In the second round it was all Gonzalez until an overhand right from Duno landed on his head. Gonzalez pinned Duno in a corner with a flurry of punches until Duno worked his way out with several rights to the head of Gonzalez who suffered a cut by the right eye.
In the third round Gonzalez started out fast going from southpaw to orthodox and back. Duno landed a solid right to the head of Gonzalez putting him on the run. Gonzalez landed a good lead left to the chin of Duno. Referee Edward Hernandez, Sr. finally warned Gonzalez about using his shoulder.
In the fourth round Duno hurt Gonzalez with a right to the mid-section. Both boxers landed well. Near the end of the round Duno landed a hard right and left to the chin of Gonzalez drawing blood from the nose. In the fifth round Duno backed Gonzalez up with several rights to the chin. Gonzalez continues to be busy especially with his jab. Duno had a good round.
In the sixth round both boxers were letting it all hang out in a terrific exchange of punches. Both boxers were getting their licks in at a non-stop pace. Gonzalez drove Duno into a corner but fought his way out. They slugged it out right to the bell. Gonzalez had quite a bit of swelling under his right eye. In the seventh round Duno landed several rights to the body of Gonzalez ending with a left hook to the chin. Gonzalez came fighting back landing the final punch of the round.
In the eighth round Gonzalez was landing well until Duno countered with a right to the body backing Gonzalez up. Both landed left hooks at the bell to the head. In the ninth Duno landed well to the body with uppercuts continually backing Gonzalez up. Gonzalez seemed to take a breather in the round with Duno easily outscoring him.
In the tenth and final round Duno was loading up with lead rights to the chin of Gonzalez fighting southpaw. Gonzalez used his jab well with an occasional left to the chin of Duno. With less than a minute left in the round Duno hurt Gonzalez with a right to the chin.
Judges had it 97-93 twice and 98-92 with this writer having it 97-93.
In the co-feature Lightweight Oscar Duarte, 14-0-1 (9), of Chihuahua, MEX, defeated Rey “The Technician” Perez, 22-10 (6), of Santa Rosa City, Philippines, in a good 10 rounds of action.
In the first round Perez was lining up Durate with his left and got in a left hook to the head of Durate. Durate almost at the halfway point of the round landed a right to the head rocking Perez. Just prior to the bell, Durate landed a hard right to the head of Perez. In the second round Durate went right after Perez landing a flurry of punches until he got hit with an uppercut by Perez causing a red mark under the eye. Durate kept pushing Perez but got hit with a left hook.
In the third round Perez landed the first punch a right to the chin of Durate. Perez kept Durante at bey with his jab and and occasional right body shot. With seconds to go in the round Durate landed a big right to the chin of Perez. In the fourth round Durate landed a double left hook to the chin of Perez who was moving backwards. When in the middle of the ring Perez landed a combination to the head of Durate. Durate continued pressing the action landing half of his punches.
In the fifth round Durate landed a good left hook to the body. He followed up with a flurry of body shots until a left hook from Perez landed on his chin. Perez countered with a right to the head of Durate. At the end of the round Perez had a red mark over his right eye from the left hooks by Durate.
In the sixth round Durate landed three left hooks to the head of Perez. Perez turned southpaw landing a right uppercut to the chin of Durate. He then switched back to orthodox. Durate drove Perez against the ropes with body shots until he was hit by a chopping right from Perez on the chin. Durate ended the round with a left hook to the chin of Perez.
In the seventh round Perez landed a lead right on three separate occasions to the head of Durate. Durate came back with a right of his own to the head of Perez. Both boxers mixed it up well in the middle of the ring at the halfway point of the round. In the eighth round Perez came out strong landing punches to the head of Durate before going backwards. Durate landed well with several body shots dropping Perez.
Perez jumped on him landing a double left hook to the body and head. Another flurry of body punches dropped Perez again. He was up fighting back but was being overwhelmed by Durate with body shots. Perez ended the round with a right to the chin of Durate.
In the ninth round Durate was encouraged by his trainer Joe Diaz, Sr. to finish him. Durate kept after Perez halfway through the round but got countered with a right to the chin of Perez. Durate couldn’t land a big punch as Perez did well to get through the round. In the tenth and final round a minute into it Durate landed a flurry of head shots. Perez never gave up and was a good opponent for the young Durate and hung into the final bell taking plenty of body shots from Durate.
Scores of the judges were 98-90, 99-89 twice. This writer had it 97-91.
Featherweight Francisco “Alacran” Esparza, 8-0-1 (3), of Las Vegas, NV, shut out Edgar Cantu, 7-4-2 (1), of Laredo, TX, over 8 rounds.
Super Middleweight Georgian Jaba Khositashvili, 3-0 (2), of Philadelphia, PA, knocked out Fabian Valdez, 2-3 (0), of Sonora, MEX, at 0:26 of the second round.