By: Matthew N. Becher
Live this Thursday from the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Golden Boy Promotions will present the latest in its L.A. Fight Club series, televised on Fox Deportes. Golden Boy has been using this venue to promote their up and coming prospects with not only step up fights in competition, but also with network exposure.
In the first fight of the Co-Main event is in the Bantamweight division, 23 year old, local East L.A. native, Roy Tapia (10-0-2 5KO) will be tested by an older, more aggressive fighter Juan Luis Hernandez (18-5-1 9KO) from Mexico. Tapia is a young brawler who is slowly being brought up by his Golden Boy team. Tapia is coming off of his second career draw this past March, and two knockout wins before that to Luis Maldonado and Omar Aguilar. Juan Luis Hernandez is a 32 year old veteran from Tijuana with a minimal record. In a nine year career he only has 24 total fights. He has been busy this year, already fighting 3 times with a 4 round decision over Jorge Sillas and two losses, one to Joseph Diaz and the other in the Philippines at the hands of ranked Featherweight Genesis Servania. Look for this to be a toe to toe fight, and for Hernandez to test the young Tapia’s chin and will.
The Main Event takes place in the Feather weight division with two exciting young fighters. Jorge Diaz (18-3-1 10KO) fights out of New Brunswick, NJ, and will head out to the west coast for the first time in his career. The 27 year old has a very good amateur background, but has yet to really test the deep waters of the professional ranks. In his last 5 fights he is 2-2-1 with his opponents sporting a combined record of 54-17-5, with wins over Ramon Ellis and Victor Sanchez. His opponent Abraham Lopez, has been coming along at a very steady pace. He is also 27 and has slowly been stepping up his competition after having a 3 year layoff between 2012-2015. This will be his 3rd fight of the year, coming off of a knockout win against Alfred Tetteh in May and a Majority Decision Draw against Juan Carlos Martinez in March. Expect a good technical fight in the beginning rounds, until Lopez gets into his rhythm and uses his power to keep his career on track, moving forward to bigger fights and title aspirations.