By: Ken Hissner
Golden Boy Promotions – Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Diaz matchmaker presents Romero “Ruthless” Duno, 16-1 (14) from the Island of the Philippines in General Santos City taking on Gilberto “El Flaco” Gonzalez, 26-4 (22), of Mexico City, MEX, in a ten round Lightweight Main Event over ESPN2 Thursday night from Fantasy Springs, Indio, CA.
Duno has won his last seven bouts since his lone defeat in May of 2016 in Russia. His defeat of Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez, then 16-0, by knockout at the Belasco Theater, in L.A. for the WBC Youth Intercontinental Lightweight title in March of 2017 was one of the highlights during that win streak.
“I’ve studied all his videos on you tube and I have a game plan for him,” said Duno. Pertaining to his only loss to Gonzalez he had this to say: “Yes, I learned a lot from that fight and correct my mistakes and improve.” Pertaining to having a 43-6 amateur career he had this to say: “I learned a lot of basic punches in amateur fights and techniques.”
Duno’s opponent “El Flaco” Gonzalez, is coming off a hard fought loss in his last bout to another Filipino in Mercito “No Mercy’ Gesta, in Las Vegas in April of 2017 by decision. In January Gesta lost in a title fight effort to WBA Lightweight world champion Jorge “El Nino de Oro Golden Boy” Linares by decision over 12 rounds.
The undercard consists of four fights. In the co-feature Lightweight Oscar Durate, 13-0-1 (9), of Chihuahua, MEX, makes his first ten round start taking on Rey “Flash” Perez, 22-9 (6), of Santa Rosa City, Philippines, in a 10 round match up. Perez in his last fight in February defeated Christian Gonzalez, 18-1.
Featherweight Francisco “Alacran” Esparza, 7-0-1 (3), of Las Vegas, NV, meets Edgar Cantu, 7-3-2 (1), of Laredo, TEX, in an 8 round match up. Cantu’s last three bouts were against unbeaten opponents of which he defeated Juan Tapia, 6-0, three fights ago. Esparza in January defeated Tenochtitlan Nava, 7-0, knocking him out in 6 rounds.
Super Middleweight Jaba Khositashvili, 2-0 (1), of Akhalkalaki, GA, who is returning to action after nearly a two year of inactivity. He now resides out of Philadelphia, PA, taking on Fabian Valdez, 2-2 (0), of Sonora, MEX, in a six round bout.
Super Lightweight Raymond “Danger” Muratalla, 3-0 (3), of Fontana, CA, is returning to the ring after a year taking on Benjamin DaCunha, 0-3, of Yevelines, FR, who has lost a pair of majority decisions in his last two fights and will be making his US debut, in a 4 rounder.