By: William Holmes
Tonight’s ShoBox card took place at the Chumash Casino Resorts in California and featured two super bantamweight clashes. Gary Shaw Productions was the promoter of tonight’s event, and he put on two televised entertaining fights.
The first fight of the night was between Roman Morales (12-0) and Jonathan Arellano (13-0) in the super bantamweight division. Both undefeated fighters needed a statement win in order to make a name for themselves with the hope that they’ll fight one of the top dogs in this stacked division.
They were about even with their height and reach, but Morales had the quicker hands and Arellano had more power in his hands. The first two rounds were close and could have gone either way, but Morales was the more active fighter while Arellano landed the harder shots and was mainly trying to counter punch.
Arellano knocked Morales down in the third round with a hard left hook, and Morales was not fully recovered when he got back to his feet. Arellano did not take advantage of the knockdown and did not effectively follow up the knockdown, and in fact slipped at the end of the round.
The knockdown must have shaken the cobwebs from the head of Morales as he took over the fight from that point on. He landed pinpoint combinations while bouncing in and out and was clearly out working his opponent. He knocked Arellano down in the sixth round with a thudding left hook to the body. Arellano grimaced in pain while on the ground and slowly got up. He continued to eat combinations from the quicker Morales throughout the rest of the fight and his face showed signs of bruising at the end of the fight.
It started off as a close and exciting fight, but Morales clearly pulled away at the end. The judges scored the fight 78-72, 78-72, and 77-73 for Roman Morales
The main event of the night was between Jonathan Romero (21-0) and Efrain Esquivias (16-1), also in the super bantamweight division. Romero looks like a giant in the super bantamweight division, but he fought a game and gritty Esquivias tonight.
Esquivias’ best rounds of the night were the first two rounds. When he was fresh he was able to work inside and land some decent shots to the body and head, but Romero landed the harder and cleaner shots. Romer began to look more comfortable by round four and was able to block most of the punches of Esquivias.
Esquivias may have been frustrated at the end of round seven and landed a late blow. It didn’t phase Romero though as he continued to pop Esquivias from the outside with effective and harder combinations. Esquivias came to fight, but he was just unable to get his punches through the guard of Romero.
By the end of the fight it was clear that Romero was the superior fighter, and Esquivias was the outclassed and frustrated fighter. Romero landed the harder, cleaner, and longer combinations.
Jonathan Romero remained undefeated by unanimous decision with scores of 120-108, 120-108, and 120-107.
