By: Rich Lopez
Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) was back and hosted a card on Super Bowl Eve. It took place at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi and it was televised on FOX Sports. The spotlight was on former welterweight world title challenger Yordenis Ugas of Cuba. Ugas had a decent 2019. He lost a razor thin decision loss to Shawn Porter for a world title but then bounced back with a dominating victory over Omar Figueroa Jr. Ugas started the New Year with an impressive victory.
In the welterweight main event, Yordenis “54 Milagros” Ugas (25-4, 12 KO’s) dominated and stopped Mike “The Silent Assassin” Dallas Jr (23-4-2, 11 KO’s) of California, in the seventh round. In the opening round, Ugas started fast and came out firing punches to the head and body of Dallas. Ugas continued his onslaught in round two, landing hook shots to the body of Dallas. Ugas landed a right hand that hurt Dallas towards the end of the round. Ugas kept up with the body work in round three. Ugas landed an overhand right that hurt Dallas in the round. Dallas did his best to land punches on Ugas, but many shots were being blocked by Ugas. Ugas continued his pressure and stalked Dallas in round four. Ugas still continued his work to the body of Dallas. Round five was more of Ugas applying the pressure and Dallas doing his best to fight back, however Ugas was in command. In round six, Dallas stood his ground and he put a good effort, but the pressure and the work rate of Ugas was too much. In round seven, Ugas stalked Dallas and threw combinations to the head and body. Dallas did land a left jab followed by a right hand but he was outworked once again in the round. Once Dallas returned to the corner, his corner felt he took too much punishment and stopped the fight. The fight was ruled a TKO at 3:00 of the seventh round.
Ugas was impressive as expected and now he looks for another title shot in the near future.
In the lightweight co-feature, Michel “La Zarza” Rivera (18-0, 11 KO’s) of the Dominican Republic, stopped Fidel “The Atrisco Kid” Maldonado Jr (27-5-1, 20 KO’s) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the tenth round. Maldonado started putting the pressure on Rivera. Rivera did a good job of boxing and moving. He landed a right hand that was the most telling punch of the round. Rivera picked up the pace in rounds two and three. He started to back up Maldonado landing straight punches to the head and body. Maldonado did better in rounds four and five, but Rivera had the better work rate. Rivera applied a lot of pressure on Maldonado in round six, which forced Maldonado to hold. Rivera continued his onslaught in rounds seven and eight. Rivera was firing straight punches that were snapping the head of Maldonado. In round nine, Maldonado tried to mix it up with Rivera, but he kept getting caught with the same straight punches from Rivera. In the final round, Rivera finally got to Maldonado. Rivera landed a few body shots that made Maldonado cover his body. Rivera then landed a right hook that dropped Maldonado. Maldonado got up and Rivera landed a few shots to the head of Maldonado which prompted the ref to stop the fight. The time of stoppage was 1:40 of the tenth round. Rivera performed well against his toughest opponent up to date.
In a six round super welterweight bout, Clay Collard (6-2-3, 2 KO’s) of Las Vegas, Nevada, stopped Raymond “Tito” Guajardo (5-1, 4 KO’s) of San Antonio, Texas, in the second round.
The fight was a slug fest.
In the opening round, Guajardo went for the knockout immediately. He threw nothing but power shots that were landing to the head of Collard. However, Guajardo had his hands down and his head was wide open. Collard dropped Guajardo with a left hook. Guajardo got up and Collard went for the finish. Collard landed a couple straight punches that stunned Guajardo again and Guajardo went down for the second time. As Collard went to finish off Guajardo again, Collard got caught with a right hook that dropped him to the canvas. Collard got up and both fighters traded shots until the end of the round. In round two, Guajardo went to the body of Collard but then Collard returned body punches back. Collard landed a right hook to the midsection that hurt Guajardo. Collard finished off Guajardo with straight punches to the head. The ref saw enough and stopped the fight. The time of the stoppage was 1:42 of the second round.
In the opening bout of the telecast, Omar “El Relampago” Juarez (7-0, 4 KO’s) of Brownsville, Texas scored an eighth round unanimous decision over Angel “El Arcangel” Martinez (19-19-1, 12 KO’s) of Mexico, in the super lightweight division. Juarez moved and boxed well from rounds 1-3. He used his jab effectively and he also mixed punches to the head and body of Martinez. In round four, Martinez opened up more and let his hands go but his shots were being blocked by Juarez. Juarez continued to box well in rounds five and six. Juarez landed a left hook that dropped Martinez in round seven. Martinez got up and both fighters clashed heads which cut Martinez on the left side of his head. Juarez decided to just box and move in the final round. The final scores were 80-71 (twice) and 79-73 all for Juarez.