All photos by Lina Baker/SeeYouRingside
On Friday, October 6, 2017, Golden Boy Promotions hosted another installment of their popular LA Fight Club series from the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez (18-1, 15 KOs) of Buena Park, CA, faced off against game veteran Gamaliel Diaz (40-15-3, 19 KOs) in the televised main event.
This was Gonzalez’s second fight back since a second-round knockout loss to Romero Duno.
Diaz began the fight setting the pace as he was far more active than Gonzalez and found a home with the right hook. Gonzalez began to mount his offense in the second behind a few solid left hooks. Gonzalez then began to invest heavily to the body of Diaz in the third.
The fight continued to be a rough affair as both men exchanged punches on the inside.
As the fight progressed into the later rounds, Diaz continued to throw wild looping shots as Gonzales’ accuracy increased. Opening the eighth round, Gonzalez continued to press forward as Diaz was content to throw a punch and hold. A point was taken from Diaz for excessive holding and a clash of heads opened a cut over the right eye of Gonzalez in the final round.
It was a tough bout to watch for the last four rounds and referee Jack Reis had an equally tough time keeping control as he continually warned Diaz and his corner from impeding the fight. In the end, Gonzalez was awarded with a unanimous eight round decision as the judges’ scorecards read 79-72, 79-72 and 76-75.
“A win is a win, and this was a difficult fight,” said Gonzalez. “We knew watching the tapes that he’d be a more experienced, slightly dirty fighter. But we weren’t expecting him to be that dirty with all the headbutting and hitting to the back of the head. I want my next fight to be a ten-rounder.”
“I take comfort in one of the judges’ scores because the fight was close,” said Diaz. “Being in the game for so long, I know when I win. It’s always difficult coming into the house of another boxer. Either way, I’m a professional, and I will take this loss. This isn’t the first time I’ve been robbed.”
Ferdinand Kerobyan vs. Uriel Gonzalez
In the non-televised opening bout, Ferdinand Kerobyan (6-0, 3 KOs) made easy work of an overmatched Uriel Gonzalez (1-2-1) via a first-round knockout.
In the first round, Kerobyan landed a solid left to the body which hurt Gonzalez.
Sensing his man was hurt, Kerobyan connected with a left hook which dropped Gonzalez, who was unable to recover and was counted out.
“I felt great, and I didn’t want to rush it,” said Ferdinand Kerobyan. “But when the opportunity presented itself, I had to take full advantage of it. Hopefully, I’ll be fighting again very soon and hope to deliver another knockout performance.”
Jousce Gonzalez vs. Ricardo Fernandez
The Estrella TV opening bout featured a pair of Lightweights, Jousce Gonzalez (6-0, 6 KOs) from Glendora, CA against Ricardo Fernandez (3-7-4). Gonzalez wasted no time in opening up offensively.
Gonzalez landed a right hand upstairs followed by a flurry of punches which forced Fernandez to a knee.
After beating the count Fernandez did not fare much better. He continued to absorb heavy shots from Gonzalez forcing the referee to stop the bout at 2:10 of Round 1 awarding Gonzalez the KO victory.
Edgar Valerio vs. Martin Cardona
Edgar Valerio (12-0, 7 KOs) faced off against martin Cardona (24-9, 16 KOs) in the televised co-main event of Golden Boy’s LA Fight Club card. There was good action in the first round as both men traded punches, but it was evident early on that Valerio possessed a substantial power advantage.
Cardona was dropped early in what appear to be a clubbing, pushdown punch. If the first knockdown was questionable the second was not. Valerio landed a clean left hook upstairs putting Cardona on the canvas. Although he was able to beat the count Cardona rose to his feet wide-eyed and on shaky legs.
Valerio closed the show in the second round as he blasted Cardona with a right hook to drop him for a third time in the fight. After witnessing Cardona struggle to get up, the referee immediately called a stop to the bout giving Valerio his seventh-career knockout.
