Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
On the September 4 edition of LA Fight Club, Diego De La Hoya (12-0, 7 KOs) scored a unanimous decision win against Jesus Ruiz (32-7-5, 21 KOs) to win the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight title at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California.
De La Hoya began the fight smartly, using his jab and movement to allow himself to land combinations and to keep Ruiz from setting up his offense.
“Movement was a big part of our plan–to outbox, to be conditioned so that I could move effectively throughout the fight,” said De La Hoya, who boxed without much trouble for the first half of the fight.
In Round 6, however, De La Hoya began to swell below his right eye, which forced him to rely more on his movement in order to prevent the swelling from getting worse.
De La Hoya remained in control and even managed to hurt Ruiz going into the later rounds.
“I felt calm and in control throughout the whole fight, and I thought I hurt him with the upercut,” said De La Hoya.
“It’s one of my favorite punches to throw,” De La Hoya continued.
Ruiz, despite all his experience, could not deal with De La Hoya’s footwork.
“Diego’s movements gave me some problems, so I wasn’t able to land shots,” said Ruiz.
“My strategy was to outbox him, but his speed, movement and distance made it difficult to do so,” said Ruiz.
De La Hoya, a native of Mexicali, Mexico won with scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91.
Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
In tonight’s co-main event, Everton Lopes (5-0, 1 KO) scored an eight-round tougher-than-expected majority decision win against Omar Tienda (13-1, 8 KOs).
Lopes tried to box early, but found it difficult as Tienda came forward relentlessly.
The pressure was too much in Round 2, and even caused a slip that was ruled a knockdown.
Lopes continued boxing, landing one-two combinations and counter right uppercuts.
However, in Round 6, Lopes was down again, and this time it was legitimate.
Lopes said that it was the first knockdown of his career, but that he stayed calmed and used his movement effectively.
Lopes continued boxing, but it was a tough fight that forced Lopes to work in every round.
“Every fight is a learning experience, and in this I learned about what I didn’t do as well, so I can go back and work on it better next time,” said Lopes.
Two judges scored the fight 76-74 for Lopes, while one judge scored the fight a 75-75 draw.
In tonight’s first televised fight, Christian Gonzalez (11-0, 10 KOs) scored a second-round TKO against Luis Lizarraga Jr.
Gonzalez easily walked Lizarraga down with quick counter left hooks, and landed hard shots in Round 1.
“We were working on sitting down on the left hook. We felt really comfortable throwing it,” said Gonzalez.
Indeed, in Round 2, Gonzalez landed another left hook that immediately sent Lizarraga to the canvas.
Lizarraga made the ten-count and was about to continue, but one of Lizarraga’s corner men jumped into the ring before the action could resume.
The fight was immediately stopped, and the native of Los Angeles, California earned the TKO win.
