Photo by Naoki Fukada
Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Mike Alvarado (34-2,23 KOs) in a twelve-round Welterweight fight in front of a deafening crowd at the legendary Forum in Inglewood, California.
The 40-year-old was sharper, quicker, and more technically sound than Mike Alvarado, beating him to the punch for nearly the entire fight as a crowd full of his supporters chanted his name.
In the first round, Alvarado was off to tentative start as Marquez landed two right hands and a left hook. Alvarado would continue his tentativeness into the third and fourth rounds, allowing Marquez to control the fight and to land several right hands without worrying about Alvarado’s offense.
In the fifth round, Marquez stayed close to land his signature hooks to the body and uppercuts to the chin from the inside. By this point in the fight, it was clear that Marquez could easily control the fight from close range or from the outside.
In the eighth round, Marquez knocked Alvarado down with a one-two combination, sending Alvarado across the ring and nearly onto a ringside photographer.
Marquez was not eager to look for the stoppage in the following round, but his calmness was received with a counter right hand that dropped him.
The crowd at the Forum of over 12,000 boxing fans grew vociferous at both knockdowns and at the fusillade of punches that Marquez landed after getting up, allowing the crowd to know that he was still in the fight.
In the following rounds, Marquez continued his dominance, landing punches and avoiding counterpunches with his head movement. Marquez grew a bit reckless in the 11th round and, after taking three consecutive right hands, was nearly dropped.
Marquez’s knees, however, did not go low enough to hit the canvas, and he was able to continue the fight, hurting Alvarado with a right hand as both fighters exchanged punches to finish the 12th and final round.
The judges scored the bout 117-109, 117-109, and 119-108 for the Mexico City native.
Marquez is now the mandatory challenger for Manny Pacquaio’s WBO Welterweight title.
However, when asked by Max Kellerman in the post-fight interview, Marquez admitted that he’d have to rest and think about it before agreeing to a fifth Pacquaio fight.
Viktor Postol (26-0, 11 KOs) vs. Selcuk Aydin (26-2, 19 KOs)
In the co-main event, Viktor Postol knocked out Selcuk Aydin in the 11th round of a scheduled 12-round Super Lightweight fight.
Postol fought the entire fight off of his back foot, using a long jab to pick his shots around Aydin’s tight guard.
Aydin, however, was able to land a thunderous left hook in the first round, which seemed to remind Postol that he’d have to fight carefully for the rest of the fight.
Indeed, as the crowd of the Forum made clear, that carefulness made for an uneventful fight, where Aydin struggled to land punches while being peppered with punches from the outside.
Postol boxed carefully for the following ten rounds, landing a hard shot in the seventh, but mostly landing careful shots from a vantage point where Aydin was almost never allowed to counter.
In the eleventh round, however, to the surpise of many at the Forum, Postol was able to step around Aydin to land a powerful right hand, which he followed with a debilitating uppercut.
Aydin immediately hit the ground and forced the referee to stop the fight.
Postol, the Ukrainian 30-year-old who is currently trained by Marvin Somodio and Freddie Roach out of the Wild Card Boxing club in Los Angeles, California, is now the mandatory challenger for Danny Garcia’s WBC title.
Diego Magdaleno (26-1, 10 KOs) vs. Oscar Bravo (21-4, 9 KOs)
Diego Magdaleno scored a unanimous decision victory over Oscar Bravo in an eight-round Lightweight fight.
Magdaleno began the fight carefully, boxing bravo by picking shots and ducking under punches.
In the fourth round, however, the 27-year-old began finding his range, and knocked down Bravo with a flurry of body shots as Bravo reverted to a defensive curl.
The flurry would continue after Bravo made the eight-count as Magdaleno landed left hands in front of ever-closer referee. The fight was nearly stopped at this point.
Magdaleno backed Bravo into a corner to land power shots, but was unable to land as successfully in the sixth round.
Indeed, for the following rounds, Magdaleno boxed as well as he did for the early part of the fight, which meant an unhappy crowd at the Forum.
Bravo’s tight defense made him less of an easy target when Magdaleno had him on the ropes, but Magdaleno nonetheless dominated the fight.
The judges scored the bout 80-71, 80-71 and 79-72 for the Las Angeles native.
Oscar Valdez (11-0, 10 KOs) vs. Noel “Shutup” Echevarria (11-3, 6 KOs)
Oscar Valdez scored a seventh-round TKO victory over Noel Echevarria after the doctor deemed Echevarria unable to leave his corner to continue the fight.
Valdez, who comes Nogales, Mexico, pounded Echevarria throughout the fight, landing a powerful overhand right in the first round.Valdez then landed a left hook and right hand as Echevarria came forward.
In the third round, Valdez landed a powerful flurry on the ropes and landed right hands and hooks. Echevarria was too slow to land counterpunches and, whenever they did, they were unable to hurt Valdez.
Valdez would land right hands and uppercuts in the fifth and sixth rounds before the fight was stopped.
The 23-year-old Valdez retains his NABF Junior Super Featherweight title.
Brad Solomon (22-0, 8 KOs) vs. Armen Ovsepyan (25-4, 11 KOs)
Brad Solomon scored a unanimous decision victory over Armen Ovsepyan in an eight-round Welterweight fight.
Solomon, from La Fayette, California, used his footwork throughout the fight in order to avoid exchanging with Ovsepyan—a game plan that was met with boos throughout the fight.
Ovsepyan landed punches in the second round, backing Solomon onto the ropes to land a right hand a left hook. However, for most the fight he was unable to land successfully.
Solomon managed to land right hands and check left hooks, but his offense was not properly initiated with a jab and so he missed many opportunities to land power shots.
The judges scored the bout 79-73, 79-73, and 78-74 for the 30-year-old Solomon, as the growing crowd at the Forum expressed its unhappiness at his performance.
Raul Hirales (22-2-1, 2 KOs) vs. Ernesto Guerrero (17-10, 10 KOs)
Raul Hilares knocked out Ernesto Guerrero in the third round of a scheduled eight-round Super Bantamweight fight.
Hilares, a 30-year-old from La Paz, Mexico, knocked Guerrero down in the first round, after which he continued his pressure, eventually stopping the overmatched Guerrero with a right and left hook in the third round.
Zach Wohlman (8-1-1, 1 KOs) vs. Eddie Cordova (4-8-2, 1 KO)
Zach Wohlman scored a unanimous decision victory over Eddie Cordova in an eight-round Welterweight fight.
Wohlman, of Los Angeles, California, was unable to please the audience at the Forum with his performance, but a brought a small hometown crowd of his own to cheer him on as he peppered his opponent with right hands.
The judges scored the bout 40-37, 39-36, and 39-36 for the 25-year-old.
Header photo by Naoki Fukada
