Photos by Jose Saucedo/RBRBoxing
On Friday, July 14, 2017, Golden Boy Promotions‘ L.A. Fight Club gave fans a great night of boxing as Nicaragua’s Rene Alvarado (25-8, 16 KOs) handed Venezuela’s Roger Gutierrez (15-1-1, 12 KOs) his first career loss with an upset seventh-round knockout win in the main event at the Belasco Theater in Downtown, Los Angeles.
The super featherweight 8-round bout opened with an even first round but Alvarado landed solid counters. Alvarado turned up the pressure in the second round, overwhelming Gutierrez.
In the fourth round, Alvarado continued the onslaught, catching Gutierrez with jabs, hooks and body shots. The barrage of punches began to wear down Gutierrez, forcing his corner to throw in the towel. Referee David Mendoza stopped the fight at 1:34.
In the co-main event, featherweight Edgar Valerio improved to 12-0 with an action-packed eight round unanimous decision over Mexico’s Jairo Ochoa.
Valerio got off to a fast start, dropping Ochoa with a left hook at the end of round one. Ochoa hit Valerio with a left hook of his own, sending him to the canvas in the second round. \
Valerio responded by dropping Ochoa moments later. Judges scored the bout 80=71, 80-71 and 79-72 in favor of Valerio.
Bantamweight Joshua Franco (12-0, 6 KOs) defeated Antonio Rodriguez (8-16, 3 KOs) by unanimous decision in the night’s first televised bout.
Both fighters exchanged punches throughout the fight but Franco was busier, landing inside and finding success with the straight right hand. All three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Franco, who is trained by Robert Garcia.
