Photo courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions Twitter
Josesito Lopez (30-6, 18 KOs) made his return against Mike Arnaoutis (24-9-1, 11 KOs) on December 13, 2013 at the Fantasy Springs Casino in an event presented by Golden Boy Promotions.
Lopez, who was coming off two consecutive losses against Saul Alvarez and Marcos Maidana, sought to re-establish himself among hte bigger names in the welterweight division.
Lopez started the fight by working the body, landing thudding shots that could be heard throughout the events center at the Fantasy Springs Casino. By the second round, it was clear that Arnaoutis wasn’t doing much to win the fight as individuals in the crowd began yelling “he ain’t doing anything” and “break his jaw!”
Arnaoutis then proved to be much tougher than the first two rounds suggested, counterpunching Lopez and even knocking him down in the third round with a jab.
Lopez then stalked Arnaoutis for the rest of the fight more carefully, hurting him in the eighth before the fight was stopped due to a cut above Arnaoutis’ left eye, which was caused by a headbutt.
The stoppage forced the officials to go to the scorecards with two judges scoring (77-74) and a third scoring (76-75).
In the first of the televised bouts, Errol Spence Jr. (10-o, 8 KOs) walked through Gerardo Cuevas (18-10, 14 KOs) in a junior middleweight fight.
Spence knocked Cuevas down early with a shot to the body. Cuevas managed to get up before being counted out. The round ended and allowed Cuevas to finish the round, but the doctor deemed him unable to continue into the second round.
Joseph Diaz Jr. (9-1, 6 KOs) fought for the third time this year as he took on Carlos Rodriguez (21-12-3, 19 KOs). The southpaw easily walked down Rodriguez as he landed uppercuts, straight lefts, and hooks to the body.
Diaz landed a straight left that wobbled Rodriguez in the second round. Diaz, who was landing left uppercuts with ease, finally stopped Hernandez in the seventh round with a barrage that included easily-landed left hands to the chin and body.
It was a shutout victory that could have merited a stoppage by the second round.
Jermall Charlo (17-0, 12 KOs) took on Joseph De Los Santos (16-12-3, 9 KOs) in what was planned to be an eight round middleweight bout.
Charlo, who had a considerable height advantage, landed his jab with ease, while De Los Santos struggled to work on the inside. Charlo looked like a pure boxer as he easily slipped or moved away from De Los Santos’ offense and worked basic combinations to keep De Los Santos off of him.
By the fourth round, Charlo went after the kill after landing a solid overhand right. He spent the rest of the round walking De Los Santos down.
De Los Santos surprisingly made it out of the fourth, but only to be knocked out in the fifth.
In the co-main event of the evening, Mexico City’s Francisco Vargas (18-0-1, 14 KOs) took on Jerry Belmontes (18-3, 5 KOs) for the NABF and WBO Intercontinental Junior Lightweight titles.
Vargas started aggressively. while Belmontes used his head movement and shoulder roll defense to avoid most of the punches. He did not counter off of his defense, so Vargas continued to feel comfortable as he began landing harder shots.
Belmontes relied too heavily on his defense, and was unable to punish Vargas as he missed. Vargas pressured Belmontes for the entire fight and won a unanimous decision with all judges scoring (100-89).
Before the televised bouts began, the event featured two prospects in separate competitive bouts. The first was a middleweight bout between Coachella’s own Angel Osuna (11-4-1, 7 KOs) and undefeated prospect Hugo Centeno Jr. (20-0, 11 KOs).
Centeno began the fight on his toes and ready to box. Osuna, however, had different plans. He applied pressure and landed hard shots that hurt Centeno in the third and fifth rounds.
Osuna, the hometown hero, was simply too much for Centeno. He systematically applied pressure throughout the fight, knocked Centeno down in the seventh, and was almost on his way to a unanimous decision.
However, in a dramatic turn, Centeno went for the kill for the final round and knocked out Osuna, nearly sending him out of the ring. Osuna, who was seriously hurt, was taken out on a stretcher.
Then, Diego De La Hoya (2-0, 2 KOs), the nephew of Oscar De La Hoya, had is second professional fight in a Junior Featherweight bout against Abraham Rubio (3-3-1, 1 KO).
De La Hoya started the fight with a quick counter right that set the pace for the rest of the one-round shutout fight. He landed his jab and cross with ease, and eventually the referee was forced to stop the fight in the very first round.
De La Hoya, with the backing of Golden Boy Promotions and a few more years, might prove to be a future boxing star.
