On the rise in the sport of boxing, notable heavy hitters proudly represented their hometown on the undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko versus Teofimo Lopez on October seventeenth at
The Bubble, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
JOSUE “THE PRODIGY’ VARGAS (18-1, 9 KO) VS KENDO CASTANEDA (17-3, 8 KO)
Southpaw Josue “The Prodigy” Vargas (18-1, 9 KO) from the Bronx, New York went the distance with San Antonio, Texas’ Kendo Castaneda (17-3, 8 KO) in a ten round junior welterweight bout. Castaneda, who was known for taking his last fight with only seven days’ notice, did not perform the way he expected but true heart of the fight game lasted him to the final bell. “Kendo was a lot tougher than I thought he was going to be. I was told to stay composed ad that’s what I did,” says Vargas, in his interview after the fight. Elario Vargas, Josue’s father told him not to go for the knockout. Vargas showed his strength from the sound of the first bell to the final. The first round we saw Vargas uphold his strength and boxing technique, the southpaw moved around the ring and used his angles as he should have. Vargas landed a good right hook upon Castaneda but was countered with a nice exchange from his opposition. Castanea did not throw enough at the start of round one, his quickness and drive was there, but the power behind the punches was not. Vargas’ straight punches stayed on top of Castaneda, complete with a beautiful left hand from Vargas that put his opponent on the canvas for an eight-count knockdown only one minute into round two. Continued into the second round, weird exchanges between the two boxers and a low blow from Vargas. The New York boxer throws hard shots to the body and finishes with a good sequence of combos to the head and body of Castaneda. Vargas dominated in the continuing rounds; Castaneda had a hard time catching the ever-moving Vargas as he followed him around the ring.
Vargas opened the beginning of round six with heavy shots, leading into a good exchange from both fighters. The fight finally began to pick up, but Castaneda did not get out of the line of fire. The New Yorker Vargas caused his opponent to bleed from the mouth, but the Texan kept coming forward wanting more abuse. As he came out of his corner going into round eight, Castaneda complained about the blood from his nose and mouth. Round eight became a teaching moment for Castaneda, as he was clearly the taller fight who has power but showed throughout the fight that not only was he not fast enough for Vargas, he needed to become more active in order to win the bout. Commentator Timothy Bradley claimed he had high hopes for Castaneda, but it was clear from the beginning who won the fight. Although he showed a lot of heart, Castaneda began to lose his momentum as he became wobbly and slowed down in front of Vargas. Vargas showed his clear dominance and finished the junior welterweight fight with strong combos.
To complete the night, the stats for the fight went as followed: Castaneda threw 356 punches and landed 102 with a 29% punch count average. Whereas Vargas threw 774 punches and landed 208 with only a 27% punch count average. Castaneda had the longer reach and was the taller boxer, but Vargas came forward, was busier and used his angles more to finish every round. The judges scored the bout: Max De Luca: 98-91, Lisa Giampa: 100-89 and Steve Weisfeld had the bout at 99-90 for Vargas with the unanimous decision over Castaneda. Win or lose there is always a teaching moment, for Vargas, “too much unnecessary shots. Every time I threw the combos. That’s just something I have to work on.”
LANELL BELLOWS (25-6-3, 13 KO) VS EDGAR “THE CHOSEN ONE” BERLANGA (15-0, 15 KO)
With an average career fight time of 95.9 seconds, Edgar “The Chosen One” Berlanga (15-0, 15 KO) of Brooklyn, New York proved there was no doubt about keeping his winning knockout streak Saturday night when he took on Lanell Bellows (25-6-3,13-1 KO) of Las Vegas, Nevada in a scheduled eight round super middleweight bout. Berlanga who had yet to have a fight last more than two minutes and 45 seconds, came in to the first round with strong jabs and a hard-left hook that landed on Bellows shaking him up. Bellow’s left eye began to bleed in the first round and seconds after a wide hook from Berlanga pushes Bellows to the ropes. A look of confusion and shock drew across his face as referee Robert Hoyle stops the bout at 1:19 in the first round.
Perhaps, Berlanga’s most notable quote of the night, “I'm a monster!”, right after his TKO win over Bellows. Shortly after a glance to his corner and a nod, pushups were in demand by his coach for not working on the combinations he was told too in the ring. But the young New York pugilist had no need to rush his opponent, as his power comes naturally. “The look in his eyes, he didn’t want to be there. From the beginning, once I got in the ring. I looked at his eyes, he didn’t want to be there. So, I had to get him out”. Berlanga feels very strongly towards the media and his critics, to make it known that he was the first person to stop Bellows in the first round. Now, looking toward the future, Berlanga has hopes to fight in December of this year, to continue his winning record, “If God makes everything right”.
ARNOLD BARBOZA JR. (25-0, 10 KO) VERSUS ALEX “EL CHOLO” SAUCEDO (30-2, 19-1 KO)
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“Saucedo runs his mouth a lot”, Arnold Barboza Jr. (25-0, 10 KO) the South El Monte, Californian, said about his junior welterweight opponent before their battle for the WBO title belt in the co-main event on the Vasily Lomachenko versus Teofimo Lopez, Saturday night. The Oklahoma City native Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo (30-2, 19-1 KO) then counters Barboza Jr., “this fight will end in a knockout and everyone will know who Alex Saucedo is.”
Out of the blue corner came Barboza Jr. in his southpaw stance, we also saw Saucedo, ready for war as he too marched forward in the first round. After landing a straight jab and left hook upon Barboza Jr, Saucedo put him in clear danger of his power. The fight maintained a good pace, with good shares of punches. However, only one minute into the first round, Barboza Jr. clocked Saucedo with his hard jabs and left hooks causing his nose bleed. But, the bloody nose deemed to be quite normal for the Oklahoma City native, he powered through the rest of the round. Saucedo countered back with a left hook across the mug of Barboza Jr. and his opponent revealed he was not as stable as a southpaw, but he still managed to throw good combinations upon his opponent in the red corner. In rounds two and three, we saw both fighters demonstrate good boxing action. Saucedo landed good combos and proved too be tough on Barboza Jr as he pressed towards toward the fighter. Barboza Jr. exchanged punches from the outside and found this was best since Saucedo showed not to have the best defense as took in too many punches and damage from Barboza Jr.
Saucedo tracked and traced Barboza Jr. in the seventh round, landing a left hand upon Barboza Jr., this caused him to slip and land on his left glove. Referee Celestino Ruiz, at first did not call this a knockdown but later, flicked on the yellow light for further review. Under the new Nevada State Rule, this was later called as a knockdown for Saucedo. In the later rounds, Barboza Jr. posed to be a bigger threat for his counter, Saucedo began to work back towards the ropes and fight back but he was clearly hurt and lost his footing in the exchange. A right hand from Barboza Jr. and a snapping jab from Saucedo, both fighters took this fight and wen tall the way to the final bell.
After ten rounds, Barboza Jr. won the unanimous decision win in a solid battle over Saucedo, securing the junior welterweight title. The fight was well done by the two boxers, but it was clear who out pointed the other in the fight. Judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 96-93; whereas Max De Luca and Patricia Morse Jarmon scored the fight at 97-92.