Flirting with mainstream television, world championship boxing would take to the CBS airwaves in a 90-minute broadcast from the Los Angeles Sports Arena this Saturday afternoon.
Featured in the main event, undefeated hometown fighter Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (23-0-1, 13 KO’s) would, in a bout much closer than the scorecards seemed to indicate, successfully defend his IBF bantamweight title by way of unanimous decision over game challenger Alberto Guevara (16-1, 6 KO’s) of San Diego, California.
By tallies of 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112, Santa Cruz, who was less than his workmanlike self, would hand the challenger his first professional defeat by way of coming on in the latter half of the fight to land the more telling blows.Giving a good account of himself early on to win many a round in my book, the challenger in dictating the terms was totally effective for the first several rounds, landing in combination while utilizing the ring to box out of harms way against a champion who looked to be fighting the wrong fight.
But visibly slowing while his punches would lose steam, Guevara in the mid to late rounds would succumb to the defending champion Santa Cruz, who in picking up the pace, began to time the challenger so as to connect with the harder more eye catching shots.
In the end, this would seem to sway the bout in favor of “El Terremoto” who on this day simply came up with an atypical performance.
Stated Santa Cruz post fight, “I’m sorry I didn’t give that good of a show today. I couldn’t breath from the third round and was breathing through my mouth. I messed up my right hand a little bit in sparring, that’s why I moved to fighting southpaw. Usually I throw more body shots but I couldn’t this time, he was moving too much. I’ve been fighting a lot lately and haven’t given myself enough time to rest in between. But I still want to thank Al Haymon and my management for getting me here to fight live on CBS.”
The challenger in taking the bout on short notice was highly competitive. “I was very tough for him,” said Guevara. “Leo’s very good, very tough, and very strong. I know I hurt him in the twelfth round, but in the fifth round he hurt me. I said I was going to be in there and not run around. I had to stay with my style and box. They called us for the fight three weeks ago, and I think I did great.”
Joseph Diaz Jr. registers UD
In the co-main event, local 2012 Olympic Team member Joseph Diaz Jr. (1-0) of Los Angeles, California in his professional debut at junior featherweight would register a one-sided victory, outworking Northfield, Minnesota’s Vicente Alfaro (5-3, 1 KO) over the course of four rounds.
Landing the harder more precise shots, Diaz was one step ahead of his game opponent throughout, dropping Alfaro in the fourth and final round for a knockdown, although the punch appeared to stray low, so that the final scorecards would read 40-35 all the way around.
Marcus Browne garners first round stoppage
In what started out as a clumsy southpaw orthodox duel where cruiserweight opponent Ritchie Cherry (5-3-3, 2 KO’s) of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma would early on hit the canvass twice, once from a head butt, and on the second instance from a foul behind the head of which Staten Island, New York resident Marcus Browne would be deducted a point, this scheduled four-round bout would quickly turn in favor of the former Olympian.
Landing a solid right hook in the second half of round 1, Browne would deposit his opponent on the canvass, of which when he connected a second time with the very same punch, would put Cherry down and out at 2:59 of the very first round so that Marcus improves to 2-0 with 2 knockouts.
Spence kayos outgunned opponent
In the first bout of the day before the camera’s got rolling, three-time National Amateur Champion and 2012 Olympic representative Errol Spence (2-0, 1 KO ) of Brentwood, New York in his second professional bout at junior middleweight was steady and rock solid against overmatched Richard Andrews (5-2-3, 2 KO’s), stopping the Charlottesville, Virginia native at 0:44 of round 3.
The well schooled Spence would have to put up with a challenge for all of the first thirty seconds of the fight, after which he proceeded to take his opponent apart with an assortment of blows to include some thudding body shots which would slow Andrews to a crawl. Demonstrating outstanding defense, in addition the native New Yorker would prove virtually untouchable so that the remainder of this four-round bout saw all one-way action, prompting the referee to call a halt.
