LAREDO, Texas – A small but committed group of partisan-Mexican fight fans gathered to see how real Juan Diaz’s comeback was in its second test. The crowd was relieved to find it pretty serious thus far.
Saturday before a sparse crowd at Laredo Energy Arena, Houston lightweight and former world champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (37-4, 18 Kos) outworked and outhit Brazilian Adailton De Jesus (30-8, 24 KOs), eventually causing the De Jesus corner to stop the match before its midway point, at 1:51 of round 5.
From the opening moments of Saturday’s main event, Diaz swarmed and struck De Jesus, attacking him as if after the Brazilian’s very spirit. De Jesus, who wore a noble face and made manly gestures of indifference through the next 15 or so minutes, was not in the fight and knew he was not in the fight, finding himself in the position so many Diaz opponents have, the realization that punching back at Diaz is the only way temporarily to make him stop punching you, until you tire – which you inevitably will.
“I went right to the body to break him down,” Diaz said after stopping De Jesus. “I felt good doing it.”
Each round became like its predecessor, by its closing bell, with Diaz whacking elbows and gloves when he could not find De Jesus’ softer spots, and each new round began with the waistband of De Jesus’ gray trunks pulled higher and higher in the hopes of fooling referee Jon Schorle into warning Diaz, but Schorle was not fooled.
“I threw a lot of hard, accurate punches,” Diaz explained.
The assault continued, with Diaz’s trademark activity rate, until De Jesus’ corner could abide no more and threw not one but two white towels in the ring, bringing an end to the match and a continuation to Diaz’s comeback, one promoter Top Rank envisions eventually concluding with a title match.
“I am still young, only 29,” Diaz said. “And I have a lot of fight left.”
IVAN NAJERA VS. ROGER ROSA
Undefeated San Antonio lightweight Ivan Najera goes by the nickname “Bam Bam,” and every fight symmetry dictates Najera supply one Bam, and collect the other. With an action-making style that relies on a flying chin and talent for turning into opponents’ blows, Najera has yet to encounter a man who is unskilled enough for the San Antonian to make a dull fight with. And Najera’s Saturday opponent, Brazilian Roger Rosa, was not unskilled as his record indicated.
The evening’s third match was its undercard’s best, with Najera (12-0, 9 KOs) winning a unanimous decision by scores of 59-54 and 58-55 and 58-55 over Rosa (4-4-1) – a man of small stature, short muscles and enough chin and confidence to test Najera several times in their six rounds together.
A Najera counter left hook dropped Rosa in round 1, making the official scorecards somewhat wider in margin than the fight they evaluated. The right man won ultimately, but aficionados can be forgiven their concerns about the longevity of a prospect like Najera who makes wars in six rounders against opponents without knockout power.
ALEX SAUCEDO VS. RAMON PENA
There is one young fighter matchmaker Bruce Trampler travels to see wherever he fights, and he is Chihuahuense Alex Saucedo, an undefeated 19-year-old welterweight who calls himself “El Cholo” and fights out of Oklahoma City. And each time Saucedo steps in a ring, Trampler’s wisdom is confirmed more deeply.
Saturday’s second fight saw Saucedo (10-0, 7 KOs) hurt Mexican opponent Ramon Pena (7-4, 5 KOs) with every punch he threw, and hurt him badly with every punch he landed. It was a Saucedo left hook to the head, officially, that was the match’s final punch, at 1:00 of round 1, but it was actually a couple left hooks to Pena’s liver that stopped the overmatched man from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and kept Saucedo’s record perfect.
DENIS SHAFIKOV VS. SANTOS BENAVIDES
Promoter Top Rank is well known for cultivating talent, but undefeated Russian lightweight southpaw Denis Shafikov appears to have come to them ready-made. Much like Shafikov’s opponent, Nicaraguan Santos Benavides, came to Shafikov in Saturday’s opening match, a 10-round affair that was effectively finished after its first minute, though didn’t end officially till the bell rang to conclude round 6 – when Benavides’ corner wisely called an end to their guy’s evening.
One minute was how long it took Shafikov (32-0-1, 17 KOs) to decipher the secret to Benavides’ (23-4-2, 17 KOs) jab, the southpaw brings it home slow, and begin blasting him with left crosses that made Benavides’ legs shake every time they landed. And they landed with more ferocity as rounds went on until Benavides’ corner did the sage and merciful thing and ended the mess.
Shafikov might just be good as his record anticipates.
UNDERCARD
Saturday’s first televised fight was a 66-second drubbing that saw U.S. Olympian Jose Ramirez (5-0, 4 KOs) drop hopeless Oklahoma super lightweight Mike Maldonado (6-2, 1 KO) three times, twice with body shots, bringing an end to the match barely a minute after it started.
Rangy California super welterweight Danny Valdivia (1-0, 1 KO), who appears extremely tall for a 154-pound fighter but doesn’t seem to know it, fighting behind a short man’s high guard and relying on inside punching, blasted-out Texan Jamaris Chaney (1-2) in fewer than six minutes, Saturday, winning his professional debut at 2:51 of round 2 and then launching an exuberant cheering routine of jumps and kicks.
The evening’s final match, a six-round super bantamweight tilt between Connecticut’s Tramaine Williams (8-0, 2 KOs) and Californian Raymond Chacon (4-6), ended in a no contest at 0:51 of round 3.
Opening bell rang on an empty Laredo Energy Arena at 7:05 PM local time.
