LA Fight Club Brings Fireworks to The Belasco

By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña (At ringside)

Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña (At ringside)

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions brought another exciting night of action to downtown Los Angeles on Friday night. The bouts kicked off with Francisco Esparza, 2-0 out of Las Vegas, Nevada, who fights under trainer and 2x world champion “El Feroz” Fernando Vargas. The young Esparza battled Antonio Martinez 3-5, 3 KO’s of Durango, Mexico in a 4 round Super Featherweight bout. From the start Esparza controlled the fight landing hard shots to the head and body of Martinez. Esparza continued the barrage of combinations throughout the round hurting Martinez several times. Round 2 was much of the same from Esparza who clearly was the aggressor, with Martinez trying defend himself from the onslaught of punches.

After 4 the judges had the fight 40-36 x2 and 39-37 for Francisco Esparza. “ I’m feeling great now that i’ve got another big win. My strategy is all in staying low so my opponent can’t catch me. I’ll be back in the gym ASAP and hopefully moving up to 6 rounders soon” said Esparza after his victory.

In the 2nd fight of the night newly signed Oscar Duarte 3-0-1, 2 KO’s from Parral, Chihuahua Mexico took on Archie Weah, 1-4 from Norcross, Georgia. Oscar started slow but measured Weah with a haymaker overhand right flooring Weah midway through the first. Archie beat the count and eventually made it through the first. Duarte controlled the rest of the fight with solid boxing on the inside and affective outside ring generalship. Duarte won a unanimous decision with the scores of 40-35 x2 and 39-36 on the judges’ scorecards. “It felt great to knock down my opponent in the first round but I felt really tied up. My strategy for the rest of the fight was to just keep going in there strong and keep my composure. I’m looking forward to training really hard and improving after this win.” Duarte improves to 4-0-1.

To start the T.V. opener local Southern California favorite undefeated Super Featherweight Nick Arce, 6-0, 6 KO’s from Los Angeles took on the always tough Luis Lizarraga Jr. 5-7-1, 2 KO’s from Merida, Mexico. From the walk-in the chant of Arce..Arce..Arce..rang out through the crowd inside of the Belasco Theatre as the young undefeated fighter made his entrance. From the start both fighter let off fireworks with Lizarraga catching Arce flush with two overhand rights temporarily hurting Nick. Round two was much of the same as both fighters went back and forth with Luis catching Nick with vicious combos throughout the round, and nick landing hard shots to the head of Lizarraga.

In round 3 Luis again caught and hurt Arce in a highly contested round. In rounds 4 and 5 Arce seemed to compose himself beating Lizarraga to the punch and winning both rounds by being the more effective boxer. In the 6th Lizarraga again showed his will and dedication to the sweet science as he hurt Nick several times in the round. This fight was definitely the toughest fight of young Nick’s career, Nick won by unanimous decision, and after the fight Nick stated “My opponent was well trained and came out to fight with his high endurance. I came for the KO but I’ll settle for the unanimous delicious. This is motivation to keep on training to win those big victories,” said Arce of his win. “My fans love coming to see me fight because they can tell in my style that I love life and think it is too beautiful and too short to waste.”

In the co-main event Carlos “The Solution” Morales 12-1-3, 6 KO’s of Los Angeles looked to entertain the Belasco crowd in a 10 round Super Featherweight fight against Omar Tienda, 14-2, 8 KO’s from Nuevo Leon, Mexico. As the fight began it was clear that this would be a technical battle as each punch from Morales and Tienda were highly calculated. through the first 5 rounds both fighters exchanged punches and timed combinations from the outside. Then in the 6th Morales unloaded a series of body shots and seemed to take over control of the fight and began beating Tienda to the punch. After 10 rounds Carlos Morales moved to 13-1-3, 6 KO’s with a Unanimous Decision victory.

In the main event of the night undefeated prospect Diego De La Hoya, 13-0, 7 KO’s battled hard hitting Arturo Badillo, 20-9, 18 KO’s from Tijuana, Mexico in an 8 round Featherweight contest. From the jump Diego took control of the fight tagging Badillo with heavy shots to the face, hurting Arturo on several occasions. Through the next few rounds Diego’s skills began take over as he looked phenomenal through 3. In round 4 Diego pinned Badillo against the ropes dropping him with a devastating left hook to the body. Badillo could not beat the count giving Diego an impressive knockout victory at the 1:11 mark of round 4. “At first, the excitement got the best of me and I was trying to look for a knockout but in the second round I realized I was going to play into his game,” said de la Hoya of his big win. “I decided to change the pace and take my time and just play to safe. By the third round, I realized he was getting tired and that’s when I decided to take advantage and dedicate the 3rd round to knocking him out.”

The LA Fight Club will have it’s one year anniversary show on March 4th 2016 at the Belasco Theatre, with Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez, Oscar “El Jaguar” Negrete, and Ivan “Striker” Delgado all in action.

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