LaRon Mitchell Continues his Knockout Streak

By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña (At Ringside)
Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña (At Ringside)

Friday night at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario, California undefeated heavyweight prospect LaRon Mitchell, 13-0, 13 KO’s remained undefeated and kept his Knockout streak intact as he knocked out his 13th straight opponent. LaRon took on the Colombian veteran Epifiano Mendoza, 42-23-1, 36 KO’s. Mendoza is known for his battles with fighters such as, Luis Ortiz, Chad Dawson, Jeff Lacey and Sullivan Barrera to name a few. The Mitchell vs. Mendoza fight was moved up to the Main-event when Jose “El Gato” Roman pulled out of his fight due to personal reasons. Jose is dealing with the loss of his father as he died due to complications of surgical procedure to fix a broken leg.

Mitchell the 36 year prospect and old school teacher from San Francisco, California, looked impressive in his 3 round knockout victory. From the start LaRon took control of the fight landing big 5 and 6 punch combinations to the head and body of the the tough veteran Mendoza. In the third LaRon landed a devastating body shot on Mendoza who was never able to fully recover referee Raul Caiz, SR.stepped in and called a halt to the bout at the 52 second mark of the 3rd. LaRon spoke to me after the fight and felt he didn’t do anything wrong but could always improve on his overall performance. He also said he learned a few things from the old school veteran Mendoza, saying Mendoza had “those old school tactics” “ He put his knee into my hip, smothered me and came in with his head down.” LaRon hopes to fight 3 more times this year and to be competing with the best in his division in 2017.

In the Co- main-event replacement fight Erick Ituarte , 14-1-1, 2 KO’s came from behind to win a disputed decision over Daniel Ramirez, 11-4, 5 KO’s after 8 rounds. Santa Ana’s Erick Ituarte survived two knockdowns to defeat Tijuana’s Daniel Ramirez. Ramirez dropped Ituarte with a counter right in the 1st round. The Knockdown seemed to be a flash knockdown, Erick didn’t look hurt and survived the 1st round. In the 2nd round, Ituarte attacked Ramirez and began to find his range winning the 2nd easily. By the 3rd Ituarte controlled the tempo, Erick landed a powerful right to the face of Ramirez flooring him, as he looked hurt by the punch. Ramirez eventually got up and survived the 3rd . Rounds 4 and 5 brought good back and forth action from both fighters with Ituarte controlling the bout. In the 6th Ramirez caught Ituarte with a sharp left hook the floored him for the second time in the bout Ituarte lost the round but never really seemed to lose his momentum. Ituarte remained in control for the last two rounds with great combination punching. Ramirez never did find an answer. The fight ended with Ituarte landing a barrage of punches while Ramirez was against the ropes. After 8 the judges had it 75-74, 76-73, 77-73, all in favor of Ituarte.

In other action Manuel Mendez, 10-1-2, 6 KO’s battled Ricardo Maldonado, 6-5-1. In the 1st round Mendez floored Maldonado, but an accidental clash of heads in the second round opened up a bad cut over Mendez’s right eye. The ringside physician advised the referee to stop the super lightweight fight and under California rules it was ruled a technical draw.

Eridanni Leon, 3-2, 1 KO won by TKO over Rashad Lawal,1-4-1, at 1:31 mark of 4th in a in a 4 round welterweight bout.

Rudy “Tiburon” Garcia , 2-0, 1 KO of South Central Los Angeles defeated Rafael Rivera ,2-9, of La Puente by unanimous decision in a 4 round bantamweight bout. Garcia looked sharp as he controlled every round. All three judges scored it 40-36.

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