LOS ANGELES (September 6, 2008) In front of a packed house last night at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello, junior lightweight prospect Abraham Lopez thrilled the crowd with a crunching first round knockout of Las Vegas’ Omar Valencia improving his perfect record to 4-0. The 20 year old Lopez, from La Puente , took control of the action from the opening bell and dropped Valencia with a crunching over hand right, left hook combination forcing the stoppage by referee Raul Caiz Jr. at the 0:48 mark of the first round. The knockout was the third of Abraham’s pro career..
Said manager Frank Espinoza, President of the Espinoza Boxing Club, “Abraham was terrific tonight, he was in great shape. He was back in the gym quickly after his last bout on July 25th and was fully prepared to go the six rounds if necessary.”
Lopez was coming off a four round decision win over Cuauhtémoc Mendoza on July 25th in Las Vegas .
Continued Espinoza, “Abraham’s a crowd pleaser and we’re looking to keep him active. He’ll be back in October or November.”
The ESPINOZA BOXING CLUB was started in 1991 by Los Angeles area businessman Frank Espinoza. Espinoza has earned numerous accolades for his management skills from many boxing newspaper and internet writers. In the September 2008 issue of Ring Magazine, Espinoza is praised for his outstanding handling of the career of junior featherweight world champion and “Pound for Pound” superstar Israel “EL MAGNIFICO” Vazquez.
Espinoza also has managed retired former world champion Martin “EL GALLITO” Castillo and currently manages former world champion Julio “LA SOMBRA” Zarate along with world ranked Alex Valdez and Miguel “EL ANESTESISTA” Huerta in addition to undefeated prospects Manuel “SUAVECITO” Roman, Jesus “POLLO” Hernandez, Luis Ramos, Carlos Molina and Abraham Lopez.
For more information on The Espinoza Boxing Club, please visit their newly remodeled website at www.espinozaboxingclub.com
Rendall Munroe Retains European Crown At Nottingham
Frank Maloney Promotions put on a thrilling fight card last night at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre in Nottingham, England with headliner Rendall Munroe retaining his European Super Bantamweight title for the second time by outpointing highly motivated challenger Arsen Martirosian after twelve give and take rounds of combat.
Aware of the skill advantages held by Munroe, Martirosian wisely attacked the European champion with everything he had from the first bell. Munroe was put on the back foot and initially had difficulty in handling the savage pressure exerted by the challenger.
Munroe’s ability to take a punch saw him through the assault and as Martirosian began to wear down, the southpaw from Leicester, England began to pick apart the increasingly ragged France based Armenian beginning at the midway point of the contest.
As the bout went on, Munroe pounded the weary Martirosian but the challenger managed to finish the fight on his feet. After the final frame, Munroe was awarded the unanimous points verdict on scores of 117-112, 115-113 and 115-114.
Munroe improves to 16-1 (7), while Martirosian sees a twelve fight win streak snapped and drops to 12-2 (3).
On the undercard, Scott Haywood, 19-2 (4), battled previously undefeated Dean Harrison, 12-1 (3), over ten see-saw rounds to take a hard fought unanimous 97-95 decision on referee Howard Foster’s card, capturing the vacant English light welterweight title in the process.
The top lightweight prospect in the UK went down to his first defeat as John “Fireball” Fewkes, 17-1 (2), couldn’t keep upset specialist Martin Gethin, 15-0-1 (7), off and as a result, suffered a fourth round stoppage in a vacant English title bout. Fewkes’ problems had started the day before when he was unable to make weight, coming in at more than a pound over the lightweight limit.
Welterweight Matthew Hatton, 34-4-1 (13), got back on the winning track as he outfought tough prospect Scott Wooford, 8-2 (1), over eight rounds via a score of 77-74.
Popular middleweight Kevin Concepcion, 13-0 (3), came through a six rounder with Vepkhia Tchilaia, 9-7 (5), on points, 60-54, but promising light heavyweight Adie Whitmore, 8-1 (5), suffered his first loss as he was stopped in the fourth frame by another prospect Bob Ajisafe, 6-0 (2). Middleweight Kevin Hammond, 3-0-1 (1), posted a six round points win against Lester Walsh, 2-2-1 (0).
In a set of four rounders, light middle Karl Chiverton, 10-1 (0), decisioned veteran Billy Smith, 12-73-1 (0), light welter Tyrone Nurse, 2-0 (0), defeated seasoned opponent Carl Allen, 18-70-7 (5), and light middle Liam Anthony, 2-0 (0), came through his bout with Syed Ali, 0-1 (0).
Sky Sports televised the program live.