Alan Sanchez Cruises To Decision Win Over Alberto Herrera

By Jake Donovan

Alan Sanchez capped a strong 2011 campaign with a unanimous decision win over Alberto Herrera in their eight-round main event Friday evening at Woodland (CA) Community Center.

Scores were 79-73 across the board in their Telefutura-televised headliner, the last show to air live on the network before switching over to Galavision once the series kicks off its 2012 season next month.

In a bit of role reversal, Herrera sought to box and move early on while it was Sanchez who planted his feet and did his best to turn a boxing match into a fight. Of course, Sanchez had all of the reason in the world to force a battle of wills; the bout took place less than an hour from his Fairfield hometown, as evidenced by the rabid chants of “San-Chez!” throughout the fight.

Herrera was the older and more experienced of the two, but struggled to keep up with the 20-year old prospect, who forced a fast pace and repeatedly scored with wide combinations upstairs. The plan for Herrera was to come up the middle inside of Sanchez’ offense and stall him with his jab, but the Riverside product struggled to pull the trigger as he was constantly beaten to the punch.

As the fight crept towards the midway point, Herrera was able to score to the body. The success was short lived but at least provided a ray of hope that the evening wouldn’t become a complete rout. Sanchez adjusted and with a move as subtle as turning to his side, was able to neutralize Herrera’s attack while scoring with uppercuts and overhand rights upstairs.

There was no quit in either fighter heading down the stretch. The “San-Chez!” chants grew louder as Sanchez threw with more conviction as the bout wore on. Herrera tried to roughhouse in the final moments of the bout, to which Sanchez adjusted by returning to his boxing roots, pumping his jab to maintain distance and avoid anything foolish as the bout approached the finish line.

Both fighters raised their hands in celebration at fights end, but it was Sanchez whose arm remained hoisted in triumph once the scorecards were read. The crowd favorite ends 2011 on a high note, winning four straight on the year after having endured a few speed bumps the prior year.

Herrera falls to 8-4-1 (5KO) with the loss. His draw and four losses have all come within his last six contests, dating back to last July.

In televised undercard action:

Guy Robb 7-0 (3KO) ended his first full year as a pro (having turned pro in October ’10) with a fifth round stoppage of Hugo Ramos (3-11-2, 1KO). Robb was in control throughout before eventually pounding Ramos into submission at 2:15 of the fifth round.

The handlers for Paul Cano insisted they didn't want to waste their time milking him along against a series of stiffs. As it turned out, they bit off way more than the kid was capable of chewing, as he was thrashed in his pro debut by unbeaten Jonathan Chicas. 

The bout was stopped midway through the second round, with Cano (0-1, 0KO) drilled by a power shot upstairs and bore resemblance to a folding table as he was stretched sideways into a corner turnbuckle before being rescued by the referee.

Chicas is now 4-0 (3KO), with three of his bouts coming against opponents making their pro debut.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com