By Francisco Salazar
Junior welterweight Gloferson Ortizo hopes to rebound from his first loss as a pro. He will have to do so against an unbeaten fighter.
Ortizo will face Mario Esparza in a six-round bout tonight at the Exchange LA in Los Angeles, California.
Ortizo (12-1-1, 6 knockouts) lost a unanimous decision to prospect Abraham Lopez over six rounds in his last bout on Aug. 8 in nearby Hollywood.
Prior to the Lopez fight, Ortizo, who originally is from the Philippines and now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Tustin, had only beaten four fighters with winning records.
The 32-year-old Ortizo will face a fighter in Esparza, who is unbeaten, but has not been as active in the ring.
Esparza (4-0-2, 1 KO) fought to a technical draw in his last bout on Mar. 16 against unbeaten Blair Cobbs. The fight was stopped at 19 seconds of round four after Esparza was cut over his left eye from an accidental head-butt that the ringside physician determined was bad for him to continue.
The fight against Cobbs was the first in almost three years for the Phoenix resident.
In the co-feature, featherweight Adan Ochoa of Los Angeles will square off against hard-hitting James Thomas (6-3, 6 KOs) of Grand Rapids, Michigan in a six-round bout.
Ochoa (6-1, 3 KOs) has won his last four bouts.
Welterweight Damien Lopez (6-0-1, 4 KOs) will face Siddharth Ravindra Varma (4-1-1, 1 KO) of India in a six-round bout. Lopez has stopped three of his last four opponents.
Junior middleweight Brandyn Lynch (5-1, 4 KOs) will square off against veteran Tavorus Teague (6-21-4, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout. Lynch is the nephew of actor-director Eddie Murphy.
Four more bouts will round out the Bash Boxing-PR Sports Promotions card.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers for boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
